So riddle me this Batman . . . laminate click flooring

[IRQVET]

So back in December I installed some (Shaw) laminate click flooring. Now I know they say to leave about 1/4 inch from the edge of the walls to allow for expansion. However, my flooring is experiencing slight gaps between certain boards and although its not much, it still drives me nuts.

So riddle me this Batman, has anyone here used shims to elevate this problem since its not every board and its isolated to a few sections?

Is there another best practice?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[PugetDude]

Pics.

 

[grissom]

Did you allow the flooring to acclimate before installing it?

 

[rsanter]

I am assuming that the gaps are on the ends of the laminate sections and not the along the long dimension.
If it is in the long dimension then the problem is that you may not have gotten that piece snapped in at good as it could have been. The problem is a little similar for the gaps at the end mot much more likly to happen.
Sometimes it's the furnature placement that restricts movement and can sometimes cause a gap.
There are a couple of way to fix this. For end gaps you can sometimes use your bare foot and kick the board of sorts **** that your bare foot gets some traction and can move the board in the direction you want.
The other way is to remove the base board and use a prybar to shift that row of boards to close the gap

Bob

 

[IRQVET]

The flooring was in house for 3 weeks to acclimate before they were installed by my cousins while I was in the hospital. The floor is floating over the existing linoleum.

 

[IRQVET]

Nobody?

 

[930dreamer]

Looks like the piece isn't in place all the way or the spline/groove is damaged?

 

[gregtwojeeps]

Not much help to you but you may be holding the floating laminate floor to a bar set too high. Attached in the pic is a Bruce floating laminate I installed in our F.Rm. on top of a vapor barrier pad over concrete. I laid it with the instructions adhered to regarding acclimation, wall expansion spacing, etc. All joints both end and parallel were tight when laid. Notice at the end of the dog's right foot, how the end joints are opening up, just a year later. ...

In the second pic of yours above it appears the planks are tight against the board leading in to the one that has opened. So the planks on either side of the open gap, cannot really go any tighter against the offending plank. I tend to agree with 930, it is possible the plank "hook" did not engage or maybe it is just normal movement ? Or a plank that was overlooked in QA and is a few tenths narrower ? I dunno...

Either way, I don't think floating laminates are going to ever meet the longevity standards of the traditional 3/4 in. thick nailed hardwoods, as if they could...they would cost as much the true hardwoods. Good luck. JMO

 

[fech]

How cold does the floor get? It will act up if the floor temp ( not room, just floor) gets below 55 f.

 

[Boudin]

I did 1400sqft of similar laminate myself a couple years ago. Followed all recommended install instructions. I ended up with a few boards with gaps like you did, all in the first room I did. I just didn't seat the boards well when I started. As I progressed I learned it took more force to get a tight gap to lock in properly.

I ended up using a dual suction cup handle to grasp the boards and close the gap hitting it with a rubber dead blow

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001PBQ9K8/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER


Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[brownsmustang]

Also if the floor isn't as flat as recommended by the laminate manufacturer it will cause flex and seperation.

I've also seen this when the end joints aren't staggered as much as they should be.

Scott

 

[bzinsky]

try putting on some rubber soled shoes and kicking it back into place, usually works for me

 

[dfiler2]

Be sure to vacuum it well before you try to close it up. It is such a narrow area I would put some shims in to make sure it doesn't come apart again. It looks like there is no baseboard in that area so the shims might look as bad as the gaps.

 

[IRQVET]

I ended up using a dual suction cup handle to grasp the boards and close the gap hitting it with a rubber dead blow

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001PBQ9K8/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER


Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

Thats great advise. I tried kicking them back into place but it only lasts so long before they move back. Like I said, I didn't install the floor as my cousins were trying to help me out while I was laid up.

 

[Hpozzuoli]

If you know anybody in the granite business they use a suction tool that straddles a seam and grabs each side and with vacuum ***** them together. That's about it or maybe suction cups like mentioned before. Basically they never locked correctly. With a whole floor down its tough to fix..especially laminate. Hardwood you could just cut it out if you had to.

Shaw is good stuff. I just did 1200sqft in a customers house. All hardwood.