Checking in on my in laws house, prepping for the return from Fla., I found a surprise. The fairly new “Pergo style” flooring that install in the kitchen has buckled in 2 locations big time.
Water was turned off, no water damage. Heat was turned down to approx. 55 degrees. What could be the cause for this? Was purchased and installed threw home Chepo. Besides that being the first error what else??
Replies
Layed way too tight to wall?
Pull the base and see if they left space between flooring and immovable object.
Leak in the reefer?
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If there was no water damage, this can only be a (really) bad installation.
I bet Calvin is right. Either the fridge is having the wet heaves from the ice maker supply, or the drip pan..or the floor is not gapped at the wall.
Seen it way too often.
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I got down real close and saw no indication of any water. The house was shut up for the winter and water off and drained. I am leaning towards a poor install, to tight to wall, no room for expansion. I can see this more in hot humid summer. But house was shut down for the winter. Could the lack of traffic give it a chance to buckle.
Bad install is the obvious first guess. Like Cal says maybe they nailed the trim so there was no room for expansion. I'd also say maybe they didn't use a barrier between the subfloor and flooring. If it's on a slab then that would be a real problem.
Is the crawlspce damp? It would seem that there is a lot of humidity or moisture coming from somewhere.
The opening scene of the movie "Saving Private Ryan" is loosely based on games of dodgeball Chuck Norris played in second grade.
Crawl is high and dry, this is a tri level so the crawl is quite tall. Father in law has foam on side walls and ground, with plastic . And carpet ontop of the plastic and foam, everything was bone dry when I checked it out. Crawl has a sump pit and pump, rarely runs. Bone dry down there. Flooring was installed over a vynial tile, don't know if that was removed before intalling wood.
With most flooring you have to have a barrier. Like tar paper for a roof. If they went straight on top of vinyl then it probably restricted teh movement and then buckled. Just a guess.
The opening scene of the movie "Saving Private Ryan" is loosely based on games of dodgeball Chuck Norris played in second grade.
Pull the trim off, probably no room for expansion. Remove the last piece that was installed if you can. I have only installed the laminated flooring that snaps together,no glue.If this is the case, after removing the end piece by tilting it up, then see if the buckled portion will go down.It may have a permanent set. If so you will need a few new pieces.
mike
I just looked at a floor like this for a friend. No visible sings of water damage from up top.
A more carefull look and it turned out that water was getting in at the wall and running/seeping under the floor and barrier under it until it hit a vulnerable spot and got to the underside of the actual flooring.
The buckle was pretty far from where the water was actually entering the room.
ON the bright side, he got to do some plumbing repairs as well as fix his floor. How much better can it get?
Adding portland cement will increase shrinkage (producing hairline cracking - not what you intended) unless some more sand is added. The ratio is about 1 part portland cement to 4 parts sand, add to preblended sacked mortar mix. Anything at Home Depot or Lowes is fine.
Take a flat bar and peel up the cove base for a peek. Might be install to tight (needs a 1/4" gap all around) but from the photos I'm leaning toward that fridge. Did it have ice buildup in the frezzer before it was shut down?
It's buckeled in 2 locations, the fridge was not shut down. Frost free freezer. I have checked all that out.I went under the crawl, I can see not water stains. even the tounge & grooves show no water stains.
Then its got to be too tight. Peel up the cove and check for 1/4" gap.
Talked to my father in law tonight, he said that the floor was installed last summer. He is in fla. and will get home next week. A local retail sales/installer did the job, not home Cheapo. It's installed in a very small u shaped kitchen, the entrance door goes out into an attached garage, no chance for wind blowen rain under threshold. ect...
He said that the floor started to buckle up to the point where it scraped the bottom of the door, last summer. Father in law called the installer said "this is normal with humidiy changes". This should have been the 1st clue of a problem!!!
I kinda think that the lack of foot traffic allowed the floor the buckle. ALLOWED, not caused, the constant traffic would have kept pushing the floor down and moving. Nothing pushing it down, it came up. Path of least resistance.
He will not be a happy camper!
Thanks for all input., will keep you all imformed as to the outcome!
I had a laminate floor last year that started to buckle almost a year after the install. We pulled the baseboard and found many locations where the floor had been pushed tight against the wall.
You need to pop the base. If you find no spots like the above then it's probably moisture. Otherwise, it's pretty obvious it was the lack of room for "growth" as the laminate rep refers to it.
You should also note that the installation guides generally call for a couple days of acclimation before the install. I assume you have gone to the man. website and downloaded the installation instructions.
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