Is this a botched installation?

[Josh]

Hello gentlemen,
About 2.5 years ago my elderly mother decided on a whim to have a laminate floor installed. She contacted a major company (at least in our area) that subcontracts out the actual work to random crews. She thought something didn't look right. There were random gaps everywhere. From what she tells me "The gentleman responsible for handling complaints and warranties came out and told her that everything looks good. That what she was seeing is just the normal expansion and contracting that laminate floors do."

Since then I've now had a chance to install two laminate floors myself and from everything I've learned and experienced this is not normal expansion and contracting. It's either poor material that has a problem locking correctly, or a shoddy installation not ensuring all the pieces were locked. These gaps are there year round.

I'd like to step in and talk to the company myself instead of my elderly mother, but I'd like to confirm that my suspicions about what I'm seeing here is correct with you gentleman. Thank you so much for taking the time to read all of this!

Most of the floor looks like this. Here's some pictures from the hallway.

 

[Floorist]

That's not a bad installation, that's a horrible installation. The problem you may have, is the time limit. Many people only warranty an installation for one year. but I would complain loudly.

 

[Josh]

That's not a bad installation, that's a horrible installation. The problem you may have, is the time limit. Many people only warranty an installation for one year. but I would complain loudly.

Thank you, that's exactly what I told her now that even as a rookie at installing laminate I've never had a single gap show up : / Honestly I made this post after looking at their website and seeing that they had a 15yr warranty on "Locking" "Warping" etc etc, but yes, I just noticed that was the product warranty.... The installation warranty is 1 year... I am going to try to go at them from the angle that she tried to get it taken care of immediately, but was told it was normal by one of their guys. I don't know how far that I'll get with that though.

The other side of this issue is that she wants to do an adjoining room and the only place I can find matching material (so I can install) is from the original source and they won't sell her any unless they do the installation. That's when I had enough and made this post.

Gah, will do what I can with the info. Thank you so much for taking the time to confirm.

 

[DarisMulkin]

I'm not a laminate person but I'm thinking that it can be repaired . What could be causing this is the floor isn't flat. Have you tried to kick those boards back together at all? Floating floors has to have room for expansion at the walls and I'm thinking not being flat with the traffic is causing it to shift.

Daris

 

[Ken]

I am a laminate person and Daris is absolutely right. Short seam separation is caused by too much deflection in the subfloor. They should have been a little more thorough with their prep work. It may also be pinched under the door jambs. If you pop the trim off the wall at the end of the row, put some titebond in the seams, and pull them closed with a pullbar you should be ok. Being that you weren't the one who installed it they should really be the ones doing it for you.

 

[ccoffer]

Huh? How does an installer keep a crap lock from failing? If stuff is milled so loose that you can slide rows around with your feet post-install, nothing on earth will keep those end joints from separating over time.

Been there. Done that.