You can use furniture pads such as bought or home-made felt pads. Alternatively, you can use decorative rugs with non-slip rug padding to protect your laminate floors.
To avoid damage to the flooring, it's a good idea to use furniture pads or coasters under the legs of heavy furniture. This will distribute the weight more evenly and prevent scratches or dents from forming.
It's recommended that you leave your laminate flooring for at least 24 hours after installation. After 24 hours, you can then move your items of furniture back into the room and walk on the flooring as you please. This allows the flooring time to settle and allows any glue to dry on glued joints (if applicable).
Vinyl plank flooring will not be damaged or cracked by home appliances' weight due to its strong durability. However, most manufacturers will specify a lower weight, than its true capacity to prevent any damage. Many homeowners have had no problems, even with heavy items.
Felt Pads. Felt pads are a popular choice for protecting LVP floors and are well-suited for use on chairs, tables, sofas, and other furniture. Felt furniture pads come in a range of sizes and thicknesses, allowing you to customize your protection based on your furniture size and weight.
Attempting to drag heavy items at the minimum, will most likely leave a scuff mark, or worse, tear your floor. If it's too heavy to lift, you can try adding a protective layer over your vinyl such as wooden boards, carpet or bed sheets and then dragging it over to move it.
If furniture must be moved within a room, do not drag it across the floor. Dragging heavy furniture across floating laminate flooring can seriously damage, or even rip apart, the laminate boards. Dropping or slamming heavy furniture on floating laminate flooring can dent or crack it.
Rolling heavy objects on a new vinyl floor can cause the vinyl and adhesive to become compressed, and once the adhesive sets up, any compressed marks will become permanent. Five days is an adequate amount of time to wait before moving furniture or any other heavy objects, such as a piano, on the new vinyl floor.
You don't want anything impeding their direct access to the space or requiring them to weave around through other hallways and rooms. If square footage inside your home is tough to come by, or if you're installing new flooring in multiple rooms, we recommend getting your furniture out of the house.
Laminate floors are durable, but they can scratch or scuff, so avoid things like steel wool as well. Although laminate is a hard floor, you want to avoid steam cleaning to tackle tough stains as it can loosen that top protective layer and damage the surface.
Pine-Sol® Multi-Surface Cleaner is safe for use on laminate floors. Just choose your favorite scent — we like using Original Pine on laminate floors. Pine-Sol® Multi-Surface Cleaner also comes in other scents, like Lemon Fresh®, Lavender Clean®, Sparkling Wave® and Tropical Flowers™.
Don't install your laminate on any floor with a drain. Don't install laminate on any uneven subfloor or outdoors. Don't install your laminate over residential carpet. Don't install a second layer of laminate underlayment.
Laminate flooring can accommodate 300-500 pounds per square inch. Exceeding 500 pounds will cause dents on your flooring. As such, be careful with heavy and bulky furniture and appliances such as the piano, which is around 600 pounds.
Vinyl also has a longer lifespan and better overall durability than laminate. Although it can last twice as long as laminate, vinyl (especially luxury vinyl) may involve a larger investment upfront.
Since refrigerators weigh, on average, between 200 and 400 pounds, there should not be any problems placing a fridge or other heavy furniture on your vinyl plank floors. Vinyl planks are specifically designed with durability in mind.
wait for the floor to cure
Before you use your new floor or move into the room, make sure the floor is completely cured. Do not walk on the floor for 24 hours after installation. If you do, it will damage the installation, resulting in an uneven floor.
If your floor is overloaded by heavy appliances or heavy furniture, you risk damaging the planks. It's important to know the specific weight rating of your flooring so that you can avoid damage. According to Home Inspection Insider, most manufacturers rate their vinyl to be able to withstand 500 pounds.
Affordability. For homeowners who want durable and attractive flooring, laminate flooring is a great and affordable option. The cost of laminate flooring varies depending on factors like the quality of the material, the brand and the location. It is also significantly less expensive than hardwood flooring.
Use natural weave doormats or rugs on your vinyl floors to keep away from debris and dust into your home. Avoid using mats or rugs that are backed with latex or rubber that could cause permanent damage to flooring. Use floor protectors under furniture legs to prevent vinyl from scratching and scuffing.
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.