Found out from a factory rep last month that 90% of click-lock vinyl plank failures start at the tongue

I was just assuming it was poor subfloor prep until he pulled up a failed install and showed me hairline cracks on the tongue from people tapping too hard or at the wrong angle, has anyone else noticed this on their callbacks?

1 comments

1 Comment

joseph_baker46m ago

Did you notice if the cracks were mostly on the longer tongues versus the shorter sides? I've been paying closer attention after a buddy of mine had a whole row fail six months into a job. He swore up and down he prepped the subfloor perfectly, but when we pulled it up, nearly every tongue on that starter row had those tiny hairline fractures you're talking about. It makes sense if you think about it, the force from tapping concentrates right at that thin edge, and once it's cracked, the locking mechanism can't hold and the whole plank shifts over time. That rep probably saved you a ton of future headaches by showing you that.