Is minor up and down movement in LVP flooring normal?
Floating luxury vinyl plank flooring naturally has a slight amount of vertical play because it is not glued down, but snapping noises or developing gaps indicate subfloor unevenness or improper installation clearance. This uncertainty leaves homeowners unable to tell whether minor flex will cause long-term damage or if they need to contact their installer.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Contacting a structural engineer and waiting to schedule an inspectionDid this help you?
- 2waiting weeks or months for the wood framing to naturally settle after an adjustmentDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“There's a few spots in the living room where theses a very minor amount play in the flooring, no side to side movement just a bit of up and down.”source ↗
“I wasnt sure if it was meant to be "tight" to the underlayment or whatever because the rest of the house feels more rigid. I just wasnt sure if that bit of play was okay”source ↗
“Mostly concerned about the snapping floor when walking on certain areas. First time home owner here but this can’t be great right?”source ↗
“Yeah I’m worried as I’m seeing other gaps, stress areas etc.”source ↗
“how long after final adjustment did it take for your floors to return to almost normal?”source ↗
“Did I hear correctly it can take weeks/months after to settle back down?”source ↗
“Yeah it can take a while, wood’s got a memory and it doesn’t like being rushed back into place”source ↗