LESLIE: Robin in Wisconsin has a question about installing vinyl plank flooring. How can we help you?
ROBIN: Hi. We’re refinishing our finished basement. And the former owners glued down the carpet on the concrete and we’re scraping off what we can. Do we need to – I want to put in vinyl-plank flooring. Do we need to sand that down or should we put a leveler or is there an underlayment that we can put under? Or is it going to matter if there’s some glue on there?
LESLIE: How much glue are we talking about? Are we talking about inches of it or just some areas of slight unevenness?
ROBIN: No, no. Just little areas of unevenness. And we’ve been sanding it [the best way of] (ph) procedure.
LESLIE: Oh, my goodness. And sanding it is only going to find – gunk up all your sandpaper and gunk up your hand sanders. It only sort of reactivates the glue. It’s kind of strange.
ROBIN: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. OK.
LESLIE: So, generally, with a vinyl plank flooring, certain manufacturers might have an underlayment on the backside. Some might recommend something. Most of the times I’d say just follow the manufacturers’ recommendations, because they know what’s best for their product. But for the most part, with a vinyl plank, you’re not going to need any sort of underlayment. Those will either usually overlap and adhere to one another with a double-sided tape or they’ll click and lock. It really depends on which product you’re working with.
But I would say if it’s a thinner vinyl plank flooring and you just get a lot of flex to it, you might see areas of more thickness of the adhesive. But if it’s a bit more rigid vinyl plank, I think you’re going to be able to go right over that and not worry about it.
ROBIN: Oh, perfect. Great. Thank you for your help.
TOM: Alright. Good luck with that project.
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