Here's How Long You Should Wait Before Walking On Newly Installed Vinyl Flooring

The last thing you want to do right after you've invested your time and money into a new vinyl plank floor that is perfect for your space is to rush things and undermine the careful installation. This might be a cause of anxiety for some homeowners, whether it's because of incomplete communication from the seller or installer, or as a result of imprecise language one occasionally encounters online. The good news is that the guidance is fairly easy to understand and apply. As a rule of thumb, you should wait 24-48 hours before occupying a room with glue-down vinyl plank flooring.

For floating click-lock luxury vinyl flooring, the rule is even easier: You can walk on it as soon as the installation is complete. A properly installed floating floor with an expansion gap around the perimeter is unlikely to be any more affected by foot traffic on its first day after installation than after its 100th. This, however, is only true if the floor was properly acclimated before installation. The acclimation process isn't unusual, but it is one of the potential downsides to vinyl plank flooring. LVP floating floor pieces should sit in their new home for 48 hours at a temperature between 59 and 80 degrees. This will prevent shrinkage after installation, which could undermine the click-lock mechanism that holds the planks together.

The wait time for glue-down flooring is, of course, a byproduct of the glue itself. If the glue isn't properly cured before you walk (or, worse, move bulky furniture around) on it, the stress could weaken the glue's bond with the subfloor, which in turn might result in loose planks or planks whose surfaces are uneven. It's also a good idea to avoid mopping during this period to prevent moisture from seeping between the planks, though you'd be hard-pressed to do much mopping on a floor you can't walk on.

The typical manufacturer recommends waiting between 24 and 72 hours before walking on a glue-down vinyl floor. This can vary as higher levels of humidity slow down the curing of the glue. In such circumstances, it's a good idea to add a few days to the curing time, focus on ventilating the space, and stay off the vinyl as much as possible. Regardless of the specifics of the situation, it's best to err on the side of caution. While waiting can be a bit of an annoyance, it can save you a much larger headache down the line.