5 Best Ways to Protect Vinyl Flooring From Heavy Furniture (Must-Try!)

It is easy to doubt whether vinyl flooring will last over a decade because there are a lot of inherent factors that can affect its life expectancy. Vinyl plank flooring can withstand the test of time for about a decade, depending on how well it is taken care of.

One of them is physical tension from moving heavy furniture over or across the floor or from high traffic.

As a result, physical tension triggers many things that cause vinyl flooring to get damaged very fast than you could imagine. Therefore, you should protect vinyl flooring from heavy objects as much as possible.

Before going further into detail, let’s understand;

How Heavy Furniture Damages Vinyl Plank Flooring?

Some of the well-known common factors that trigger the vinyl floor to get damaged include; changes in temperature, humidity, and physical tension/distress.

Generally, placing heavy furniture induces physical distress on the vinyl flooring, and it worsens or triggers other factors to effectively take impact. That’s because, during hotter seasons or periods when the planks expand, the heavy furniture presses against the layering of the planks and thus interfering with air circulation.

Hence, the planks will start buckling, folding, developing gaps between planks, and misaligning.

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Moreover, moving heavy furniture will also separate planks, rip, and leave scratches and dents. Which further causes the plank’s layers to open.

As a result, moisture and debris can escape into the planks over time. It causes the adhesive to weaken, causing the planks to develop gaps, misalignment, buckling, and even ripping on the outer layer.

For these reasons, you should be careful about moving or placing heavy furniture on your vinyl plank flooring.

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How Much Weight Can Vinyl Plank Flooring Handle?

Vinyl plank flooring is remarkably solid and strong to put up with lots of weight without getting damaged.

Well, your vinyl plank flooring is capable of handling the weight of a piano or 500 pounds of weight without getting damaged. However, it depends on its quality, plank thickness, and the object’s weight distribution.

For example, light-duty planks can withstand up to 25 pounds per square foot, while medium-duty can withstand up to 75 pounds per square foot, and heavy-duty can withstand between 100 and 125 pounds per square foot.

Using these calculations will help you determine the amount of weight that the quality of your vinyl flooring can hold with ease and without leaving dents.

It is worth noting that heavy furniture does not harm your vinyl plank flooring. Instead, it is the legs of your furniture that are causing the damage because it provides support making the weight distribution focus on a single point.

As a consequence, lots of pressure will be induced where the legs are causing physical distress or tension on the point. Therefore, the damage worsens when you drag the furniture over or across the floor.

How to Protect Vinyl Flooring From Heavy Furniture?

Vinyl plank flooring is indeed inexpensive, but how we handle it matters a lot because the cost of replacing it is far greater than protecting it from damage.

Protecting vinyl plank flooring from the elements that may cause damage is essential to its durability and the enjoyment of the hard-earned money you spent on it.

The easiest way to protect vinyl flooring from heavy furniture is to place protective pads or rugs under it. This way, you can ensure your furniture does not damage your flooring.

The following tips can help you protect vinyl flooring from heavy furniture damage:

Use Protective Pads

The pads on the vinyl floors keep furniture stable for a long time and are easy to use and cheap.

There are many types of furniture protection pads.

Therefore, before you purchase any is worth it to opt for the one that is ideal for vinyl plank flooring and can support the weight of your furniture. With pads underneath your furniture legs, it minimizes the furniture surface in contact with the floor.

However, it will also lessen the impact of the weight pressure on the planks, thereby preventing wear and tear and indentation.

Note: We strongly advise you not to use pads made of rubber because they leave stains behind the surface of the vinyl.

Use Furniture Glides

To avoid the possibility of scratching or indenting your precious floor, use glides instead if there are no pads.

In general, glides are thin-walled metal rivets with a tight grip that works well with furniture made of wood. The glide is installed by hammering its metal rivet into the furniture’s base.

After installing and securing the grips, moving your furniture around with glides is much easier, and is also very difficult for the glides to become detached.

However, when buying glides, you should consider their weight capacity if they can hold the weight of the application. Clothe gliders are preferable on vinyl plank flooring to plastic and polyethylene gliders because they are friendly and do not leave stains.

Don’t Use Rolling Chairs

Chairs and desks with castors can also damage your vinyl flooring over time. Since the castors exert a lot of pressure on the floor, layering results in dents and scratches.

A constant movement of the castor wheels will eventually cut into your flooring and tear the vinyl.

You can stop using them, and if it is necessary, use rolling desks and chairs in your office with vinyl plank flooring.

Then, it is advisable to place either a rug or a PVC mat underneath the seating area to minimize castor contact with the floor. Alternatively, fitting the desk or the chair with felt tips will also protect the floor.

Avoid Dragging Furniture Across the Floor

Dragging furniture across the floor to the other point may seem the easiest way of avoiding lower back pain rather than carrying them.

Avoiding back pain is good and healthy, but dragging a piece of furniture on the floor is not worth it because it scratches, tears apart the planks, and leaves dents behind. Instead of dragging it, request a helping hand to help you lift it to the other point to avoid tearing the vinyl planks.

If there is no one to offer you support, you take a rug, carpet, sheets, or plywood boards underneath the base or furniture legs as a protective layer to move it across the floor.

Providing a protective layer helps to spread out the furniture’s weight and minimizes the contact between the furniture edges and the planks.

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Place Area Rugs

Apart from heavy furniture, areas that receive heavy traffic frequently are also prone to get damaged very quickly. Heavy traffic causes the floor to develop scratches and dents caused by friction between debris and foot traffic.

Therefore, you should place rugs on areas receiving heavy foot traffic to prevent dirt and debris from tracking indoors from outdoors.

However, you should be cautious when placing rugs because it increases the risks of sliding because the vinyl floor is smooth. Make sure you secure it by placing a piece of furniture on it, caulking it in to hold it in place, or using sticky tape around the perimeter of the rug.

Alternatively, you can also use a non-slip rug pad or rugs with non-slip backing.

See Also: How to Choose An Area Rug?

To Conclude

It is worth implementing the above-mentioned tips to get the most out of your vinyl flooring. However, when applying these tips, never forget other factors such as humidity and temperature change.

Read More on Vinyl Flooring

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• A Guide to Remove Rubber Marks from Vinyl Flooring
• Do I Need Expansion Gaps for Vinyl Flooring? (Explained)
• Do You Put Vinyl Flooring Under Appliances? (Answered & Explained)
• How to Fix Gaps in Vinyl Plank Flooring? (5 Easy Steps)