I finally had a plank lock break on me during a glue-down install

It was on a big commercial job in Phoenix last Tuesday, about 300 square feet into a 2,000 square foot LVT install. I was tapping a long plank into place with my rubber mallet and heard a quiet snap. The tongue on the short end just sheared right off, leaving a small piece stuck in the groove of the adjoining board. I had to stop everything, pry up the glued plank without messing up the subfloor, and cut a whole new piece. It cost me about 45 minutes and a full plank from a different box. Some guys I talk to say this is just bad luck with a faulty piece, but others think it happens more when you're working in really dry, hot conditions like we have here, and that you should acclimate the boxes in the space for longer. What's your fix when a locking mechanism fails mid-row on a glue-down job?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_ruby2mo ago

Honestly that just sounds like a bad plank, not some big job site crisis.

nina_sullivan6123d ago

Funny how people always want to call everything no big deal until it happens to them. @jade_hernandez probably knows it's never just one thing - you get a bad plank here, a loose nail there, and pretty soon the whole system starts showing cracks. It's like how you ignore a squeaky door hinge for months until it finally locks up and you're stuck. Small stuff adds up faster than most folks want to admit.

jade_hernandez2mo ago

Have you ever had a plank break on you?