Karndean and Amtico Floor Failure - What can go wrong?

Karndean and Amtico are two companies who manufacture luxury vinyl tiles.Their products are sold worldwide and have a very upmarket image and a price tag to match.It has to be said however that when the floors have been laid correctly then the finished article is usually well worth the money involved.Sometimes customers become confused with the charges associated with fitting these products in comparison to say cushion vinyl flooring,which is also marketed as vinyl flooring, just like Karndean and Amtico.Basically one is a permanent or resilient floor and the other is comparable to carpet.Very little can go wrong in fitting carpet,but everything can go wrong when fitting Karndean and Amtico.
           Determining whether the Karndean or Amtico is being fitted to a concrete or wood subfloor is the first step in the process.If wood then the whole floor needs to be overlaid with plywood. Plywood boards can be bought from between £6 to £20 each depending on where they come from and the quality.Usually 6mm plywood boards are used but if a subfloor is of poor quality,i.e uneven then 9mm ply might be used.The plywood itself should be boil proof and waterproof and of  at least external quality.Unfortunately this is not always the case.We have in the past purchased plywood supposedly suitable for purpose which unfortunatley wasn't.On initial cutting and fitting, the boards delaminated in places and had to be replaced.Worse still was when the adhesive was applied.Instead of being waterproof the adhesive soaked into the plywood and after a few hours and after the tiles had been laid, the floor started to lift due to delamination of the plywood again.The result was a disaster. Everything was scrap and the whole floor needed to be replaced simply because the plywood wasn't up to scratch.Having experienced this first hand we would never ever purchase cheap plywood again.It's better never to get a job than to have to do it twice.
           The same principle applies to a concrete subfloor.These need to be overlaid with a 3mm screed or underlayment.Again prices can vary from £9 per unit to £22 per unit for technically the same thing.Generally one unit of screed on a relatively level floor will cover 5 m2 at a depth of 3mm. Cheap screeds can work fine but if the subfloor is of poor quality,or has residues eg bitumen, adhesive, asphalt or worse still floor paint,then things can easily go wrong.No screed should be laid on top of floor paint.The moisture in the screed soaks into the floor paint and pulls it off the floor below, resulting in an unholy mess the next day.Again the whole lot is scrap.Basically cheap screeds are a big risk.Expensive screeds are less of a risk and generally stay down on top of everything.Good screeds eg.Arditex Na will stick to ashphalt,bitumen,ceramic tiles and even stainless steel and doesn't need a primer.Cheaper ones won't.
            Moisture in the subfloor is another major cause of floor failure.Usually any problems or failure of damp proof membranes,a lack of a damp proof membrane or simply moisture in newly poured concrete will all have the same effect.The moisture rises trying to evaporate and the adhesive eventually emulsifies and debonds from the vinyl tile or plank resulting in a total mess.It's important to carry out a hygrometer test to measure the RH %(Relative Humidity) of the air coming from the slab.72% and below and it's ok to lay the floor.Above that and a liquid damp proof membrane is required.
           Underfloor heating can be another cause for concern.Technically Karnead and Amtico should be able to tolerate surface temperatures up to 27 degrees Centigrade.The underfloor heating system must be switched off 48 hours before and during the installation and 48 hours after.And then only switched on very gradually over a few days.Rarely does this happen in the middle of Winter. Customers just crank it up not giving adhesives and tiles time to bond.Undue heat or cold also causes problems with expansion and contraction of the vinyl itself.Also it's important that the tiles are laid out and acclimatised in the room 24 hours prior to laying ,and also that the correct adhesive,in this case high temperature adhesive,is used to prevent gapping or bulging of the tiles.In addition to all this the tiles should never be laid in temperatures below 17 degrees centigrade.
            Another cause for concern can be if the subfloor is not concrete.Nowadays lots of builders use an anhydrite pumped screed instead of concrete.It looks like concrete,it's easier to lay,quicker and cheaper and it's virtually visually impossible to tell the difference.However anhydrite floors must be scarified,i.e the top surface or laitance that is left from the initial laying process must be removed and the anhydrite floor must be primed and absolutely 100 % must be dry.These things can all cause the screed and the floor to lift and not necessarily at the time of laying the floor.Usually failure will ocurr a few weeks later,when everthing has been replaced and repositioned on the new floor.
           Over and above all of these problems which can ocurr, probably the most important factor to avoid all of this, is to have a good floor layer.Most floor layers say they can fit Luxury vinyl tiles because it's very well paid but unfortunately there's a massive difference between a carpet fitter and a vinyl flooring fitter.It's very important to have someone who has had a time served apprenticeship,is properly accredited eg a CSCS card carrier,who has pride in his work and who only deems the job to be finished when it is finished and not when his wife says he needs to be home by.  I am not a floor layer.I am a quantity surveyor who runs a flooring company and I know through expereience that there are only a small number of good Karndean and Amtico floor layers who are worth the money they are paid.Luckily for me and my customers I know I have a couple of good ones.In general terms,the old addage you only get what you pay for, is 100% applicable to the installation costs and charges for Luxury Vinyl Tiles to hopefully avoid any problems and thus extra costs, other than what's necessary.