I am helping a client with the purchase of a new condo that has Bruce Engineered Flooring installed over a cork underlayment. The joints are supposed to be glued on the tongue & groove, and none of it is nailed throughout the room. It is supposed to have the required 1/4″ gap around the edges (under the shoe mould).
During the walk-through inspection today (with closing tomorrow), we noticed some visible, but minor “buckling” between some of the boards, with some areas as much as 4 or 5 sq. ft. having noticable flex to them. While I expect some movement in a floating floor, we were all concerned with the larger problem areas, and what to expect during seasonal changes. The site rep for the builder seemed unconcerned and called the flooring installer out to the site this afternoon to “fix” the floor. I received a call from my client earlier this evening saying she had gotten a call from the site rep and the flooring guys had nailed down the flooring at those locations. He indicated it was “fixed”.
I am not sure how else they could have quickly, easily “fixed” these floors, but I need to be able to give my client some good advise about our course of action. We don’t want to delay the closing, but we also don’t want to accept a substandard “fix” to our flooring. Any suggestions???
Roger
Replies
Is the property standing vacant with the AC turned off? could the interior humidity have risen to the point that the floor is buckling/ If so running the ac for a week or so should cure the problem.
M
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"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."
i don't know that there is a "fix" short of relaying the floor... the Bruce stuff is usually pretty stable and i'd be surprised if it was just an issue of... live in it with the hvac on and it'll lay back down... maybe if heavy furniture is sitting on it... bt don't know if thats a fix...
i sure wouldn't go for a nailed down section... man if they nailed down a section i'd go nuts on them... we'd never close until i had a whole new floor... i feel for the seller but i think his floor guy screwed up
contact Bruce... bet you have an answer in one phone call and bet they'll not be happy to hear about the "fix"
p
This unit has been finished for 3 to 4 weeks, and the A/C has been running probably maintaining about 75 to 78 degrees. I recently toured a couple of other units in the development that already had flooring installed, and those units did not have A/C running......so......it appears they are laying the Bruce flooring in high heat (we have had 22 straight days with temps over 95, and about 10 days of 100 or more here in Nashville), and as the unit approaches completion the A/C finally comes on.
I'll try to contact Bruce in the morning and see what they say.
Roger
It could be that the sub-floor does not have the required flatness.
Or they did not sweep the floor before laying it.
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Nailing down a laminate floor is not a "fix" at all. It's a way to ruin the floor. The floor MUST float or there will be buckling elsewhere.
I wouldn't worry too much about a little flex. Some flex is normal, but if there are sections that are buckling, even a little, the proper fix is to replace those sections.
I think you client should should re-inspect the condo to make sure that it was fixed properly before closing. Either that or accept the prospect of re-doing the floor at a later date.
"Nailing down a laminate floor is not a "fix" at all. It's a way to ruin the floor. The floor MUST float or there will be buckling elsewhere."But it is not an laminate floor. It is an ENGINEERED (wood) floor.And one way of installing is a nail down. Another way is floating. But I would not try and mix the two.But you need to check the specific product. Some can't be floated. Some can't be nailed." Some flex is normal, but if there are sections that are buckling, even a little, the proper fix is to replace those sections."Still won't help if the problem is that the syb-floor is not flat."LEVEL/FLAT: Within 3/16¢ in 10┤ (5 mm in 3 m) and/or 1/8¢ in 6┤ (3 mm in 2 m)."http://www.armstrong.com/resflram/na/bruce/en/us/article17862.html.
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
I just got off the phone with an Armstrong Customer Relations person who confirmed that they would never recommend nailing down a floating floor to repair an excessive "flexing" problem. Also, thanks for the link to the installation specs......the Armstrong rep pointed out that they recommend that installation be done under the following conditions: "Permanent air conditioning and heating systems should be in place and operational. The installation site should have a consistent room temperature of 60 to 80 degrees and humidity of 35 to 55 % for 14 days prior, during and until occupied. We know that this floor was installed during hot summer days with no A/C running.
Roger
What DonCanDo said. Go to closing, insist on escrowing enough $$ to replace the floor if the builder can't get confirmation from Bruce (that he won't be able to get) that nailing down buckled flooring is an acceptable practice. When Bruce says "no way", put in a new floor with the escrow $$.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA