Vinyl plank and water

[Darol Wester]

Just finished a plank job about three months ago and I hear that a pipe broke and ran for maybe a couple weeks before it was discovered. It's on cement, half is below grade and half is at grade. Same level. The base has mildew on it. I haven't seen it yet but was wondering if anyone has worked with something like this before. It no doubt got wet under the planks, I just don't know yet how bad. How would you dry out the slab under it?

I can't imagine being able to take this stuff apart and reinstalling it again. It comes apart lousy. It is the stick together type.

Any ideas short of complete replacement?

 

[ws6owner]

I've done a ton of vinyl plank jobs and I can tell you, it needs to be taken out and thrown away. The manufacturer states you can only install on 2 1/2% moisture. It's safe to say with the water running under it, it's not at 2 1/2% lol. Pull it up, run a dehumidifier, and I would install drycore(sp?) this time around. It won't take long before the corners are lifting on it if they decide to leave it.

What's funny is the big store that sells it was marketing it to people as 100% waterproof when it first started getting big. They had to back up and rethink that when jobs were getting called back left and right. Good luck.

 

[Incognito]

Seems anything you might salvage in material costs couldn't be more than your labor cost trying to slowly warm and separate the tabs then meticulously re-gluing------unless this were a VERY small area. Worse part it you would be foolish to then guarantee the repair.

They're assed out.

 

[Darol Wester]

They're good size rooms. Having never ripped one up before, I was thinking of setting my saw at a little less than the thickness of the material and making cross cuts every 4 feet, snap it and just fold it up. I'm open for better ideas.