Nightmare with Laminate Flooring

Discussion in 'Carpenters' Talk' started by Pikerray, Feb 3, 2013.

  1. Pikerray

    Pikerray Member

    I'm having a nightmare with Laminate flooring in 2 very large rooms in that the flooring is rising approx 5 inches, I have done all the correct laying instructions and given the laminate a 10mm gap all the
    way round the room, after a couple of weeks the floor started to rise in places about 4-6 inches, I put it down to not enough gap around the rooms and decided to cut another 15mm off all the way round,
    low and behold another couple of weeks and the floor has risen again.

    The laminate flooring is not cheap at £15 Sq metre so what is the problem ?

    The 2 rooms are in a purpose built Games Room at back of garden which is not warm even though I have heaters in the rooms, I have tried De-humidifiers which both are removing a gallon of water per day, is this the problem ?

    One room is 11m x 9m 

    Second room is 11m x 4m
     

    Attached Files:

  2. snezza31

    snezza31 New Member

    Pikerray,

    Before you laid the floor, did you leave the boxes of flooring in the room to acclimatise for at least 24/48 hours beforehand?

    You say the room is not warm but there are heaters in the rooms. What sort of heating is there?

    Having said that, as the floor lifted again after you cut another 15mm off the perimiter of the flooring, then you must have a SERIOUS damp issue!!!!

    Do the long and short edges of the boards have a noticable "curl" where they butt up against each other? If so, then they have absorbed a lot of moisture.

    I doubt there will be anything you can do with the laminate flooring now, as it is probably too far gone if it has expanded as much as you say.
    Even if you can solve the damp problem, it is likely that the flooring will not shrink back and if it does, it will probably be so warped that it will spring about all over the place when you walk on it.

    Have you checked the sub-floor with a Damp Meter? See what reading you get. I suspect it will be way in excess of the tolerance allowed by the flooring manufacturer.

    Snezza.
     
  3. Pikerray

    Pikerray Member

    Hi,

    The flooring was acclimatised for 3 days in the rooms, the heaters are electric wall type however they are only turned on when people are in the room.

    Some of the boards do have a large curl in them at the joints, I took a complete strip out and the floor settled somewhat, the base floor itself is suspended and underneath I laid 15oo gauge sheeting over the concrete base which itself has DPC membrane as well,
    I'm just wondering because it's a suspended floor that the air bricks all around the building is letting too much coldness into the room ?

    Do you think I should go down the Vinyl flooring route and remove all the laminate ?
     
  4. snezza31

    snezza31 New Member

    To be completely honest with you Pikerray, from what you have described, I think you chose the wrong type of flooring for the building and the fact that it is not permanently heated.

    You should have used a WATERPROOF laminate type flooring, such as Aqua-Step. It is made of a honeycomb type plastic and looks similar to the strip wooden MDF flooring in your pictures. It would have cost you a LOT more than £15 / mtr, but is guaranteed for 20 years and is not affected by moisture in any way.

    I will post a link up to show you what I mean. Hopefully, the moderators will not delete it as screwfix do not sell any products like it.

    http://www.ncsflooring.co.uk/aquastep-waterproof-laminate-flooring-chambord-wallnut-vgroove-p-853.html?wizid=nm2fg8ulrlocj6adamo887sqm4

    I have fitted hundreds of sq mtrs of this stuff and NEVER had a problem with any kind of dampness. I've even fitted it in a Bathroom Wetroom.

    Snezza.
     
  5. Mr. Handyandy

    Mr. Handyandy Screwfix Select

    Did you notice that the boards had been pushed out to the walls?

    If you think about it, even in the 4m room, you will have 20 boards across. If each one expands by 2mm....=40mm.

    Mr. HandyAndy - Really
     

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