Page 14 - Fall 2021 FCICA Flooring Contractor

F E A T U RE D A R T ICL E

The Why and How

to Install LVT in Wet

Environments

BY JEFFREY B. JOHNSON, FCIS PRODUCT MANAGER, MAPEI

o overstate the obvious, luxury vinyl tile and plank plastic making them virtually waterproof. No matter if it is PVC,
flooring are well-known in the flooring world for many polyolefin, SRC, WPC, you name it, waterproof or water-resistant
good reasons. To start with, just the simple portability is the game being played. No wonder designers are trying to figure
Tof the flooring makes it easy to get from the factory to out ways to put this very attractive material in other areas of their
the job site. Next, the fairly straight forward installation method properties other than just on the floor. I have had numerous
that only requires a utility knife to cut individual planks to length. requests for installation suggestions for LVT on walls and even
Then, depending on attachment method, it’s either click together ceilings. But why stop there? With all the benefits of LVT, why
in a floating floor system or a simple pressure sensitive adhesive stop with walls and ceilings? How about wet environments such as
bonding process for a finished look. shower enclosures and tub surrounds? Crazy, you say? Thanks to
The other aspect of LVT that we need to take into consideration new installation materials, this is now extremely possible.
is that the state-of-the-art printing and visual creation is becoming So why would you want to put LVT in wet environments and
more advanced on a daily basis. I can’t tell you how many times I how does this work?
have looked at a floor and actually had to get down on my knees to The first thing you need to know about the products used to
touch it and make sure it was real or LVT. The visuals are simply install LVT in wet environments is that they are all provided to
stunning and the marketing efforts behind this flooring product are you premixed and ready to go. What this means is that there is
making it something people actually ask for as an upgrade. no mixing of powder into water. This means there is no pot life to
Lastly, most if not all LVT products are made from some form of worry about. This means that there is a lot less mess in the form

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14 The Flooring Contractor Magazine Fall 2021