No heat on new construction laminate job, weathers been pretty damned amazing lately 80's and I warned them (the owner and super) thats its going to get cold in the mornings. Walked in this morning and front and back doors were wide open, wind howling through the house and the temp was 50F. Its basically a thirty degree temp swing.
Walked off Job
- Thread starter Ernesto
- Start date
Help Support Flooring Forum - DIY & Professional:
You got to what you go to do. It would have buckled in no time.
Hey Chuck, nice to see ya drop by.
I think it's mainly huge swings in temp on a daily basis thats the issue. With large swings in temp also comes large swings in rh as well.
I know of installation shops that pull it out of non-conditioned warehouses and install it same day. But they also make you liable for the fix.
http://kronotexusa.com/installation...-install-your-laminate-flooring-for-48-hours/
I think it's mainly huge swings in temp on a daily basis thats the issue. With large swings in temp also comes large swings in rh as well.
I know of installation shops that pull it out of non-conditioned warehouses and install it same day. But they also make you liable for the fix.
http://kronotexusa.com/installation...-install-your-laminate-flooring-for-48-hours/
I can dig that, but I guess I've always been lucky or something. I've had two laminate expansion issues. One was some 79 cent a foot crap that Mohawk came out with before they bought Unilin. I did a 1200 foot house and didn't break it anywhere. I half expected to have to come back, but it was around the corner and it was an easy fix. The other was in a place where the AC was effed up and the windows of the place were fogged up on the inside when I showed up. This stuff exploded in the length in only a couple of places and actually busted baseboards. I fixed it and left. Never heard boo after. I see crummy laminate installations all the time, but I really believe you can get away with murder now compared to back when the stuff was basically masonite with Formica on top of it. The cores have gotten much better.
.............and lets not forget those careless installers that use overlapping stairnose moldings because it's "quick and cheap" 
I don't know about laminate, but bamboo sure is.
I looked at a bamboo job that went terribly wrong. It was installed along during a remodel. Home was put for sale and the heat was turned off. It was for sale for almost a year.
The new owners called me to look at some severe buckling. I told them if the heat was turned off for a year, the best they could do immediately was to turn the heat on to 65 or 67 and I'd return when I had time to remove base and do some relief cuts at the walls.
They called 4 or 5 hours after the heat was turned on and said it was noticeably worse.
Just like all materials, they expand with heat. There were two reasons for this.
One, the room was 41 feet long and the planks ran the short way instead of lengthwise.
The other issue of expansion on this severely buckled floor was that there were three of those low, wall mounted Cadette type wall heaters throughout the area. Those can blow a little heat directly onto the floor surface.
Over time, as the floor started drying out, the boards would have shrunk back and the buckling would go down............ this however would take weeks or months. The heat expansion was just the opposite and happened immediately, and long before any moisture would be driven out.
The new owners called me to look at some severe buckling. I told them if the heat was turned off for a year, the best they could do immediately was to turn the heat on to 65 or 67 and I'd return when I had time to remove base and do some relief cuts at the walls.
They called 4 or 5 hours after the heat was turned on and said it was noticeably worse.
Just like all materials, they expand with heat. There were two reasons for this.
One, the room was 41 feet long and the planks ran the short way instead of lengthwise.
The other issue of expansion on this severely buckled floor was that there were three of those low, wall mounted Cadette type wall heaters throughout the area. Those can blow a little heat directly onto the floor surface.
Over time, as the floor started drying out, the boards would have shrunk back and the buckling would go down............ this however would take weeks or months. The heat expansion was just the opposite and happened immediately, and long before any moisture would be driven out.
