Has anyone had a laminate floor failure due to an unlevel floor, and if so, what was the result?

Question

I have a laminate "click" type laminte floor that has some dips that I belive exceed the spec (the floor dips a couple of mils in the worst spots). I believe the floor was just not leveled properly. Just wondering what kind of failure I might expect in the future?

Answer 1

I think the wrang is right in regards to a subfloor that is very much out of whack.  A couple of mils is not that much.  I believe most laminate floors will not allow 1/8 inch within 6 feet feet.  If our store had to follow those guidelines we would either never be installing laminate floors or we would take all the liability. The true test is to lay a couple boards in the area and see if it seems squishy or bouncy, and if I does then you probably would want to fix the area.  If you have a wood subfloor you can either decide to lower the high spots with a sander, or fill the low spots with a floorpatch compound (I recommend planipatch), but make sure you don't over do it, sometimes fixing one area too much might cause another problem right next to it. Aslo make sure that the subfloor is attached properly to the floorjoists with some 3inch screws to prevent  and movement. A lot of times builders will miss the floorjoist when installing the plywood which causes sqeaks and a soft feeling on the floor. They should run every 16,20, or 24inches from your front of your house to the back. If you have a basement, you can see the beams.  Hope this helps

Answer 2

You can expect a shorter life span on the flooring.

What will happen is the tongue and groove, will wear out, from flexing.  Most likely, the bottom of the portion with the groove will break first, or the tongue, allowing the pieces to begin gapping, or become uneven.  Then you'll have to replace it.

If its not reached that level of damage yet, its not too late to fix it.  That's the beauty of locking system flooring... you can pull it up, and put it back down, fairly easily.  I'd recommend pulling it up, and applying some floor leveling compound to the areas that dip too much, let it dry, and lay the flooring back down.

Other possibilities could include underlayment that was installed wrong, sub floor fasteners that were not driven in all the way.  If the laminate flooring is humped up any, then it could be there wasnt enough room for expansion when it was installed.  You need a good 1/4" gap all the way around it.  If it gets in a bind, and expands, it will actually lift a bit off the sub floor.

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