Resilient Flooring: How to Heat Mold WPC to a Raised Area

By: Chaz McKinney

Each installer always ends up with a challenge that pushes his or her limits, but we figure it out and keep going. This project was 1,400 square feet which included the living room, dining room, formal dining room, kitchen and bathrooms.

Products Used

Carpet was used in the bedrooms and entryway, but the homeowner wanted resilient placed in the living spaces. I used a Coretec WPC product.

The Challenge

The specific hurdle with this project was on both fireplaces there was a raised foundation area with a 1 ¾” height difference. The customer did not want it ground down or fixed. She decided she would like to use that space as a plant stand. So, I had to think outside of the box to figure out how I would finish that off in the best possible outcome.

// The heat molded WPC fits flush against the marble base of the fireplace.  Photo: Chaz McKinney.

The Solution

I decided to mold the WPC product to the height variance in the floor. I had to trench the floor out using a table saw with the depth set to cut just through the core of the product, leaving roughly 2/32” to the width of a 1/4”. I then used a heat gun to warm the product up to an adequate temperature, placed polyurethane glue in the trench I created, folded the product to the angle I needed to make up the height difference, used painter’s tape to hold it in place until it dried, and repeated these steps on the other side. I cut a return and wrapped the corner to fully upholster the raised area to create a seamless look with no trims or stair nosing.