"Good news! You can, in fact, replace damaged click luxury vinyl planks without needing to unclick your entire floor. However, the process does take some finesse and we recommend hiring a professional installer for the work."
Vinyl plank flooring can be easier to fix than you think. With a few simple tools and an extra plank or two, you can tackle a range of repairs. Our editors and experts handpick every product we feature.
You can both repair a cut and flatten curled edges in sheet vinyl with a glue-and-roll and a vinyl floor repair adhesive.
A floating floor refers to luxury vinyl planks snapped into place without being glued to the floor. As such, you can easily remove the affected pieces and replace them.
"Good news! You can, in fact, replace damaged click luxury vinyl planks without needing to unclick your entire floor. However, the process does take some finesse and we recommend hiring a professional installer for the work."
Generally speaking, vinyl sheet flooring will last anywhere from 10 to 20 years, while vinyl plank and tile flooring will last 15 to 20 years. The thickness of its wear layer vastly impacts vinyl flooring's lifespan, so pay attention to this detail when purchasing your flooring.
These floors can resist scratches, scuffs, stains, and even a certain amount of gouging in their durability. However, extreme heat can damage the luxury vinyl plank. Some of the culprits through which heat damage can occur include hot pans, curling irons, dropped cigarettes, and more.
In general, you can rely on vinyl flooring to last anywhere between 10 and 25 years. A lot of it comes down to how well you look after the flooring, but there are some other factors.
All building materials, vinyl flooring included, expand and contract as temperatures change. To allow for that movement without causing the planks to buckle as they expand or slip apart as they shrink, installers are supposed to leave an expansion gap around the perimeter of the room.
Higher than Normal Levels of Humidity and Moisture
Several damaging influences cause buckling, yet perhaps none are more common than too much moisture. Like you'd expect, it is the natural enemy of our floors, weakening the glue that holds down the planks, thus allowing them to move out of position.
The most important fact is that you can only remove and reinstall luxury vinyl flooring if you have utilized the floating floor installation method. Since these pieces only click together to install, they are just as easy to remove by taking the pieces apart in reverse.
Generally speaking, vinyl planks or tiles cost $2 to $3 per square foot for materials only, though higher-end planks or tiles could cost more. Labor may be an additional $1 to $2 per square foot. That means you can expect to pay about $3 to $5 per square foot if you're having a professional install the floors for you.
Some damage to laminate flooring is correctable without replacing any of the planks. Repair kits can improve the appearance of shallow scratches. If the finish on the whole floor is looking a little dull, apply a stain and clear finish to brighten things up.
A little car wax acts as an effective buffing agent to restore the original shine of the vinyl material. Take a quality car wax and a clean rag, working the wax into the scratch in circles. Fill the entire scratch with the wax, carefully wiping away any excess wax from the vinyl surrounding the area.