Floating Floor

• Flooring
• December 28, 2020

The Ins and Outs of a Floating Floor

Floating floors are increasingly popular in homes across Colorado. The term “floating floor” doesn’t represent a specific type of flooring or material; rather, it refers to a method of installation. You’ll find many different materials utilize floating floor technology as a means to go in quickly into your rooms: laminates, engineered hardwood, and luxury vinyl all can be installed using click and lock technology.

Floating floors come in individual plank or tile format, with interlocking edge-to-edge form that creates a mat-like surface that lays or rests on the subfloor or underlayment.

It’s quite different than glue-down or nail-down flooring you may have in the rest of your home. It takes time to adhere tiles or planks using glue, ensuring you lay it correctly and it has ample time to dry. Get it wrong, and you’ll be prying it up, replacing it with brand new materials. That can be a waste of time, money, and resources.

Floating floor technology is easier, and is often the perfect choice for do-it-yourselfers. It’s a favorite method because it’s also forgiving. You should have a perfectly prepared subfloor for a solid base, yet it’s easier than ever to lay each plank or tile down, and click it into place.

What does it mean to have a floating floor?

The term “floating floor” can be a little misleading, as it doesn’t so much as float as it does rest on the subfloor. With a floating floor, you don’t apply adhesive before you lay each tile or plank into place. Instead, you lock each piece in similar fashion to a jigsaw puzzle, building a tight bond as you combine piece after piece. The floor is stable if you prepare the subfloor and it’s free from blemishes and debris. The only difference is it rests on top of the subfloor, stretching across your room from edge to edge.

The benefits are many, including ease of installation, as well as easy maintenance. If you damage one plank, for example, you have the possibility of replacing just the impacted area, rather than prying loose an entire area and having to redo it. That can be a big bonus in busy households where your flooring receives high impact traffic.

Types of floating floors

In every home, the floors you walk and stand on all day are comprised of several layers. The base was designed when your home was built. It has a network of boards and joists that support the overall structure of your home. The subfloor layer protects the base, as well as provides support for the flooring you install on top. The top layer is the flooring of your choice. This is the part you’ll walk on, place your furniture on, and live with for years to come.

Many flooring choices attach the flooring to the subfloor. It stays attached until it is torn out and replaced. Floating floors are different in that the floor and subfloor remain two separate layers. Floating floors are placed on top of the subfloor without being fixed into place.

You’ll find floating technology exists in three separate types of flooring:

Engineered wood – engineered wood is constructed using multiple layers for added strength. Each layer is made out of wood, with the top layer created from a solid wood veneer. This makes engineered wood planks lightweight, durable, and easy to install. The bottom layer is often made from recycled or a pressed wood, which makes it an eco-friendly option.

You can find engineered wood in glue-down and nail-down methods too, but it’s floating floor technology that makes it easy to install, and a particular favorite of do-it-yourselfers.

Laminate – laminate flooring is rarely glued or nailed into place. Instead, it relies on tongue and groove technology to build the floor into one level surface area. Laminate isn’t wood like engineered wood, and isn’t plastic as some people believe. Instead, laminate is created from four core layers:

• Back layer – a product designed to protect against moisture, and used to help balance the flooring
• Core layer – a durable high-density board that further protects from moisture
• Design layer – a high-resolution photograph that gives the product its appearance
• Wear layer – a clear coated layer that protects the surface

Luxury vinyl – luxury vinyl is created in two separate categories, luxury vinyl tile (LVT) is meant to resemble tile, and luxury vinyl plank (LVP) is meant to imitate wood. Both of these products work similarly to engineered wood and laminate in that the planks or tiles float above the subfloor and use tongue-and-groove or click-lock systems to lay the flooring into place. While these products can be glued, floating technology gives you ease in both installation as well as replacement down the road.

What are the pros and cons?

We’ve eluded to the biggest pro for using floating floors: ease of installation. Because they float into place, you don’t have to worry about adhering a board in the wrong area, and having to pry it back up and wasting resources if you change your mind. This can be a cost-effective way to install a floor, no matter what your skillset. Do it yourself, or hire a professional to do it for you; it’s an easy job either way.

While it is important to have your subfloor primed and ready for a new floor to be installed, floating floor is more forgiving as it isn’t permanently attached. Depending on what is currently installed, you might be able to install floating floors directly over what’s already in place. That can save both time and money.

It’s more economical and more eco-friendly. A lot of the materials used in floating floor technology can be made from recycled materials. If sustainability is important to you, pay attention to how the product was created. There are a lot of great options for using this technology.

If you’ve ever walked on a floating floor, you may have noticed it has more give. That’s because it creates an air cushion between the flooring and subfloor. While this can have more give as you stand and walk, it does make the product wear faster than more solid flooring choices. You may notice warping or pitting faster than with solid options.

It also comes designed with a sealed finish, meaning once the seal is broken, it cannot be replaced. Hardwood is designed to be sanded and finished again and again. With these floating floors, you’ll replace the entire flooring rather than refinishing.

Is floating technology right for your home?

If you’re looking for a DIY project, or you want a beautiful floor that can be installed quickly, look no further than one of these products. Styles, colors, and patterns are plentiful, and offer you beautiful choices in making your house a home.

What flooring is right for you?

• Flooring
• April 3, 2020

What Is A Floating Floor?

Floating floor – it sounds fascinating, doesn’t it? The concept of being able to move a floor in quickly and “float” it into place has a certain appeal. Yet from talking with a lot of homeowners who are contemplating which new floor to install, we’ve also discovered there’s a lot of misinformation around it too.

What is meant by a floating floor?

In today’s modern homes, there are two parts to the flooring inside your home: the floor covering and the subfloor. Subfloors can be made from a variety of materials, including concrete and wood. Depending on what your subfloor is made from determines how your new floor covering will be installed.

A floating floor is designed to “float” on the subfloor without having to be secured to the floor. The installer won’t use nails or glue to ensure it stays in place. Instead, it is secured by the edges of the room as it is installed under base moldings and transitions. This requires a knowledgeable installer to ensure your flooring of choice is put into place properly to prevent movement through wear and aging.

Because floating floors have their place in modern home design, today’s homeowners have a wide variety of materials to select from, most of which have a “click” technology that helps lock planks together, and hold them tighter for a better fit. The three most popular choices include:

Engineered Wood – if you love the look of hardwood, yet want something that is more durable and that fits better into your lifestyle, engineered wood is often the best choice. Engineered wood is constructed from multiple layers of thinner wood and plywood, with a finished layer of solid wood. Engineered wood is created to be a lightweight alternative flooring choice that’s easy to care for and fits a wide variety of lifestyles. The bottom layer is often created from sustainable materials, making it a more eco-friendly option too. Because of its popularity, you’ll find engineered wood available in both floating options and glue down.

Laminate – while engineered wood is made up of different layers of wood designed to look like real hardwood, laminate takes a different approach to give you the classic look of hardwood. Laminate is a multilayer product where the hardwood look is created with a lifelike photograph. It has a protective top layer that gives it its durability. When you choose laminate planks, they’ll float into place through click technology. People often choose laminate flooring because it’s less expensive than other flooring choices, and it’s easy to use. You can often lay it into place over existing flooring, meaning you have fewer labor costs for removal.

Luxury Vinyl – while most vinyl isn’t floating and requires glue to hold it in place, the exception is luxury vinyl planks (LVP) and luxury vinyl tile (LVT). These two products are designed to imitate hardwood and ceramic tile, and come with click installation process. They interlock to make it easy to install, and have a multilayer backing that makes it a softer choice than hardwood. It can be easier on the budget too. It’s a great alternative if you’re worried about moisture, as these products stand up well in areas that typically are associated with water problems, like bathrooms and basements.

Cork – one of the newest floating floor options is cork. They come in planks, and click together in similar fashion to laminate flooring. Cork is a sustainable product, as it is harvested from tree bark, meaning the trees don’t have to be cut down for production. It’s also a hypoallergenic product, making it a good choice for homeowners that are conscious of the materials they bring into their homes.

Why would you want to bring a floating floor into your home? 

There are a lot of reasons why a floating floor makes sense for your remodeling needs.

You want fast installation – depending on the flooring you already have in place, you can often lay and of the floating floor options right over the top. This saves you time as you won’t have to rip out old flooring, and fix the subfloor for any problems that occur during the process. It means you can have your flooring installed in hours, and be ready to use your home again in no time.

You want an economical option – homeowners often select floating floors because they want the look of a more expensive flooring choice with a more budget-friendly price tag. And because it can usually be installed over existing flooring, it can save money on labor if you choose to have a contractor install it.

You have an uneven subfloor – sometimes, no matter how hard you try to create a smooth, even surface for your new flooring, your home’s flooring structure won’t cooperate. A floating floor is a forgiving floor. Because it doesn’t directly connect with the subfloor, it’s easier to lay it in place over small problem areas without causing more maintenance work down the road.

You are dealing with asbestos issues – asbestos is a dangerous product that can cause a lot of problems in your home. Unfortunately, in some older flooring products, asbestos was used in production. It’s not only dangerous to remove it from your home, but it also can be a very time consuming and costly process. In some cases, unless you’re properly certified, it can be illegal too. Being able to float a floor over this existing product is the wisest move.

You want radiant heating underneath – a floating floor is a great option when installing it over radiant heating. Because it doesn’t require nails or glue to hold it in place, it keeps the space between the perfect place to install a radiant heating system. It’s also easier for repair work because you can lift up the sections you need, and put them quickly back into place.

What’s your decision?

If this article caught your eye, it may mean that floating floors might be the perfect choice for your home. Floating floors are perfect for do-it-yourselfers, or if you’re wanting to make a quick change with less than perfect conditions. When you’re ready to talk about your remodel in more detail, we’re here. Stop by today and see the many floating floor options available to you.