Sheet vinyl subfloor seam bubbles

[RBRAMBLETT]

New seamless high-quality Armstrong vinyl sheet in kitchen. Subfloor is 1/2" plywood plus offset 3/4" plywood installed with ringneck fasteners (inspected by vinyl installer). Crawlspace has no moisture problem. Vinyl installer used cement leveling compound. Bubbles 2"-3" wide have formed along 4 to 5 feet of subfloor plywood seam and remainder of seam across kitchen has embossed despite supposed use of leveling compound. Vinyl installer admits no fault; blames it on the subflooring (which has not moved at all). Possible off-gassing of adhesive? Uncured leveling compound affecting adhesive? Any thoughts? Frustrated. It's just subfloor contractor vs. vinyl installer. I've still got the problem.

[kactuskid]

The problem could be a little of both depending on what products were used. Armstrong provides a gauranteed installation kit when their product is sold. It requires that the subfloor used be of a recommened underlayment and the leveler also be of a specific type. They also require a specific adhesive to be used and a specific notched trowel. If the kit was purchased and followed, and there is a problem, then they will replace your flooring material for free. The info is on their site:
http://www.armstrong.com/resflram/na...icle18128.html

If the adhesive was trowled out and the breathing time wasn't alloted for, then the bubbles could also be from the adhesive offgassing. Below is a link that describes the details of installing a vinyl floor and the proper underlayments.
http://www.rd.com/familyhandyman/art...inyl/glue.html