Osb Underlayment For Vinyl

Installing a glue down vinyl floor sheet or tile directly over oriented strand board osb subflooring has become a hot topic for me of lately i have had people asking about installing sheet lvt and vct directly to the osb subfloor without the use of an underlayment.

Osb underlayment for vinyl.

While underlayment for vinyl planks may be used under hardwood and laminate the reverse is not true. Particle board is an inexpensive smooth product that can be used for underlayment under carpeting and vinyl flooring. A typical wood framed residential flooring system is more complicated than you think. I should note the imperfections are more due to the nature of how osb versus the smoothness of plywood.

This makes the subfloor almost perfectly flat by evening out the surface with its foam layer making the vinyl lock in place easier and sturdier. Vinyl floors under 4mm should be installed right over the subfloor. Osb subfloor is mostly serving as a base under the finish floor hardwood engineered wood vinyl tile etc and even below the underlayment in some cases. An osb board absorbs moisture less readily than plywood and the main problem with an osb subfloor getting wet is that the seams of the individual sheets can swell.

Most flooring vinyl flooring manufacturers do not allow direct glue down directly to the subfloor. Plywood underlayment is usually 1 4 inch thick and sold in 4x8 sheets. My subfloor is made of osb and is overall flat but with a slightly roughed up surface. Direct gluing vinyl sheet and tile to osb subfloorsinstalling a glue down vinyl floor sheet or tile directly over oriented strand board osb subflooring has become a hot topic for me of lately.

This swelling although undesirable and to be avoided is virtually unnoticeable under a laminate floor unless it is very pronounced. In addition to the visible surface flooring material the carpet tile or hardwood there is usually an underlayment and beneath that is a subfloor that serves as the foundation and structural reinforcement for the floor. The rule of thumb is any vinyl over 4mm can have a vinyl specific underlayment. With thinner vinyl flooring construction adding a foam underlayment can effect the locking system strength.

Other osb negatives contractors builders and home remodelers have mixed opinions about the use of osb for flooring mostly tending toward the negative. Vinyl planks require hard thin underlay because the product itself is softer. Plywood is recommended and approved as an underlayment by almost all flooring manufacturers including resilient flooring like vinyl.