Repairing Cali Vinyl Pro Classic with Kool Glide
Note: We inserted a demo video at the bottom of this article to help.
Overview:
A great feature, if not, one of the greatest features of most vinyl plank floors today is that they are DIY friendly. This allows more people to install their own flooring, potentially saving them money. However, there is a downside to this. Most people aren’t professionals and more often than not, can’t match an install done by a pro. This can lead to either poor visuals or structural quality in the install.
Another problem is that there is a lot of defective product on the market, or product of low quality. This can be spotted a mile away by a professional, but most homeowners don’t know what to look for. This leads to poor quality material staying on the market. Hidden by low prices, deceptive marketing, and enabled by homeowners who want to save a penny today to spend a dollar tomorrow.
Poorly installed laminate floor with no stagger installed over carpet pad. Wrong, Wrong, Wrong!
However, not all poor installs or defective product claims are total losses. Often, it’s just a few vinyl planks here and there. Also, it’s possible your installation came out perfect. You simply need to repair your floors due to pet damage or accidents. In the following paragraphs we will summarize why and how we repaired SPC Cali Vinyl Pro Classic floors using the Kool Glide Iron. To conclude, we’ve also added a Demo Video to help learn about the system.
The Kool Glide System
Kool Glide Seam Iron used for carpet installations and vinyl plank repairs.
The Kool Glide iron is mostly used for carpet installs. It’s also good for repairing Vinyl Backed products, such as floating LVT or LVP. Whether the floor is an SPC or a WPC, we find that the Kool Glide does a very good job at repairing either. However, most WPCs have an attached cork underlayment, so we can’t repair with the Kool Glide in that instance. There is a way to repair those vinyl planks, which we will cover in a different video.
Unlike traditional seam irons, the Kool Glide uses microwaves to heat up their specialized seam tape. The iron never gets hot nor does it make contact with the adhesive. This allows you to heat through carpet with no mess. This also allows you to heat through a thin surface such as a luxury vinyl plank.
We find that most repairs we’ve had to do are in busy areas, such as kitchens or bathrooms. Often a dishwasher or toilet leaks, and that requires us to tear out the floor. In the tear out process, many planks are damaged and won’t click back together. Luckily, by using a Kool Glide, we can
- Avoid damaging the surrounding floor
- Speed up repair times
- Leave a stronger repair using the Kool Glide than repairs using traditional repair techniques.
Kool Glide Repair Video:
Without much further ado, here is our video depicting LVP repairs on Cali Vinyl Pro Classic Products.
