How To Fix Long Gaps In Flooring! (Laminate, Vinyl LVP & Engineered Wood Floors) | DIY TIP & TRICK
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- Опубліковано 25 чер 2024
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- Tapping Mallet - amzn.to/3pV2Rgo
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On this episode I'm going to show you how to fix long gaps in flooring on Laminate, vinyl plank (LVP) and engineered wood floors. This is a great DIY tip and trick for beginners!
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#Vinylplankflooring #laminateflooring #Engineeredflooring - Навчання та стиль
I literally just did my daughter's room and have these issues. You're a super hero!! Thanks for always coming through with home fixes! Love your channel!
Much love and many thanks for all your support! 🙏🏽😊
Laminate is trash 🗑
Where did you get the suction cup? The one I got would not stick to the flooring. Works fine on any really smooth surface.
Never would have thought of this! I assumed that re-doing the floor was the only option (major hassle). Thanks!
I just did a job too. I was nervous we hadnt done enough self levelling, and we didnt. The job looks good but we can see seperations already, two weeks later. I see these fix its as ok for the odd seperation but i m pretty nervous about doing this to a brand new floor, as if thats going to b a permanent fix. Strangely my LVP instructions list multiple glues we could have used. Pretty strange instructions for a floating floor!
I have the same problem with the vinyl planks. If I knew this was a common problem, I would never have bothered with them. Good video for us that are stuck with this garbage.
This video showed up randomly and I am very glad it did - I fixed the gaps in my laminate on all three storeys of my house! Thank you @Fix This House for the excellent video, I have subscribed and I also look forward to watching the rest of them!
I’m so glad I found you video, I was ready to remove four rows. This has been a challenge to do, especially when I never thought I’d do it, but three handymen backed out of doing job at the last minute. One room almost done and it looks good other than going very slow. Thank you for your tips.
I applaud you for asking the you tube community for suggestions. This was a great presentation. Thank you.
I can't thank you enough for this clear instruction. Your demonstration is awesome and humble. You have made a difference! Thank you.
Thank you so much for the love and support my friend 🙏🏽😊
I love your practical solutions to these problems! Thank you for sharing! Your amazing
Thank you from Canada! Just laminated my whole basement+bathroom...It looks good but now I even feel better about the future of the job I've done. I installed the laminate on top of DriCore Insul-Armor w/o any kind of sound barrier. So...one week all looks good. TY!!!
I just want to say THANK YOU! My little Granddaughter loves to dance in front of the living room television, well needless to say I noticed 3 planks on the floating hardwood floor I put down with gaps....now I am a big time panicker, but thanks to your video(I do believe yours is the ONLY video addressing lengthwise gaps) I was able to fix it today and it looks good to me! So again thank you for your helpful video!
Thank you - very informative and creative ways to move the planks and close the gaps! I am working with Eng. Hardwood - floating it, and struggling in my 1965 uneven subfloor pier/beam house - Ugh! Pulling my hair out now - but God is helping me through it - many prayers. I plan to 'nail down' several boards to keep it from shifting - After I get it all in place - then I will counter sink the 'finishing nail' with wood putty match. I just need it finished ASAP! Thanks again for your humble spirit.
we are having the same problem. Did you end up fixing it?
Very informative and easy to follow video. Thanks for sharing your skills.
Thanks so much! Very helpful. Can’t wait to try this out
I watched your other vid on fixing the short gaps. I'm glad you made this one. I have a couple of these type of gaps on my floor. Thanks for the good tips! I'll sub your channel
Outstanding technique. Thank you!!
I really needed to know this. Thanks so much for sharing.
Nice job very simple solution
Been looking for something like this for a couple of years!!!
Thank you soooo much!!!!
This little trick was super helpful when i was removing a large number of broken planks.
Thank you for all you do on YT! Your videos are awesome and I always look forward to what you do next!
Thank you so much for the love and support brother! Really means a lot! It’s awesome subscribers like you sir that keeps me motivated to keep going! 🙏🏽😊
Awesome! I have a gap in my kitchen floor and will definitely try this fix. Thank you
I wish you the best on your project John! 🙏🏽😊
Thanks for sharing the solution, it’s so informative and helpful as always. I’ve been following you since very early in the days, so happy to see what you’ve achieved! Anyway, I wonder is it possible to have another video on fixing LVP? In my case I have a few planks in one area that I had to replace, since they are in different rows, seems like I need to take off quite a few planks!! No idea how I could get that done…
Awesome info bro..
I have one line that I over looked.. this is a brilliant idea…. Im convinced this is the solution..
Thanks again
The bushmen
Awesome job! Yet another use for double sided tape!
Good technique; will add to my repertoire.
"You can never have too many clamps" says the Master Woodworker.
It took all of 5 seconds to subscribe to your channel. Plowing through the posts at the rate of a mules day of work, but it is worth it!
Thank you so much! 🙏🏽😊
Great tip, will try it, Thank you!
Thank you 🙏🏽! Please let me know how it turns out 👍🏽😊
Great instructional video!
I have this issue in my kitchen and it's super annoying! 😑 I see that debri has gotten in between my boards so I will clean it out with a carpet knife & vacuum, then I'll implement your fix technique. And I LOVE the idea of using the suction cup handle!! 😃❤️🤓👍💯
A BIG THANK YOU!
Great tips thanks
Thanks for the information, now to repair, my brother's vinyl flooring.
Thank you Robert! Happy renovating! 🙏🏽😊👍🏽
Great tips on fixing these floors, vinyl floors, you've helped me as a handyman tremendously... your videos are amazing... my clients ask me how do I know this stuff .....
Thank you so much for your amazing feedback! Glad I could be of help! 🙏🏽😊
thank you so much. super smart
So helpful!!
Thank you so much! 🙏🏽😊
This was great, tnx
Brilliant! 👏
Thank you 🙏🏽!
Incredible I’m a sub excellent with u had closer ups on gap for those very small gaps use a wood filler like timber wood to make ur floor
Thank you for sharing your advice!🙏🏽😊
now i know how to fix mine...thank you!!
This is really great information. Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for sharing.
I’m glad I could be of help Timothy! 🙏🏽😊
Might be a little bit stupid here but if you close one gap in he way you show you will surely open up another gap on the adjoining board!
great video!!
Thank you so much! 🙏🏽👍🏽😊
Nice!
Slick, Yo. Thank you
I’m glad I could be of help! Thank you for watching! 🙏🏽😊
I want to get that flooring. It will be good to know these problems. Ty
I have LVP. It destroys socks!!! Get some house shoes/slippers.
@@NeverComplyEver ty good to know
great technique. here is something even cooler versus a suction cup tool you already have one just hit the end up that 2x4 with a hamer and it will move that piece over.
I encountered a gap after removing a built-in TV Stand (built into sub-floor) that my vinyl plank flooring was originally installed around, and putting in vinyl plank flooring in that space after nailing down quarter-inch board as prep. I didn't use the cheapest planks you could find for the initial install, but certainly not the most expensive and the flooring install I was working with and trying to line-in with was about 2 years old. My understanding is most floors should last about 10 years (although mine supposedly has a lifetime warranty).
I see the comments in here about stressing joints and general concerns about the floor in general with this clamp method and I have to agree - this flooring is heavy and making the directly adjacent joints of the planks near the gap responsible for the strain is probably not the best. So we wanted to pull more of the floor together to fill the gap (remember - if installed correctly you should have about of a quarter inch space on the entire border of the floor, which is hidden by your toe-kick trim and/or your quarter round at the base).
What we did was put double-sided carpet tape (the tape was noted as "permanent" and no I don't have the name of it, but if it helps I got a 75' roll for about 15 bucks at Home Depot) on an 18" 2x4 as shown on another video by Fix this House on a "test piece" of our vinyl plank floor. For the test piece, we just used some left over planks from the initial floor install. I placed the 2x4 on the test plank, stood on it and pounded the 2x4 with a 4-lb sledge hammer several times, and ripped it off. The finish was not removed and the tape lost some adhesiveness.
Then starting at the farthest wall approximately 1-plank away from the wall, I did exactly what I did with the test plank. I put the 2x4 in the middle of my plank, stood on it, and started hammering the entirety of the floor down towards the gap. The 2x4 slid across planks despite the tape, so if that happens don't be discouraged. I weigh about 225lbs and I estimate the floor to weigh about 10 times that. Anyway, once I neared the gap (2 planks above it), I carefully, with careful foot placement to prevent the flooring from coming up, peeled the 2x4 up.
I then, after repeating the same procedure on the test piece to ensure the adhesiveness of the carpet tape was the same, started from the other side of the room again about 1 plank off the wall, and started hammering on my 2x4 while standing on it, again pulling the whole floor towards the gap.
I then did it again from the other side of the room. That was all it took and it closed the huge horizontal gap that I had that was actually bigger than the one shown in this video. I did not use clamps, and I ensured I had someone watching the gap so I didn't overswing either, which I think is very important.
Last step was a hard scrub with a swiffer wet jet to ensure all the adhesiveness was removed. It took about 30 minutes and 20 bucks in tape and 2x4s. Your mileage may vary.
Thank you for all the commenters and of course Fix this House for the informative videos. I felt obligated to share this procedure in case it helps anyone in a similar situation.
Thank you so much Zachariah for the meaningful comment! 🙏🏽😊
Thank you for the video it's very helpful!. I do not see the link for the suction cup tool
What I did at my house and it was more because I didn't research anything but I found it to be is I got a coordinating grout and I just grounded the whole floor because the previous owner left the hugest gaps and my OCD could not handle sweeping the floors all of the debris going in the gap
Excellent job. What kind of double sided tape?
Another idea could be using a heavy duty suction cup or handle style for windows. Seems like it would do the same job without using the double sided tape. Thanks for the video
I greatly appreciate your suggestions here. I have a large flooring area in a house we just moved into, all a beautiful locking plank system, and there are huge gaps both ways everywhere. Unfortunately for me, I'm very disappointed with the floor as gaps are in the middle and I'll have to slide a bunch of boards back from the ends to fix it. Honestly it makes me wonder why people use these floating floors in the first place. I might have mine completely replaced.
I’m with you. Too me they suck. Over a short period of time they shift all over the place. I’m betting that even after he did this he’s going to have to do this repeatedly. The next time I’m going to try to buy thicker plain 12x12 tiles and use a light adhesive with no young n groove. Because that’s part of the problem.
Only extra thing I would do is a little clear gorilla glue in those seams, in case it doesn't close 100%, it will forever be fused at that spot. Doesn't take much. Also, dampen the tongue first with water as that helps gorilla glue set up properly.
Thank you for tip, and please show us how to remove 2x4 sticked with double side glue.
Nice job! However, each time you move 1 board, are you not making another gap on next board?
Thank you! It all depends on how strong the click and lock system each plank. It will vary on the condition of each plank. Sometime the connection are strong that the plank will stay attached with adjacent planks, sometimes you’ll need to work along the line, but the concept will remain the same regardless 🙏🏽😊
The floor should be floating, so continue until it's all gone.
@@AnarchyEnsues Spanish
I'm going to try and move all furniture in that area so the floating floor can all move together and no weight on the floor system.
I’m planning to install a screen door for the front main entrance. Any videos coming up about that? Love ur channel
Thank you so much! I’ll put that video on my to do list! 😊👍🏽
I was looking into vinyl to change my 13 year old laminate floor that still looks brand new. So far i've only seen horror storys with the vinyl. Entire floors warping like a piece of bacon, joints separating etc. Sticking to laminate i guess.
Would you ever apply wood glue between the boards? I’ve got some gaps that are 1/8”.
Some floors will work better than others. My hybrid engineer floor system was not that good.
During installation, it says you can close gaps with block of wood and hammer. No amount of bashing with a block of wood and nylon hammer would close the gap.
I went into the flooring section of my hardware and bought coloured floor silicon. (((Pick a light colour if light flooring and dark colour if dark flooring))). I then carefully taped the crack exactly with masking tape, smeared silicon with pure dish liquid detergent, the pulled up the tape, then went over lengthwise gently. I love it as its not easy to see but gives real wood floor look.
Thanks for sharing
You don't want to stand on both sides. Just the side with the bottom grove. Maybe just a little on the other side so it doesn't go over but if you put your full weight on both then it won't move as much.. wish I could afford a suction cup but the same trick works for the other smaller side too.
At harbor freight I paid $5 for glass section cups just saying :)
I have this problem on long and short sides. Closing the gaps is easy. It is making them stay closed for more than a week on the long side.
First, my easy fix was to put on high friction sole shoes, run and jump and land on the plank that needs to move. A couple hundred pounds landing sideways quickly puts them back. The short side gaps stay good, but the long side gaps slowly crawl apart after a week. I think they are built defective with a bow bend.
Do you think if I don’t take care of this will the floor eventually pop out? Feel like this is always going to happen not sure if there are alternatives for this
Thanks for the video, I have a wood floor glued to the concrete, very hard to move. I have lot's of horrible gaps. Any suggestions that might help to get rid of those gaps, without replace the whole wood floor. Love your work! Thank you!
Glue down lvp plank installed 180* over existing wood floor works perfect. Quick sand remove any crowns. Any gaps larger 1/2 fill with a recommended floor patch.
Covered up some beautiful floors because the costumer hated looking at it any longer.
I would have to agree. Unless you can sand finish it you could fill with matching wood filler then sand and finish it. Hardwood is glued down with polyurethane glue it's not going anywhere.
If you need to RIP it back up to fix, make sure you take it up in opposite way you installed them or you will break the edge tongue and groove and/or chip it.
I’m interested how often this flooring shows gaps? I’m trending some type of caulk that is exact color?
If you have multiple gaps in the rooms. You can remove baseboards on opposite sides of the wall get a floor installation bar(s) and Use a come along
Thank you for sharing! 🙏🏽😊
Michael, I’ve got multiple gaps (long edge) in various places of my house. It’s a one story house and the whole first floor is wood (floating floor, but good manufactured wood planks) I’m afraid if I do this I’ll end up having to do it in several rooms due to movement in the living room or kitchen per say and it cascading into other areas. What are your thoughts?
@@stuartburman177 I would say that you have no choice but to try and bring those gaps together. My method, take off the baseboards of the sides you want to close up. Get a ratchet strap and hook the ends together. . Give it enough pressure but not too much.and walk on the floor to create movement between the planks. Good luck 🤞
That's what I was thinking before seeing this video and adding glue after cleaning exposed sections. Mainly we know our floor wasn't installed tight enough to begin with. It's been an issue for awhile and the installers have been giving us the runaround, the floors have gotten worse. Hopefully we can pull it together, spent 6k originally. Thanks community for all the insight and different perspective!!!!
Just wondering...should we be only leaving like a1/16th of an inch around the outside instead of a 1/4"?
If I have a long Crack in the middle of the house. Would closing up one gap will pull out gap on other side?
What if only half of the tongue and grove is out of place. One side has over lapped the other side and if I push them into each other it will break the lock
U can butt the walls with this lvp plastic, it doesn't contract or expand.
I commend your repair, problem it will return most likely.
Long gaps only happen if it wasn't locked in at insulation or a large low spot or a crown in the sub floor.
Improper pep or lack of.
Hey, very smart!
Thank you so much! 🙏🏽😊
I had a treadmill that pulled the long side of the plank out of the seam because the rubber on the bottom of the treadmill stuck when I raised the back of the treadmill. Can I still do this?
What double sided tape are you using!?! I do not know of any that handle the weight of the floor. Suction Cups are a great idead!
Wondering how you removed the two by fours that were fasten to the floor with double sided sticky tape?
WOW
Thank you 🙏🏽
I don’t have a gap- the vinyl top layer is delaminating from the base- is there a way to fix this without replacing the plank?
Where can I go to buy an special hand tools use to work.
I don't understand what I did wrong with my tape. It feels like it was WAY more sticky than yours and I nearly ruined a piece of my floor because it wouldn't come off (it actually won't lock on the short side now, but neither piece broke. Don't know why, I'll probably just glue it down since its not very long). I want to fix more of the long gaps I have, but I'm afraid of using this method. Do you have any advice about prepping the tape better? (I should add, I bought the tape you had linked, specifically.)
Can I add some sort of glue to permanently fix this issue? Thank you for the video, very helpful, was starting to stress over newly installed flooring.
i used some 5 minute epoxy on mine
May have worked but when I went to remove the 2x4's it pulled the laminate up with it. Is there a way for this NOT to happen?
Does the double sided tape ever take the veneer off the vinyl plank? Really asking about laminate because I know it is less durable. But curious if the tape will hurt the either.
I've seen people use painter's tape and use hot glue to glue the board to the painter's tape.
@kimlawhon7437 I've heard of that too. It doesn't take the veneer off laminate at all?
@@samuelbankston2108 The painter's tape won't. I've read several that said the tape caused more problems and headaches,
@kimlawhon7437 did you know if you leave painters tape done for a day or two it will take veneer off. Even hardwood and on fan blades. I have seen that mistake a few times. But for a few hours it's np
I would think of using vacuum cleaner first to make sure there are no dust, dirt of anything left inside the gaps.
That is good practice 👍🏽😊
I have an awful awful contractor... I had a house fire and I've been building for literally years. Hired this guy to finish it in 4 months to him almost 11... Very very passive-aggressive I instructed him not to install my floors, He chose to do it and then walk on it for an additional 90 days. Sadly they are uneven, Many have chips, And I have small gaespecially on the longboards but some on the ends. This is my ENTIRE house. As far as I'm concerned it is not installed correctly, He's still waiting on a final payment and I'm getting a second opinion!! ( Horribly where I don't have uneven boards, Some look like they are buckling and probably need a stress cut where I have brand new baseboard)😢
what kind of double sided tape did you use? Mine is moving. Probably too old.
I just had a customer that had this same problem, installed by a different contractor 2 years ago,and the whole job was separating. the only real solution is to take it apart and put it back together correctly. if the locks break glue the boards together
I used your technique and worked perfectly until I tried to remove the boards because the tape actually made them ruin several other seams by pulling them up. Any remedy for this mishap
That would be my question. I wish he would have shown how he removed them.
I renovated a double wide 2 years ago and the LVP is separated so many places. This product is really not great.
Not good for a double wide because the wood sub-floor is to squishy and doesn’t support the LVP joint.
How about having 3 of them 1 at each end and one in the middle
Good presentation/
Thank you so much! 🙏🏽😊👍🏽
Can you use three clamps? Instead of having to take one off to do the middle?
Seems to be a great idea to me.
Pretty sure he just didn't have a third available. I was thinking the same thing.
How do I prevent this from happening again?
So if you open that...you open another gap somewhere else right? So why not wood putty it
Do the suction cups work in this application?
The suction cups might work if there is no profile on the floor. Mine has a slight raised profile so the suction can’t handle a long enough suction strength. It works though on the shorter butt end joints of the plank. 🙏🏽😊👍🏽
Have you ever thought about using 3 bar clamps?
That’s a good idea 👍🏽
Did you ever use this method for fixing at creaky laminate floor?
I've watched a few videos about fixing creaky floors, lots of suggestions like using baby powder, lubricants, nails and screws. The boards that's creaking in my house seem to be too tight at two points and this seems like it might actually help...
Sounds like installers didn’t leave enough expansion room or they didn’t do a good job at leveling/grinding floors which would cause areas to creak when stepped on due to divots and high spots on your subfloor
Tape you ducked work to the floor or the heat comes on it will lift and come apart
why not buy three clamps?
How do you keep gaps from returning?
Hi! You can apply a small bead of super glue on the ends before you close it. Just make sure you put masking tape on each end to prevent excess glue. Here is the glue I recommended: amzn.to/3wuLLJe
@@FixThisHouse thanks!
what kind of double sided tape did you use? Mine is moving. Probably too old.
I did not see if you put glue before you close the gap , if you put glue it may prevent for happening again, it may happen on another places so you can close the also with glue, this may had happened because the subfloor is uneven
What kind of double sided tape is this
Here is the tape 👍🏽😊: amzn.to/3nTTUpF
The tongue and groove won’t “click” with most floating floors with this method, as least not 100%. They normally need installed at an angle, but the whole point is to NOT redo the whole room to fix a gap.
Test on a scrap that mineral spirits doesn’t affect the finish on the lvp. If it’s good, than use pl premium to glue the separated pieces together. Once it’s as tight as you can get it, wipe the PL away with mineral spirits, followed up by soap and water.
Otherwise, your cap could come back, because you can’t be sure you’re getting the correct “click” since your hammering it in flat and possibly breaking the locking ridge off the tongue.
And if it’s laminate use titebond ii and water for clean up 👍
Yup.
What is PL ?
I agree that closing up the gaps as shown in this video doesn't address the problem as to why these planks are seperating in the first place.
Unless you leave too much space at along the perimeter walls, I found the problem in my case is the subfloor below the planks is not flat enough across your space to insure the planks will properly lock in place and not move.
The only way to fix this is to open the gap enough to use proper vinyl plank glue and push the planks back as shown in the video. Keep weight on the joined planks until they set in place. Once the glue in the joints dry that should prevent the planks from moving again.
I don't understand. Won't you create new gaps on the pieces next to it and so on?
It's a floating floor. If everything is still floating (nothing glued) it should pull all the other planks with it, all the way from the wall where the original 1/4in gap should have been.
But, if it does create another gap, just move to fix that one also until you reach the wall. If other gaps are created you probably have pieces glued or nailed or you have some broken connections.