Why laminate flooring buckles

Sub-floor damage may also leave the permanent problem of the laminate floor moving up and down. If the boards are still lifting up or buckling, add some weight on top to put pressure top and let it settle down as it dries up. At times the laminate board will be damaged beyond repair; consider getting a new one for the space left.

Trim it appropriately to leave enough space for shrinkage and expansion. Get the same color shade to avoid having different shades on your flooring. Return and nail the mold back to its original area.

You can then caulk the gap between the baseboard and laminate floor. The main causes of laminate floor lifting are changes in temperature and moisture content in your house. Also, poor installation and inadequate expansion gaps may make a laminate lift.

To get rid of laminate lifting, ensure you have adequate floor expansion gap, check and regulate humidity levels in your house, and address sub-floor imperfections. Measure the laminate expansion and contraction gap and trim accordingly before putting back the board.

Add or put some weight on top of the repaired board to weigh it down for about hours to help the lifting settle. Sub-floor imperfections like uneven sub-floor surface, poor laminate underlayment, or even improper underlayment, the poor installation method can make your laminate floor feel spongy.

However, soft and spongy spots can be fixed using a syringe and air inflation needle-like inflating balls. The laminate floor moves up and down since its mostly installed as a floating floor. Sometime the laminate may move due to boards separating or gapping. Gapping does occur when boards pull away from one another, leaving gaps between the floorboards. This will help maintain the room temperature and conditions, especially during installation. The baseboards that are pulling away from the wall, is there ANY sign of moisture???

Like a slow leak of any sort??? Pulling back the baseboard and a moisture meter used on the drywall would give you a good understanding as to whether or not there is moisture intrusion. Here is a pic of the entire expanse, the buckling starts just before the chair and continues in places up to the far wall each piece of laminate is about 4 feet in length.

There are a couple more minor areas of buckling separate from this area. It was perfectly fine until the past month or so, which is the strange part. The base separating from the wall is in random places. I purchased the floor myself and hired a local reputable flooring company to install it. They have not responded after several emails. Forget the emails, and do a direct phone call, or stop in at his place of business.

Is that a slight buckle in the hallway, just past the doorway to the open room on the right hand side of the picture. Looks like a very large seam, if it isnt buckling. Its time to get them back in there, or if you really cant, then call someone else, so you dont ruin your floors. The flooring pushing on the walls if no expansion gap , could be making the baseboard pop. Just before the chair, on the right hand side, looks to be another room. Is there the same flooring in that room?

Is their an expansion gap in that doorway? There is also a 'breezeway' to the LEFT of the hallway. This is another "pinch point". This is a relatively LONG stretch of flooring. The wall will win so the "push" has no where to go. That's when floors lift and buckle. If your baseboards are popping off it is possible the floor is pushing against them as well and causing them to move. Or more likely the expansion in summer has also effected you baseboards as well - especially if they are MDF.

You are going to need a tape measure and a pry bar Please write down your findings. The baseboards were painted before the flooring was installed. It was never removed, as there was carpet before and the new laminate was lower on the wall. Just shoe mold was added after the laminate was installed. The whole expanse is the same flooring. To the left is the kitchen, dining area, door to the garage.

The floor there is ok. To the right just before the chair is a laundry room with vinyl flooring. There is just a transition piece at that doorway. What should my next move be? Should I contact the BBB to see if that prompts some action? Or just hire a new flooring installer to fix it? Thank you so much for taking the time to respond in so much detail.

They were one of the installers contracted by Floor and Decor. I was originally going through them for the flooring but found a floor I liked at another store. The installer said he also works independently. Call the installer. Be polite and civil, and ask him to come look at the floor and fix it.

If he won't come look at the floor, explain to him that you'll have no choice but to leave poor reviews everywhere you can. If he still refuses to come out, call the store you bought the floor from and ask for a recommendation for someone that can come find the problem and fix it.

Tell them who installed it and that they won't come back to fix it. When the repairman starts working on it, take pictures of the floor, of what the problem was, and the fix. Ask the repairman to write a memo about what he did to fix the incorrect install. Then send the original installer a certified letter asking for a refund in the amount of what you paid the repairman, send him the pictures and a copy of the memo. If he refuses, or ignores you, hop down the small claims and file a suit.

You'll win. Now leave your reviews with pictures and your court ordered judgement. Yes, iit will damage your floors. Once they warp up, they wont flatten out. Its time to get it done, , or you will end up replacing. Can you go to the installers place of business and talk to him? If not, then call someone else to come out asap, and get it fixed. Dont wait and have unfixable damage. Normally they are not You better check to see what the on-line specifications are appropriate installation areas - often times kitchens and bathrooms will have a special mention as were NOT to install them.

There is no guarantee the planks will "snap back" into shape in the winter time. Fibre board like in laminate has a very limited time it can "bend" before the bend becomes permanent warped. Normally the person who installed it would come back, pop off the baseboards and then trim back the planks on the wall so that the planks have the correct expansion gap.

This is normally part of their "1 year labour guarantee" that reputable installers will offer. The good installers know this and offer a free repair because of it. This the busy season for them. I suggest pushing a bit as Taylor's Cabinets suggests. Make mention that you would prefer to have him fix it but you will move on to someone else and forward the bill and bad reviews on to original installer. Purchase a hygrometer to find out. He tried pulling it up and shaving a bit off of each end but its still too tight it seems.

Its driving him crazy! Help please! Hi Alex, thank you for your question. I am unsure of what that could be, it could depend on who the manufacturer is maybe you could get in contact with them and they might have a better idea of what it could be.

I wish I could be of better help to you. I wish you the best of luck. Hi, I put a new laminate floor into a large room a few years ago. I hired a professional installer to help me do it so I know that there is a plastic sheet moisture barrier as well as the thin foam pad. Also this room is a renovated garage so the floor underneath is made of cement. Now a few years later the floor still looks very good, except that there is occasionally something coming up through the crack between boards in one spot in the middle of the floor.

The thing looks like an off white flower. If you touch it it crumbles into dust. This thing can be vacuumed off but a few weeks later it is back again. Thanks, Alex. Hi Steve, thank you for your question. It had to have had some sort of humidity for the ends of the plank to bend upward. That is the only thing that I could think of. Best of Luck. I left a single plank 5. Afterwards the ends of the plank were bent upward. I suppose if I let it lie flat on my indoor carpet it may eventually flatten out again, but it makes me nervous about the floor I already laid.

This plank was laying alone so it had nothing to do with expansion space and this product is supposed to take hot sun. Any thoughts why this happened?

Hi Myesha, your floor could be buckling for many reasons. If it was installed but not locked in all the way that will make the laminate start to separate and buckle. Best of Luck!

What could be the problem? Hi Sytvia, thanks for your question. It could possibly lie back flat down, but if it was not installed properly the floor could be buckling due to not locking in tightly. It would just depend on if it was locked in correctly. Good Luck! We did not leave enough of a gap around the perimeter of the room. So we are fixing that problem. However, should the panels that are buckled automatically lie down once we have made the appropriate gaps?

Try and contact the manufacturer of your laminate to see what they will say. I wish you the best. A contractor installed my laminate flooring on the basement sometime in October of We started to notice some buckling sometime in April or may of this year on the masters bedroom , hallway and I front of the kitche.

We thought it was just normal because the the temperature changed. But around 3rd week of may, the buckling on the master bedroom laminate flooring got worse where the plank will almost come off. I called the contracted and he just came last week to have a look at it and we were told that the temperature on my basement was too cold and there is no thermostat to maintain the heat of c and it cause my flooring to swell and also my garage attached to the house is also cold, and since the masters bedroom is also closed to it.

Btw, my basement flooring use to be carpet. But since I bought this house 10 years ago , we always used the fire place on the basement and ther is no thermostat since our thermostat is controlled from upstairs floor. I have a 2 year warranty, but was told by the contractor that since the cause of the buckling is d reasons he told me earlier , it is not being covered under warranty because he did not installed the flooring improperly and suggested to us to changed into new hardwood flooring instead.

Laminate flooring that he installed was brand new and we barely go down on the basement and use the area. Hi John, Thanks for your question. Yes you can use a undercut tool to cut the boards if you would like, but the best method would be to take the boards out and cut board the way it is suppose to be cut to the proper length from the beginning.

I may be speaking on behalf of a number of your readers because I looked for the answer to this common question but didnt find it. All of your answers indicate that one should remove the board and cut on a table saw or other saw. Therefore, would a Dremel or a multitool with cutting blade work best??

What tool would cut flooring closest to the wall and assuming the baseboard has been removed? Hi Nick, you are so welcome. We are happy to help! I would follow the instructions the manufacturer off the laminate gives just so your laminate can stay in warranty if anything were to go wrong. You can put t-moldings in doorways if you would like that would be ok. Hey guys, thanks for answering all of these questions.

The layout is similar to a B with the vertical line on the left side being the hallway and the 2 holes being the 2 rooms. My question is should I try to dd in t mouldings at those doorways? My initial installation is all one continuous piece without t moulding anywhere. Hi Dawn you could do many of things it just depends on what is wrong with it. If it is the short edge coming out you can just tap it back into place I would need to know further information so I can try to give you the best answer.

The only suggestion I would give is to take the floor out and gradually level the floor. The floor can still slope but it has to be a gradual slope because of the joint integrity with the floating floors.

The problem with nailing it down would be that it is not considered floating anymore and that could cause the rest of your floor to buckle. I hope this information has helped you. Thank you for your question. We installed a floating wooden floor that covered square feet. The hallway there was a bow uphill slant in the floor and we covered it and now it is buckling. There is no way to tear the floor up because it is in the middle.

Is there anyway to nail that down or will that buckle the rest of the floor?? My parents are older and keep tripping over it and if they fall they will get hurt and we dont know what to do..

Any suggestions?? Hello Anne, laminate flooirng should warm up at least 48 hrs before the installation. Cold temperture during a short period of storage in your garage should not impact your laminate. I have bought some Then he moved the laminte into my home next day.

He has not installed the laminate yet. Thank you very much! It is great practice to read all instructions before laminate flooring installation. Wrong installation is not covered by warranty and some manufacturers have special requirements.

Locking system from brand to brand differ in installation method and some floors can not be installed by tapping boards together. So, again, if you are going to install your floor please read the installation instruction usually inserted inside of each box. Charlie, we are puzzled with your case. This could be insect or quality related. Ask another professional what he thinks or call manufacturer for assistance.

Brian, we suggest to consult with your installer. Double check all expansion gaps. What flooring brand do you have? Leeann, I am sorry to hear that. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do with damaged flooring planks. Once is damaged it has to be replaced. What we suggest is to replace only the damaged area and a skillful BBB rated flooring installer will be able to do it for you. This is probably why your floor is flexing up and down and squeaks.

Even subfloor is essential for stability of the laminate flooring. If this is your problem there is no easy fix. You need to repair your subfloor and to do it you probably need to take your flooring apart, fix the subfloor and reinstall the floor. Elizabeth, separation in the bathroom can be related to the moisture exposure or luck of the t-molding in the doorway.

In both cases you need to replace or take apart and re-install your floor. Your living room: buckling can be related to the moisture exposure or wrong installation. If you excluded moisture or water damage it means that your floor was installed too tight not enough expansion gap. You need to fix the problem and address the buckled up area. This article can help.

Mason, buckling can be related to the other reasons than water. For example lack of expansion gap, not enough space for expansion, pinched floor with heavy objects like kitchen cabinets, grand piano, heavy furniture etc.

Another reason could be installation without expansion gap for spaces approximately 40 ft lengthwise and 30ft side-wide; this rule can be changed down due to the heavy furniture load, which limits the floor to float. Even subfloor is essential when it comes to laminate flooring installation.

Removal of one board is possible and can be done without the problem. Read this article to learn more. Thank you so much for all your responses to these questions. It must take you a long time. I noticed buckling near the support wall between the living room and the garage. This sound is also made in other spots that I know are dry, so the sound may be nothing. There is no leak in my slab copper as it was inspected by a plumber who visited my house. There is also no apparent leaks in my sewer drain system.

I have had a water mitigation company come to my house, I have purchased a moisture meter, and there is no evidence of any water existing in the laminate flooring. Here is my question: Can water be trapped below the moisture barrier and show no sign of itself in the laminate, save the buckling spots?

This is the only explanation that would make any reasonable sense, as there is no evidence of moisture as verified by myself and water mitigation company. The other question I will ask is if the water is under the laminate, and it is not doing anything else but buckling the laminate, can I just forget it, let it dry out eventually, and go on with my life?

Lastly, can someone come, take up one of the boards where I think the water is, and help me verify, visually, that there is no water? I just want to make sure the repair job does not include taking up all of my laminate flooring. Thank you for your response. We moved into this house right at 2 years ago. We noticed then that the laminate in the bathroom was separating at the seams. Our house is built on a slab. We can not find a moisture problem anywhere in the house. Do you have any idea why this is happening it hoe we can preserve the flooring a little longer until we are done with the remodel and are ready to have the floors done right?

My laminate flooring on my second floor in my house in my bedroom squeaks constantly and one certain spot when you press on it with your foot it makes a loud pop sound as if it was hitting a vent or something, it bothers me majorly, any ways to fix without having to replace the whole floor or drilling???? Please respond! I believe that my floor is buckling due to recent exposure to damp spots on an area rug my mom and her dogs are here while she is recovering from a fall and she has had issues training them.

Is there anything we can do to salvage the floor? FRED, Just had 12mm laminate installed my kitchen and living room that flow together,both over a crawl space,install guy put a straight edge over the areas and as I expected not level.

He used about 3 bags of henry floor level on the bad spots. The problem I have is the floor in some areas creak as i walk on it. Some boards have a crunching or swishy sound when i put my full weight on them,the sound on some boards may be 2 feet of noise but no noise on the rest of board piece I believe that i have still some low spots causing this?

I have engineered wood floors which were installed approx. Now within the last 2 weeks I have noticed these black spots appearing ramdonly on my floors. They look like smeared ink spots. Some are irregular patterns and some are just dots. The surface is still smooth. Now I know these were not here before. I literally get on my hands and knees to wipe my floors down with a microfiber dust rag, and any debris-light spots I use a bit of elbow grease.

If these black blotches were there prior I would have been scrubbing the relentlessly.. Anyway they will not disappear.

Beside they do not look like your typical water damage spots. I have no pets. Plus they are on the living room floor which there are no water pipes. They have even appeared in 2nd floor hallway. Now to throw another element into the mix, in November I noticed 3 pinpoint size kick outs which suggest termites — small sandy poop pile from termites.

When he was here in late December I did not have the black blotches on the floor otherwise I would have pointed it out to him. Barring that its not water damage and that my home will be tented in months, I would get used to the look if it was more on the lines of French bleeding wood floors; however this looks horrible.

Any idea what this could be? I am at my wits end, upset and frustrated. Oh, seems like blotches are developing from bottom of floor to top not vice versa. Anne, not all laminate floors have a moisture resistant core so any prolonged exposure to water or moisture can cause the laminate to swell and buckle. It doesnt matter what the outside temperature is when installing your floor, the only thing that you need to do is have the flooring inside of your temperature controlled home for at least hours to acclimate to the temperature and humidity and you will be all set to install your laminate.

Good Luck. Hazel, it is hard to tell what happened to your floor without physically being there to inspect it, I would call a local flooring contractor to inspect the floor and try to locate the problem. Wayne it is best to check with the manufacturer of the laminate floor that you are interested in to get the best answer. Some laminate may hold up better to large temperature fluctuations.

I have a friend that is having problems with her flooring. She has 2 little dogs that wet on the floor from time to time and the flooring is buckling. If this moisture is cleaned up immediatly how is this possible. Thank You Deborah, I am soon installing the same floor from costco ,I will keep that in mind not to bang the planks in but tap gently.

I know The harmonics floor install kit has a different type of block that is used which looks like none other, and the staggering pattern is explained on their website, its important to follow that for warranty purpose.

Deborah, it sounds like your installers did not install the flooring properly and destroyed the locking mechanisms on your laminate flooring. If this is the case then you have no choice but to replace those damaged boards. Laminate floors do have slight tolerances for lippage and seam gaps, in order to find out the tolerances for your flooring you will need to contact the manufacturer and request a full spec sheet on your specific laminate floor.

Good luck, Fred. Hi, Just bought sq ft. I have read about mold under vapor barrier forming over time depending on wood humidity level, but wood seems dry do I really need vapor barrier? Do I need a Dividing strip between the 2 rooms even though they are almost 1 large room? Is it better to install during warm weather ,I can wait. Sorry for long post I want to do it right Thank You! Since the water was so high in your home I would bet that it is moisture damage which has caused your flooring to expand and buckle.

Thanks, Fred. It sounds like something is rubbing against the bottom of the floor creating a noise. I would have somebody come over to take apart and inspect the floor, subfloor and underlayment. I had parquet flooring throughout my house, but decided I wanted laminate flooring with a moisture control padding put on top of it, after time the laminate begin to buckle, after looking to see it the problem was in the laminate flooring I found that the parquet flooring had buckled underneath it.

My question is why did this happen? Hi and thank you… I have an issue with my new Laminate. I had a friend who also happens to be a contractor install costco prepadded laminate. Could this be why each seam has small lip or am I just getting my face too close to look at it?

Please advise. Thank You Deb. We went without electric for 13 days. Without heat for a full month. Once the heat was I stalled, my pergo floors started to change buckle and separate my flood adjuster is telling me that is not from the flood, however, the water was so high that at its highest point when I opened my front or back door it was level with the floor I was standing on and stayed that way for 12 hours before the tide went out.

Thanks for your help. I am having a 14mm laminate flooring with attached pad installed on a concrete slab. Is this correct or is there a problem with the installation? Jason, as long as you have left sufficient expansion gaps around the rest of the perimeter of the room you should be fine.

Your room is average in size so it will not expand or contract much at all. Let me know if you do have any other questions. We just installed laminate in our master bedroom. The room is 13 x Will this cause my floor to buckle?

Their is an expansion gap around the rest of the perimeter. Marsha, is there a way that you can send me pictures of the damage in question? If so you can send them to fred bestlaminate. Jill, the only way to find out if there is a water leak under your flooring would be to call a certified plumber. We purchased a house with laminate flooring 3 years ago. Now the laminate has dark circles thorughout the living room and Florida room.

I had a contractor in my house and he said the only time he has ever seen the floor turn black was from water damage. I think ceramic tile is under the laminate but I am not sure. The black spots do not feel spongy nor is the floor buckling. Is water the only possibility for large black spots?

Some are 2 feet in diameter? This seems to coincide with the timing of another problem: my kitchen faucet is pulsating and there is a leak in the sprayer hose. Could there be water leaking somewhere under the floor from that issue that would cause the buckling? Thank you for your insight. Our contractor is an aquaintance…. In quote process, we expressed our concern about floors not being level, and pointed to some areas.

We were assured he was used to dealing with un level floors. We asked about leveling it, and he said between the padding and it needing to settle, it would be fine.

So they layed the full room. Pulled up carpet in dining room, tore up tile in kitchen. We can feel many other areas of it being unlevel in other places of both rooms of which he did not address.

Finally today they pulled up Living room. Found severe drop in one corner. Now doing research a little late, I know and have now discovered that it should have been leveled. Found instructions from trash can, it says clearly that the floor should be leveled. Several areas creak, sag, bounce. ALSO — will be putting a gal Fish Tank in corner of 1st room, and will also be putting a Granite slab in corner across from fish tank to place a wood burning stove on.

Concerned abou the weight of both of these items, as well as the aquarium. No other place on any of the pieces, Spot color is not seen anywhere on any of those 75Sq feet of granite. Totally looks like it shold not be there.

Just because they have a photo gallery of their work, does not mean 1 they did the work or 2 the flooris still any good. Sometimes flooring looks great when it is first installed. But if the expansion gap was not properly cut, or if they forgot, or improperly installed a moisture barrier, the floor could buckle and heave months later.

The underlayment will absorb most small subfloor imperfections but you need to be careful of sharp rises or dips in the subfloor, such as an uneven floor joists, that could potentially lead to peaks in your laminate floor due to the uneven subfloor. Most all underlayments will perform the same in regards to their ability to level out subfloor imperfections.

Some underlayment will provide better thermal, sound and moisture protection than others but all of them are, in my opinion, equal in terms of subfloor correction. If you are worried about the condition of your subfloor you should call a flooring contractor to give you their opinion on the suitablility of your subfloor for installing laminate flooring.

Also depending on the size of your living room and hallway you may or may not need a transition between the two rooms. I have ran flooring straight through the living room and hallway with no transition many times and have never had any problems. If you do that the most critical thing is that you have the proper expansion gap along the perimeter of the room that way you can eliminate the chances of your floor buckling due to it being pinched somewhere.

You are doing a terrific job buddy. Regards from Hotel Charles de Gaulle. Keep together with the good do the job. Bridgette, If your transition is too tight to the flooring then it can cause the laminate to buckle because the laminate does not have a sufficient expansion gap. You should probably have one of your installers remove the boards closest to the transition and cut it down so you have the proper expansion gap to the transition.

Good luck. Thanks for a great website. How smooth and level do they need to be? And another topic — it sounds like I should put in some type of transition border to separate the living room from the hallway?

Joan, Make sure you contact the Attorney Generals office Dept of Consumer Affairs in your state, because they will follow your complaint and contact the business on your behalf.

The contractor will be forced by the Atty General and the inspection report to make it better. Having said that, I have my own locking laminate floor issue and I am starting to suspect that some of these designs are simply un-workable.

Good luck…. Would you believe he just left after giving me an estimate? He retracted the sanding. He must have read your blog! I do not intend to use him and will take your advicre about getting a flooring installation store or two to have a look and give an estimate.

I feel pretty educated with the information you provided. I had one guy start the job — one whole room and another finishished the rest of the house. This house is not moisture free for sure. I will definitely get a second opinion. Thank goodness I found your website. Thanks for the knowledge. Oh yeah, he did mention gluing it down. Alexis, please do not let anybody sand your laminate flooring!!! The contractor is clearly oblivious to laminate flooring and how to repair it……DO NOT ever sand laminate flooring under any circumstance, you will destroy the flooring and there will be no going back afterwards.

Please call a local laminate flooring store that does installations and have them come out to give you an estimate for the repair. It is either an expansion gap issue or something is pinning your floor down and not allowing it to expand or contract. Laminate flooring needs to have an expansion gap due to humidity and temperature causing the floor to naturally expand and contract.

After you have that gap then you can replace all of your trim and moldings in the room. This will prevent your floor from buckling for the rest of the lifetime of the flooring. Margaret, the baseboards being too tight to the floor had nothing to do with your floor buckling. There simply was not enough of an expansion gap around the perimeter of the room or there was either a finish nail or another object pinning down the floor somewhere which was causing it to buckle.

Have your installer check to see if there is anything pinning down the floor and not allowing it to move freely. Good Luck, Fred. Carina, sorry it took me so long to respond to your question, I was on vacation last week. To address your concerns it seems that you have been very vigilant so far by taking apart a large section of the flooring and drying out as much moisture that was visible.

Also the dehumidifier is a brilliant little appliance that will help to suck all of the excess moisture out of the room. In my opinion I believe that you have done enough to stop the water from pooling underneath the floor where it can do the most damage and I think that after 24 hours of running the dehumidifier and letting everything dry out you should be fine. Im sure that you are already finished because this happened nearly 2 weeks ago but at least other people can see what you have done and that will help them if they need good advice.

Thank you for your post. Does this sound right? He did ask if it was near the wall or in the middle. The buckling begins to the right of the entry from one room to another. It extends outward about 3 ft. I am describing this as best I can. I know absolutely nothing about laminate flooring. Good point Bennie!

We are sorry to hear about your problems. Now, you have a chance to put your feedback on Angies list , so other people who will deal with your installer will know more about the quality of his work. All the bast and thank you fro your opinion. I would ask people whom you have visited homes and as for a photo gallery of their work and the ability to call the person that the flooring was installed. Had someone look at floor today and they said i should have someone remove molding and trim all sides of the room and the floor should flatten out.

Do you think this would work. Had my laminate floors installed during cold weather. This was done in the basement and used a gas fireplace constantly. Called the person who installed it and he said whoever put the baseboards back up put them to tight too tight to the floor and that the floors would straighten out if I had them removed and a gap left. I had that done now my floors are buckling in different places plus the previous areas. He is coming back out this week to see what can be done to correct this problem.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. The sub-floor is concrete, I have a better quality steam barrier the one with the little Styrofoam balls that allow air circulation. We immediately soaked up as much of the water as possible, removed the rug and started going under the laminate and steam barrier. At the moment we have the dehumidifier and fan going, we reached under the flooring and barrier further into the room to dry any moisture that might still be there with dry towels.

We reached about feet under the laminate and steam barrier at the border to where we had taken the laminate out, we also continued doing so reaching in underneath the floor until we could not feel any moisture anymore. Is there anything you would say we should do in addition to this? The concrete flooring underneath the laminate that we left in seems to be dry, so does the laminate. Are there any tips as to what we should do next? Do you think we would need to rip out more flooring or should this be enough?

We have advised our clients to disassemble the floor completely and seal the edges of the boards with a clear, siliconized acrylic caulk. This will help to prevent any cracks or squeaks in the joints once that is done.

You should also call your manufacturer to see if there was any quality control issues or if there was a recall issued for this problem for your flooring.

You can also Google your floor and see if there are any other people who have had similar complaints and you can see if they heard of a recall for that product. The floor should not squeak or crackle once the expansion gap is corrected and once you seal the edges of the boards with the clear caulk. Good Luck with this issue. Hi, we ostalled our 12 mm plank laminate this winter and with he increase in humidity recently the floor has expanded and it is touching the walls in a few areas and the plank are snapi g and crackling.

My husband is going to fix this issue. Will the snapping go away or is the whole floor ruined? You can try to use a dehumidifer it may help to keep the humidity down in the room but it will be costly to buy and keep it on. It would be best if you paid a contractor to look at your installation and ask his opinion also.

He may recommend to disassemble the floor and trim the edges of the boards around the perimeter so that you have the proper expansion gap. Joan, it does sound like water damage could be the culprit. Do you have any extra boards from your original installation?

I would suggest to call the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint with them about the company who is ignoring you. I would call a local contractor and have them come out to inspect the flooring.

He should be able to figure out whats going on there. If you do have extra boards then he may be able to repair your flooring. Good luck, I hope that all goes well, Fred. And I have no floor molding down would that keep anything in place.

I purchased laminate floors a year ago in my kitchen. Less than 6 months after installation I noticed buckling of the floor, as well as warping. The installer is claiming excess moisture. We use a swiffer mop on it. No excess moisture ever. Now, they are starting to warp all over the place, and the place where I purchased them from is ignoring my calls. Suggestion s? We recently installed a laminate floor in a large chapel sf and now the floor is severely buckling.