Hi,

I am in the process of laying 6 mil plastic sheeting over concrete, for hardwood flooring, as vapor barrier.

But there are wrinkles on the plastic sheeting. I think they are like that because of folding. Should I worry about those? Like should I flatten them?

I searched for flattening methods, they are either using steamer or hair drier but I am afraid of weakening the plastic to block vapor, or making the sheet warp.

Thank you in advance.

Try an Iron..it should make short work of it

Thank you very much James!

Could you please also suggest a temperature that is safe for the plastic?

No reason to bother with trying to unwrinkle. It doesn't have to be perfect. Pull it tight the best you can, but don't obsess over it.

Hi Ken,

Actually maybe wrinkle is not the correct description. They are "folds" created during packaging. They will retract to folding position after we release the stretch. So they will be that way when we put the subfloor on.

My concern is, since we will have floating sub floor (plywood), there will be quite some movement. The folding edges will be rubbed against and would wear out and fracture.

Is my concern valid?

I tried ironing last night on spare pieces. That's a lot of ironing to do. I am thinking if I can just use duct tape to flatten the fold. Do you see any pitfall with having duct tape all over the places?

Thanks!

I think I see now.

There will be far too much weight on top of it once you're finished. The floating sub floor isn't going to move...well maybe a whee bit, but nothing that could possibly wear things out.

Thank you Ken.