I have a problem with vinyl plank flooring in that it has bowed up in many different areas of the house.

The flooring is Lowe’s style selections interlocking 6”x36” planks that was newly installed 20 months ago.

Resident had the house treated for bedbugs using heat method, some weeks afterwards, the floor problems began.

The planks don’t appear to be melted but bowed.

Moisture.

My first thought is that not enough room was left around the edges for expansion.

Sisco,

Call the manufacturer and ask about the heat.

I suspect the heat.

Any chance the warps are localized such as in front of a heater?

In order to help determine the cause, it would be helpful to know a few additional things such as:

Is the bowing parallel to the 6" direction or the 36" direction.

Is the bowing mainly near the edge or is it located in the middle of the rooms?

Is the bowing causing the seams to separate?

What is the flooring installed over, wood, concrete, old vinyl, etc.

Was there any type of padding installed under it? If so, what was used?

What level of the house was it installed on, basement, first or second floor?

If on the first floor, is there a crawl space or a regular basement under it?

Has the humidity level changed greatly from either before, during or after the heat treatment?

Is the heating system forced hot air or forced hot water?

Does the house have central air?

Is one area of the house more effected than the rest?

Was adequate expansion space left around the perimeter?

Is it possible that either the base or shoe moulding were installed too tight to the flooring?

Do they have a lot of heavy furniture that is restricting the natural expansion & contraction of the flooring?

With the little info we have & not being able to put eyes on it, I'm definitely leaning towards the high temperature used during the heat treatment caused the vinyl to expand as well as the moisture in the underlayment / subflooring to swell thus causing the bowed flooring. I've seen similar issues with real wood flooring as well as some of the non-vinyl laminate floors that have been flooded or exposed to high humidity.

Unless something other than the heat treatment was recently done, it would seem as though the heat caused this issue. If after talking with the manufacturer, the heat is determined to be the cause, I imagine that you'll be going after your tenant as well as the company who did the heat treatment to make things right.

Steve MA asked-

In order to help determine the cause, it would be helpful to know a few additional things such as:

Is the bowing parallel to the 6" direction or the 36" direction - 36” direction .

Is the bowing mainly near the edge or is it located in the middle of the rooms? -middle

Is the bowing causing the seams to separate? - yes, somewhat

What is the flooring installed over, wood, concrete, old vinyl, etc.- wood

Was there any type of padding installed under it? If so, what was used? - no

What level of the house was it installed on, basement, first or second floor?- first

If on the first floor, is there a crawl space or a regular basement under it?- yes, it is a mobile home

Has the humidity level changed greatly from either before, during or after the heat treatment? - we have very high humidity in summer, low in winter

Is the heating system forced hot air or forced hot water? - forced hot air

Does the house have central air? - yes

Is one area of the house more effected than the rest? - living room

Was adequate expansion space left around the perimeter? - yes

Is it possible that either the base or shoe moulding were installed too tight to the flooring? Floor had been down for 1 1/2 years and was perfect, not prior issues.

Do they have a lot of heavy furniture that is restricting the natural expansion & contraction of the flooring? - yes

Sorry to hear about the flooring issue, though. I can't think of anything other than heat too. My vinyl plank floors usually contract this time of year, so we start to see small gaps. Even moisture we've had seep in under bad door sweeps doesn't cause expansion, just soft spots on the sub-floor. I don't know if you'd be able to get the treatment company to grant any compensation, especially if they had you sign a waiver.

For any future BB issues, I recommend chemicals. We've only dealt with BBs once, but the treatment results were immediate and highly effective over the long term. Plus it cost only $400 vs. heat treatment providers wanted thousands of $.

Wonder what the subfloor looks like? I had a house with a 1/4" masonite type sheet over IPB. Got a small leak in the mechanical room. It made the 1/4" bubble up something fierce.

I never use heat for bedbugs. The few times I have had them it has always been taken care of with chems. The heat gets high for sure, but I would think there would be a lot of people with the same issues coming out of the woodwork if that were the case.

Sisco, thanks for the added info. After learning that it's in a mobile home, I'm inclined to say that even though the heat treatment didn't help the bowing, the main cause is moisture in the subfloor. When you compare the places with the highest bowing does it land in between the metal floor ribs that support the subflooring? If yes, then IMO moisture has caused the subfloor to buckle & pull away from the floor ribs aka floor joists. You can confirm this by looking in the crawlspace under the mobile home to determine if there is bowing of the subfloor. While you're under there, you can take some moisture reading in the subfloor where the bowing is the greatest.

If its moisture causing the wood to swell, I don't see any easy fixes. You might try laying some heavy poly on the ground under the mobile home & adding vents to allow the moisture to escape during the humid months. I doubt very much that the vinyl flooring will go down on its own.

One last thought try pushing down on an individual plank to see if just it goes down or if it takes several other planks with it. If it's basically just that one plank than its most likely the vinyl & not the subfloor causing the bowing.

Good luck with finding not only the cause but also the cure.

I had a tenant treat his home for bedbugs with heat treatment. He called about a month later and informed me the flooring was coming apart. When I inspected the flooring and noticed it was dry and brittle, like the petroleum in the plank was depleted out from the heat treatment and it lost its integrity.

I’m sure if you speak with the company that did the treatment they can tell you if this happens with heat treatment.

I use the big paint stir sticks around the perimeter that I will be pushing against. Easier than messing with those little wedges. Plus if I ruin one I can always get more next time I buy paint.

If you find that it was an install issue you can either pull the trim and cut with an oscillating tool or cut and put quarter round down. Less pain than replacing the entire floor.

Just guessing that the vinyl will relax after a period of time .