[HOME HELP] Laminate floor problem.

[Wormius]

Every winter we get these gaps between the ends of the boards that get bigger, but never completely go away during the rest of the year. It's very localized, and these gaps don't appear anywhere else but this one spot near the base of the stairs going into the basement.

It's laminate flooring (quick-lock). The gaps are just a few boards away from a transition T going to another room, so presumably I could maybe remove the T and tap them back together with some force and add some glue to hopefully prevent this from happening again.

So the question is, is this abvisable or am I apt to screw up the floor by closing these gaps up?

Pics below. Spoiler because of size.

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[flaming_potato]

How long have the gaps been appearing? Depending on where you or the installer started from my first recommendation would be to carefully work backwards and take the floor apart piece by piece to where the trouble area is. At that point you can see weather it is a few bad planks that got installed with broken click joints or an uneven sub-floor.

If that is out of the question for you then you could try to glue the "butt ends" and slide the pieces back together using a rubber mallet to try to shift the pieces back in place. This way has the potential to do some damage to the floor but if you are careful it can be done. Is there a lot of dirt build up in the gaps? Changes in weather and humidity will cause expansion and contraction of the floor which is normal but its should all move as one with the type of material you have. Do you have a humidifier in the house?

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by flaming_potato

How long have the gaps been appearing? Depending on where you or the installer started from my first recommendation would be to carefully work backwards and take the floor apart piece by piece to where the trouble area is. At that point you can see weather it is a few bad planks that got installed with broken click joints or an uneven sub-floor.

If that is out of the question for you then you could try to glue the "butt ends" and slide the pieces back together using a rubber mallet to try to shift the pieces back in place. This way has the potential to do some damage to the floor but if you are careful it can be done. Is there a lot of dirt build up in the gaps? Changes in weather and humidity will cause expansion and contraction of the floor which is normal but its should all move as one with the type of material you have. Do you have a humidifier in the house?

Thanks. They have been appearing yearly since the flooring was first installed about 5 years ago. Initially it was just a gap between two boards, and it would close up, but not entirely over the spring/summer months. The next year the gap would get even wider, and more boards are showing the symptoms to a similar extent. There is no dirt inside the gaps. We don't go downstairs that often, so there is not a lot of dirt or wear on the floor.

We did have a problem during the initial install when the installer failed to do any levelling of the concrete subfloor, so we disassembled the whole floor and re-used the pieces that were not damaged when they were taken up, once the subfloor was properly prepared.

I was hoping I could apply enough of a force to move the pieces by hand, but they're really tight together, and I don't see anything that would suggest that me trying to push them with my hands is working. I am also a bit nervous about disassembling parts of the floor in case they don't go back together. It's definitely one of those situations where I am worried about messing something up, and then not being able to find the same flooring material to replace it.

We do have a humidifier, but don't keep it on, because our upstairs space is already pretty humid. If we did get the humidity increased in the basement, how long would it take to see an effect on the floor? A couple of days or weeks if it is a problem with the humidity?

Something I noticed while looking at the floor, is that the transition seems to be glued down or something, maybe preventing the boards from floating at the edges of the room and instead separating in other locations? Is that possible, or should any movement be enough to break a seal made by glue?

[SportsJunky]

The locking system on laminate planks is usually very strong when you initially lock it to another plank but each time you take it apart and re-attach, the lock becomes a little bit less effective. I mention this because you stated that you've already pulled them up once before and re-used the ones that looked undamaged.

Also, a floating floor that is not allowed to float unimpeded usually results in gaps on the short ends. Is the floor tight to the walls? Usually a floating floor needs to have a control joint with transition in all/most doorways but you seem to have that covered. Is it possibly running up against the jambs? Also it appears that the floor wasn't laid on a right angle to the room? Not that this would contribute to the planks separating but it just seemed odd.

The answer may be living with it or pulling it up and re-clicking them together again. Humidity levels might be a contributing factor but that doesn't show up in man made products as often because they are constructed to be much more stable than a natural wood product. Now that I re-read the problem, I see that you mention that the planks come back together in spring/summer so maybe it is more of a dryness issue in the winter time?

[flaming_potato]

SportsJunky is right, if you have already pulled the floor up once I would avoid doing it again as you may end up with a lot more gaps in your floor due to the locks being worn out.

You need a recommended quarter inch gap all around the floor from any walls obstructions and under transitions to allow the floating floor to move, expand and contract to avoid buckling planks or separating seams. If the transition is glued to the sub-floor and the planks than that could be your problem. The planks in question are in the same row as the transition correct?

Where did you purchase the material from? You may be able to order more stock if replacing part of it is an option. But depending on the brand and popularity it may be discontinued. There seems to be a lot of turnover in flooring material these days.

You're options are:

1) Live with it as is
2) Try to fix it/glue the joints in question back together
3) Uninstall up to the trouble area and re-install using extra material if you can get your hands on some
4) Start from scratch and do your whole floor again

If you decide to go the route of installing new flooring or hiring someone to try to fix it PM me. I install hardwood, cork, laminate and tile. I know there are other guys on CP who do install work as well from what I have read. Hope this helps.

[Bigtime]

Speaking to the transitions it shouldn't be a problem if the transition piece itself is glued down to the subfloor, but as flaming_potato has said if the transitions are also glued to the laminate that will definitely impede any movement which could be causing the problem.

If you do decide to blow it all up and get some new laminate shoot me a PM and I can let you know what options I have for you.

[bizaro86]

I've had success in the past closing gaps on laminate flooring using a bulldog type tool, that grips onto the board and allows you to move the piece of flooring by tapping the tool with a mallet. It's a bit risky, as there is potential to break the edges of the boards, so I'd only recommend it if:

1) You really know what you're doing
OR
2) You're planning to replace the floor if you can't fix it to your satisfaction.

This isn't quite the one I've used, but similar.

http://www.torlys.com/installation/bulldog

(I should mention #2 applied to me, not #1...)

[bootsnixon]

Hi, I have a similar problem with my laminate and think as others have mentioned it is a humidity thing and perhaps your house is shifting/ heaving some. I think that is my problem as it is a older home and at different times of year I have different doors get sticky on me.
What I have taken to doing is make sure the opened joint is clean and then get a pair of my grippiest sneakers and kind of kick down and forward on the laminate to close up the joint. If the joint is in the middle of your room and you have to shift a number of boards, I will get a few friends and try to time our kicks all at the same time. Sounds stupid but you can generate quite a bit of force this way and has been working for me.
Good luck!

[jeffh]

As per the humidifier talk, if you have hardwood floors, you should upgrade your furnace's humidifier to at least a bypass model like a General Aire GF1042. A stand-alone unit won't give your home the humidity saturation that your floors will require. An L40 (minimum code) unit, which you likely have attached to your furnace's return is a complete POS. Plus a proper humid home is healthier for its dwellers.

[Wormius]

Okay, so an update...

I pulled out the transition piece, and found that the installer had left a decent gap, seems to have applied a whack-load of glue when putting it in, and this bonded the transition to the end-pieces on either side of it. I managed to slice through the glue with a knife (not easy) and then was able to tap the pieces back together to close most of the gaps (not easy, since they're on a diagonal). Hopefully this hasn't caused any hidden problems. I forgot to glue the pieces together, so hopefully they will still move as one piece in the future and not separate.

I still have two large gaps which end and start at a wall, and I am apprehensive about about removing the baseboard, to try to pull the boards together, since that means getting out the brad nailer and paint, etc. etc. to fix it after. I will try the "kicking with a sneaker" method soon for those instead if I can. I tried everything with these pieces at the transition and had no success using hands or feet to move them.

Incidentally, we bought the flooring at Home Improvement Warehouse. I looked at their catalog and it looks like it is still available, but we also have a few spare boards that we kept just in case, so I really have no idea how we would install them if we had to replace a board in the middle of the room.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Okay, so an update...

I pulled out the transition piece, and found that the installer had left a decent gap, seems to have applied a whack-load of glue when putting it in, and this bonded the transition to the end-pieces on either side of it. I managed to slice through the glue with a knife (not easy) and then was able to tap the pieces back together to close most of the gaps (not easy, since they're on a diagonal). Hopefully this hasn't caused any hidden problems. I forgot to glue the pieces together, so hopefully they will still move as one piece in the future and not separate.

The bolded part is a very weird coincidence, as just yesterday I received the latest issue of "Hardwood Floors" and in their "What's Wrong" column they show this very issue.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

The bolded part is a very weird coincidence, as just yesterday I received the latest issue of "Hardwood Floors" and in their "What's Wrong" column they show this very issue.

Is the assumption that the adhesive won't be strong enough to prevent the boards from moving, but still keep the transition in place? This adhesive was a nasty to cut through, and the boards definitely wouldn't move until I cut through it.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Is the assumption that the adhesive won't be strong enough to prevent the boards from moving, but still keep the transition in place? This adhesive was a nasty to cut through, and the boards definitely wouldn't move until I cut through it.

No, in this case the adhesive spilled out from under the transition and held the flooring in place, creating an area where the floor could not expand and contract naturally, leading to gaps on other sections of the floor.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

No, in this case the adhesive spilled out from under the transition and held the flooring in place, creating an area where the floor could not expand and contract naturally, leading to gaps on other sections of the floor.

Do you think I should scrape out all of the excess glue then, or is separating it from the laminate floor boards sufficient to allow it to move now? It looks like it might impede expansion or movement towards the transition piece due to the amount of glue there.