Yes. Underlayment for laminate flooring provides proper support, stability, noise reduction and helps the click lock system to provide a structurally sound floor. With many different underlayment options and flooring types available to the consumer, we will list the benefits of underlayment and what to look for in underlayments.

Laminate Flooring Underlayment Benefits

Laminate Flooring Underlayment Benefit Icons

Moisture Protection

Why do you need to worry about moisture for your flooring? Laminate flooring is made out of composed resin and fiber board materials with a photographic applique layer under a clear protective layer. If moisture from your subfloor (concrete or wood) get to the fiber board material, your flooring will absorb the moisture and start to bow or warp.

Underlayment with a built-in vapor barrier provides the protection you need from moisture.

Cement Subfloor

Cement is a porous material and can absorb and emit moisture. If your installing laminate flooring aka floating floor can be at risk of absorbing moisture from your cement subfloor. Installing an underlayment with a vapor barrier or 6-mil vapor barrier in addition to underlayment will stop all moisture from getting to your floor.

Wood Subfloor

Moisture really wouldn’t be a concern here unless you are installing it over a crawl space. We recommend to install a vapor retarder below in your crawl space to eliminate moisture problems. Adding a 6-mil vapor barrier on top of the subfloor of a crawl space can block the moisture of your subfloor and cause rot in the long haul. No underlayment can fix the issue in the crawl space.

Soundproofing Your Floors

Noise can come from all directions, pets, crying baby, loud steroes, kids playing…you name it. Underlayment can help absorb vibrations from one’s daily noise and block out the noise from other rooms. Our recycled felt underlayment absorb sounds and keep it from traveling to other rooms. Individuals who installed QuietWalk comments their laminate flooring sound more real like hardwood due to the QuietWalk underlayment installed.

Compression Resistance

Having compression resistant underlayment allows a structural foundation to your floors. Normal to high weight stress-loads allow your floor to naturally flex. Compression resistance also allows to hide minor subfloor imperfections and protect the click lock mechanism to provide a solid foundation.

Insulating Value

Insulating is usually thought of adding to walls, roof, windows and doors. However your flooring can cause heat gain or loss. Flooring underlayment has some type of R-values that help improve your comfort underfoot. Choosing an underlayment that provides a higher R-value towards 0.5-0.6 helps keep you comfortable, lower your energy bills, and you’ll enjoy the space even more.

Clean Indoor Air Quality

We wanted to add clean indoor air quality to the benefits as it is the last and unseen benefits most homeowners think about. As most DIY homeowners installs their underlayment, they might notice a harsh odor. This could most likely be coming from their underlayment. Thinking it might go away overtime and it might, but still can give off-gasses of harmful chemicals. Maybe one of your family members start getting sick more often.

We recommend to always look for some valid certification of no VOC off-gassing of your underlayment you choose. QuietWalk currently has Green Guard Gold certification allowing our underlayment to be installed in hospital or government buildings.

View QuietWalk – Underlayment for Laminate Flooring

Underlayment for Laminate Flooring Pre-Attached Underlayment

underlayment for laminate flooring

Having an additional underlayment under pre-attached underlayment has homeowners concerned about having too much cushion potentially to destroy the integrity of the locking system and cause the floor to become unstable. With our felt/fiber underlayment (QuietWalk), we designed the underlayment to be dense and to support the locking system of any laminate flooring.

QuietWalk’s compression resistance exceeds the requirement for pre-attached flooring that is greater than 29 psi @50% per ASTM D1667. The high compression resistance assures that the underlayment will not contribute to floor decoupling.

  • Disclaimer: Please read your flooring manufacturers installation instructions. Most manufacturers will not accept additional underlayment under their pre-attached underlayment due to increase of claims.

Join Our Newsletter

You are about to install your new flooring. As you lay the first plank you realize that

Name(Required)
Hidden
Category Posted In: Floor UnderlaymentTagged: 2 Comments on Do you need underlayment for laminate flooring?
  • Categories

  • It goes without saying that whenever you finally make the upgrade to vinyl plank floors, you don’t want to see it falling into disrepair anytime soon. After all, that’s a significant investment, especially with some luxury options so popular these days! But even the best of the best can start showing wear and tear for various reasons, and some will even begin buckling despite remaining a relatively new addition to your home. Why does this happen, though, and how are you supposed to go about fixing it? Continue reading because we’ve got you covered. 

    What Causes Vinyl Plank Buckling?

    Vinyl plank flooring is a rather hearty option that gives you great looks, comfortability, and a certain amount of durability found lacking in other floor choices. Yet buckling and its resulting hills and dips in what should be your perfectly level surfaces is relatively common. Part of this is because there are just so many things that can contribute to the issue. While not an exhaustive list, some of the most typical causes for your vinyl plank woes include:

    Exposure to Increased Heat or Sunlight

    Do you know how your hands will sometimes swell up a bit in the summer? Well, our floors do their own version of this, expanding and contracting as temperatures shift and sunlight changes between practically nonexistent in the dreary winter months to overly plentiful in the hot, sunny months of summer. The warmer and brighter it is, the more your vinyl plank material will expand, eventually forcing the planks up from their original positioning and releasing the glue on any self-adhesive versions. The good news is, you’re not out of luck, there are ways to protect your vinyl planks from heat and sunlight.

    Lack of Caution When Moving Objects

    While high amounts of direct sunlight and hotter temps can both truly do a number on your beautiful vinyl plank floors, there are other explanations for why your boards/tiles are starting to resemble a wavy potato chip or a sinking ship. One of these is entirely controllable: a lack of carefulness when moving furniture/other heavy things around. 

    Any kind of dragging motion can cause the object you’re moving to catch on the vinyl plank edges, potentially making them lift or loosening any glue that’s keeping them where they belong, which will ultimately hurt their longevity just the same. So, try your best to always lift rather than drag. It’ll reduce buckling and also prevent scuff marks. 

    Higher than Normal Levels of Humidity and Moisture 

    Several damaging influences cause buckling, yet perhaps none are more common than too much moisture. Like you’d expect, it is the natural enemy of our floors, weakening the glue that holds down the planks, thus allowing them to move out of position. It’s a massive problem for those with concrete subfloors, thanks to its natural and moisture-emitting properties, and often requires a multi-approach solution to fix the issue. 

    Underlayment with an attached vapor barrier can easily prevent damage from moisture. QuietWalk Luxury Vinyl underlayment comes with an attached moisture barrier to protect your flooring from moisture-emitting concrete floors. However, all underlayments with attached vapor barriers have their limits. If your concrete subfloor emits substantial amounts of moisture, installing a 6-mil vapor barrier directly over the subfloor is best. We recommend performing a calcium chloride test to find the amount of moisture your concrete is emitting. 

    How to Perform a Calcium Chloride Test

    No Expansion Gap Created During Installation 

    Vinyl plank flooring doesn’t seem incredibly complicated at first glance, and you’d be right. Of all the popular choices on the market, it’s undoubtedly one of the easier ones to install and repair should any damage (including buckling) occur. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t knowledge required to do it right. Vinyl has its particularities and needs like anything else. 

    For example, it needs a small expansion gap between its edges and the wall. The gap leaves space for that expansion and contraction we mentioned before. Skip this crucial step, and you’re bound to run into some buckling sooner rather than later, the planks having nowhere to spread out as they heat. It’s also a step you can’t come back from unless you want to redo the floors throughout your entire home. Translation: do your homework before installation. Do it right the first time, and you can kick back and enjoy your beautiful, fully intact floors for far longer. 

    How to Fix Your Vinyl Plank Floors

    Now that we’re all completely clear on the fact vinyl plank floors need to be repaired and repaired fast once any buckling crops up, you’re probably wondering how you’re supposed to fix them anyway. It’s pretty straightforward, and you have a couple of options here. 

    There are two ways you can go about this: with glue and with loose-lay flooring. However, both largely revolve around the same thing, which is removing the damaged section of your vinyl plank flooring and replacing it with new matching pieces of vinyl. That means there isn’t necessarily one method that’s inherently better than the other. Using glue and loose-lay flooring are both super simple. Just pick whatever you prefer. Although do be warned – the glue option can get a little messy. If you’re opposed to that, perhaps stay away from opting for glue. 

    For those who don’t mind this, you’ll start fixing up your vinyl floor by cutting out an appropriate piece of vinyl to act as a replacement. This doesn’t have to be perfect. Just make sure it’s a little bigger than the piece that’s damaged. Then, carefully cut out what you’re looking to fix, place some foil on the spot, and heat it with a hairdryer to soften any leftover adhesive. 

    Scrape this off, apply a healthy new layer of glue, and press down your replacement vinyl. Some extra adhesive seeping out? No worries. Wipe it off, lay something heavy down on the new vinyl to secure it, and leave it there to set for a while. Once it’s completely dry, your job is officially done, and your beloved vinyl plank floors are practically as good as new. And for the good folks set on not using glue? Do the same thing minus the sticky adhesive, simply securing the vinyl with a rubber mallet instead. 

    Join Our Newsletter

    You are about to install your new flooring. As you lay the first plank you realize that

    Name(Required)
    Hidden
    Category Posted In: Floor UnderlaymentTagged:
  • Categories