The week I had to pull up 400 square feet of click vinyl because of a bad underlayment roll

This was about two months back on a job in a new build in Cedar Rapids. The homeowner had bought this specific foam underlayment, and I didn't think to check the whole roll before starting. Halfway through laying the floor, I started hearing this weird crinkling sound underfoot in one area. It felt totally wrong. I pulled a board up and saw the underlayment had these weird, hard ridges that wouldn't flatten, like it was a factory defect. I had to stop, pull up everything I'd put down that day, which was about 400 square feet, and send the helper to get a whole new roll from the supplier. It killed a full day of work and put me way behind. The lesson was to always unroll and eyeball the whole underlayment in the room before you even cut the first plank. Has anyone else run into a bad batch of underlayment that looked fine on the surface?

3 comments

3 Comments

julia_miller2412d ago

Wait, is that foam underlayment meant for a floating floor like that? I've only seen that specific kind used under glue down vinyl, and it can get weird ridges if it's not the right type. Could the supplier have given you the wrong product by mistake?

olivia_harris1912d ago

Yeah that foam looks way too thin for a floating floor.

felix14712d ago

I once used the wrong underlayment for a laminate floor and ended up with a weird wavy pattern that looked like a topographic map of the moon. It was so bad we had to pull up two whole rows. Your supplier definitely could have mixed up the boxes, it happens more than you'd think. That foam for glue down vinyl is usually thinner and doesn't have the right vapor barrier. Check the box label against your flooring's install guide.