Had a client ask me why I was pulling up the old quarter-round before putting down new LVP

I was in their kitchen in Springfield, and they pointed at the trim and said, 'Can't you just go over it?' I explained how it messes with the expansion gap and can cause buckling later. How do you guys usually explain that part of the job to homeowners?

4 comments

4 Comments

sage_green3mo ago

That pencil width thing is so true. Reminds me of a job where we didn't pull the base, just quarter round like @daniel140 said. Next summer the floor looked like a roller coaster by the patio door. Had to redo the whole wall.

piper_kim28d ago

@margareto26 you ever try the wet sponge trick? I'll grab a sponge, soak it, and squeeze it in the middle of a piece of scrap LVP. Let it sit for a minute, then ask them to pick it up and feel how the ends curled up. That pencil width suddenly feels huge when they're holding the proof in their hand. But honestly, once they see it buckle they get it, right? Why do people think their floors are the one thing in their house that doesn't move with the seasons?

margareto263mo ago

You mentioned the expansion gap. Do you find people really get how much floors actually move? Like, I'll tell them a floor can swell the width of a pencil in a humid summer, but they still picture it as totally solid. What's a way to make that click for someone?

daniel1403mo ago

Tell them to look at a wooden door in their house that sticks in the summer. They've felt that fight to open it, right? That's the wood getting bigger from the moisture, just like the floor. It's the same stuff doing the same thing, just horizontal instead of vertical. Makes it real when they've already fought with it.