Which plywood to use under a vinyl floor?

There are acoustic underlays available if sound transmission is your biggest worry.

 

I lay a good amount of Livyn.

Which underlay are you using for it. The roll of white or the folded black?

 

I would very strongly recommend using the dedicated Quickstep Livyn white underlay.

Really important to use what the manufacturers recommend.

They changed underlays for this product last year I think from a crinkly black folded underlay which was a nightmare.

The rolls of white are far better.

With the click vinyls you need to be really careful about the amount the underlay will compress.

As for boarding underneath to stop noise. Personally I dont think you will achieve much of an effect. And it will really cost you

You also need to consider the increase in floor height. Doors etc.

If you are dead set on it why not lay 11mm OSB down. That would be cheaper.

The Livyn floors are great. I try to steer customers towards the oak effect ones. They are superb.

You will find that the Livyn is a lot quieter underfoot that laminate for example.

 

If the floor needs to be boarded to raise it then that is a different matter.

OSB is stable and will do exactly the same job as ply, just a lot cheaper.

Whatever boards you use need to be entirely solid.

If they compress at all you will have real problems with the joints failing on the click vinyl.

That Jumpax looks like a posh version of the green laminate underlay boards.

That compresses a lot.

I wouldnt use it.

It may be suitable for vinyl floors but I doubt it would be suitable under click vinyl.

 

I had two floor levels but only needed 10mm ply to raise the lower one. The other was t&g floor boards, the boards had curled and shrunk leaving gaps between them. I sanded them straight and used a floor filler between joints. In the sunroom I have chipboard flooring with a little movement at the joins in places. I've not laid the vinyl yet so don't know if it will be suitable. If you don't do vinyl for a living and don't have any experience you're not quite sure how suitable it will be.

 

Do some beads of expanding foam under the osb. This will help to minimise movement.

Be aware though that you are only fixing the osb to the t+g. So you will be only fixing as well as the t+g is fixed. If the current floorboards squeak the osb will too.

As for the underlay. You need to be really careful that you are using the correct one. It must be the white one. I am sure it is only 1mm thick. It is a lot denser than the standard green one. If you use the standard DPM green one it is quite soft and I think you may have problems with joints opening or failing.

 

I would be inclined to put 6mm ply over the whole floor. Are you using a gluedown vinyl (not my area) or a click vinyl (do lots of it.

Trouble with the vinyl is that whatever is under simply telegraphs though.

There is a little more tolerance with the click vinyls but not a great deal.

If you run your hand over the subfloor and its got lumps and bumps and transition lines they will show through.

The Livyn is a very good floor but the prep is key.

 

I've installed oak veneered doors and according to the instructions there's only so much can be removed for each edge of the doors. They are already borderline so I'm only able to get away with the thinnest of vinyls. So not ideal! Any colours disguise imperfections? Apologies to OP if I've hijacked your thread.