In February of 2014 I completed the installation of LVT Underlay and vinyl planks. In June of 2015 I removed a few and found mold growing on the underlay in 5 months. The underlay is warranted to be mold resistant. It was installed throughout my home and the area I removed was in the middle of front room with no exposure to moisture.
I have made several attempts to remedy this at the corporate and local retail store. After submitting a four page claim with pictures and many calls I was denied because they said I removed the material. I only removed a small portion of the material which was communicated and pictured to their representatives. After several more phone calls I spoke to a manager who said I was denied since they couldn’t verify the moisture level in my home. No one ever came to the house or returned calls.
I have not had time to remove and re-install the vinyl planks and underlay. I need to purchase more planks because some will be damaged and I’m not sure what to do because according to reviews they will not accept boxes if opened and ALL of the previous boxes fell open from just transporting them.
I need to sell my house for financial and health reasons and now with a moldy floor I am going to lose more than if I didn’t have any floor. I am more concerned from the people who have this problem and don’t know it as mold can be deadly if not found in time.
#2Author of original report
Tue, September 29, 2015
I just received a letter indicating my case was closed. I asked for the underlay warranty and installation instructions. I received these for the vinyl plank, not the underlay.
Then in their letter they refer to page 7 and 12, nothing on page 7 and there is no page 12, maybe because it's plank and not underlay? There was one sheet of paper in the package containing the underlay.
On these pages I would have found that it said "MOISTURE TESTING (CONCRETE SUBFLOORS) : Use of Calcium Chlorine Test (ASTM F-1869) is required over ALL CONCRETE SUBFLOORS.
I chose this product after considerable research and no where did it ever indicate for any vinyl flooring that a test needed to be conducted or else I would have purchased the flooring from Lowe's or Home Depot who stands behind their products.
It indicated that I could hire and pay for an expert to test floor for moisture. Then what? How can they determine the humidity was right for the entire 5 month period. This is not an option. Lumber Liquidator's is right the matter is closed with them. My money would be better spent hiring someone to help remove the potentially toxic material and then be able to testify to the mold in small claims.
DON'T PURCHASE THIS MATERIAL IF YOU WANT A WARRANTY WITHOUT FIRST TESTING THE SUBFLOOR, and even then I'm sure they have more excuses. It will be a long night updating all this on the other blogs.
#3Author of original report
Sun, September 20, 2015
There is an error in submission. The installation was completed during Februar 2015 not 2014. The merchandise was purchased at the end of 2014. Sorry