Luxury vinyl plank flooring (LVP) is one of the most popular flooring choices for homes and rentals in Lexington, KY and throughout Central Kentucky because it offers durability, waterproof performance, and lower installation costs than many traditional floors.Β
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It depends on the product. Some LVP products, particularly rigid SPC core planks, require little to no acclimation because the dense stone-based core is highly resistant to temperature and humidity changes. Others, particularly WPC and older flexible vinyl products, benefit from acclimation to allow the planks to adjust to the room's conditions before installation. The definitive answer for any specific product is in the manufacturer's installation instructions, and those instructions should be read before the first plank goes down, not after a problem develops.
Acclimation is the process of allowing flooring materials to adjust to the temperature and humidity conditions of the space where they will be installed. For wood-based products like hardwood and laminate, acclimation is critical because the materials expand and contract significantly with moisture and temperature changes. Bringing cold, dry product into a warm, humid room and installing it immediately creates a floor that moves significantly in the first days after installation, stressing the joints and locking connections before they've had a chance to settle.
SPC core LVP is the most acclimation-tolerant product in the flooring category. The high limestone content in the core resists dimensional change from temperature and humidity, which is one of the reasons SPC performs so well in challenging environments. Many SPC manufacturers specify little to no formal acclimation period, or recommend simply bringing the product to room temperature for a few hours before installation rather than the 24 to 72 hour acclimation periods required for wood-based products. That said, installing SPC that has been sitting in a cold truck or a freezing warehouse directly into a warm room is still not best practice. Allowing the product to reach room temperature before installation is a simple step that costs nothing and eliminates a variable.
Where acclimation matters most with LVP is in the installation environment itself. The room where the floor is being installed should be at the temperature and humidity conditions it will be maintained at after the installation is complete. Installing in a house that isn't yet climate controlled, or in a space that will be significantly warmer or cooler once occupied, means the floor acclimates to the wrong conditions. That mismatch between installation conditions and living conditions is where post-installation movement and joint stress originates, regardless of how long the product sat in the box before it went down.
The most common mistake is assuming that because SPC is dimensionally stable, acclimation is completely irrelevant and the product can go from a delivery truck directly onto the subfloor in any conditions. Temperature matters even for SPC. A plank that is significantly colder than the room it's being installed in will expand slightly as it warms up after installation. In a large open floor plan without adequate expansion gaps that post-installation expansion has nowhere to go. Read the manufacturer instructions for the specific product and follow the temperature requirements even if the formal acclimation period is minimal.Β
The acclimation question comes up regularly at WarehouseDirect.US, often from customers who are trying to plan a tight installation timeline and want to know if they can take delivery and start installing the same day. For most of the SPC products we carry the answer is close to yes, with the qualification that the product needs to be at room temperature and the installation environment needs to be at its normal living conditions before the first plank goes down.
Where we see acclimation shortcuts cause problems is in new construction or renovation projects where the HVAC system isn't fully operational yet. A floor installed in a house that's at 50 degrees in February because the heat hasn't been turned on yet is going to behave differently once the house warms up to 70 degrees with occupants in it. That temperature differential drives post-installation movement that proper acclimation conditions would have eliminated. If your installation timeline puts you in a space that isn't at normal living conditions yet, build in the time to get the environment right before the floor goes in. Come into WarehouseDirect.US with your project timeline and we'll help you plan the installation sequence to avoid that problem.