Tried glue-down LVP versus floating click-lock in a basement and the difference was night and day

I installed glue-down LVP in one half of a 900 square foot basement in Dayton and used floating click-lock on the other side to compare over six months. The glue-down sections stayed flat and quiet, but the floating stuff buckled in two spots near the sump pump area even with the recommended expansion gap. Has anyone else had a similar outcome with these two methods in below-grade spaces?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamesc797h ago

Did you put any kind of vapor barrier under the floating floor? I had a similar situation about five years ago in my own basement in Cincinnati. I did a glue-down vinyl tile over a self-leveling compound and it has been rock solid with no issues whatsoever. My next door neighbor tried a floating laminate in his finished basement and had to pull it up after a year because of moisture coming up through the concrete. It just seems like with basements you never really know what the slab is doing underneath and glue gives you that extra peace of mind. I imagine that sump pump area is always a little more damp so the expansion gap probably wasn't the real issue.

lisab327h ago

Agree with you @jamesc79, glue-down always beats floating in a basement.

abbyf793h agoTop Commenter

Can you really trust glue-down long term in a basement though? I've seen plenty of glue jobs fail when the slab gets even a little damp, and then you're stuck scraping up adhesive for days (ask me how I know). A good floating floor with a proper vapor barrier underneath gives you way more flexibility if the concrete ever shifts or sweats. Plus, glue-down is basically a one-way trip - you screw it up or it fails, and you're ripping out the whole floor. With floating, at least you can pull up a few planks if something goes wrong without destroying everything. People get so hung up on "permanent" being better, but in a basement where moisture is always a gamble, I'd rather have something I can actually fix.