Any flooring guys here? Have an issue (1 Viewer)

efil4stnias

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So i have free-floating floors.

In one bedroom, several flooring planks are "separating" from each other. But when i take my heel and kinda "kick em" back together, then i have a space at the shoe/toe molding by wall.

Almost as if they were mis-cut and were just on the edge of the molding...but that doesnt explain why NOW when i reconnect them i have a 1-1.5" gap at wall. Very confusing.

Can someone explain? and is there a simple fix ? ( im guessing take up the shoe molding and insert some sort of filler/backing to keep the planks in place? )
 
I tend to focus my expertise on plumbing, but I believe that the flooring issue you're describing could be on account of subsurface moisture.
 
So i have free-floating floors.

In one bedroom, several flooring planks are "separating" from each other. But when i take my heel and kinda "kick em" back together, then i have a space at the shoe/toe molding by wall.

Almost as if they were mis-cut and were just on the edge of the molding...but that doesnt explain why NOW when i reconnect them i have a 1-1.5" gap at wall. Very confusing.

Can someone explain? and is there a simple fix ? ( im guessing take up the shoe molding and insert some sort of filler/backing to keep the planks in place? )
It could be that the molding overhangs just a little and you kicking it bat together misaligned it a little. It probably just got skewed a little closer to the opposite wall. You could pull the molding and add a spacer to each side. You don’t want that spacer to be in contact with the flooring as the material needs room to expand and contract. You want to make sure the flooring can still float.
 
So i have free-floating floors.

In one bedroom, several flooring planks are "separating" from each other. But when i take my heel and kinda "kick em" back together, then i have a space at the shoe/toe molding by wall.

Almost as if they were mis-cut and were just on the edge of the molding...but that doesnt explain why NOW when i reconnect them i have a 1-1.5" gap at wall. Very confusing.

Can someone explain? and is there a simple fix ? ( im guessing take up the shoe molding and insert some sort of filler/backing to keep the planks in place? )

I believe they make a suction tool for that, but I don't think it should have a huge gap on the edge.
 
Not to hijack a thread (I'm going to anyway) but I also have a flooring problem. My home is raised, but not high enough to really crawl under the house. Recently, I've had soft spots in the subfloor pop up right in the walkway to leave through the front door. For as far as you can see under the house, it looks as dry as can be and I've not had any flooding or leaks that I can tell (pipes don't run under that section as far as I can tell). Several people have mentioned it might be that since I've moved into this house (3 years ago this summer) I've run the AC at a lower temp than previous owners and it has caused moisture problems. It's getting to the point that in certain spots it feels like your foot is going to break through at any moment. Anyone have any suggestions or recommendations? I got one quote, based on measurement and eyeballing it since they didn't want to rip up the floor to start, but that price was around $5k to fix the area (about 10x10 max). I know wood pricing is sky high right now due to the hurricanes, but this quote came before either one of them. Also, related note, anyone know a good contractor in the NELA area that they'd recommend?
 
I tend to focus my expertise on plumbing, but I believe that the flooring issue you're describing could be on account of subsurface moisture.

We went with the new vinyl plank flooring- waterproof. So it better not be moisture.

its just weird in that its like there may have been a spacer under the molding, but now gone allowing for the floor to move back n forth, but now when i move the flooring toward middle of room to remove that gap, there is a gap by shoe molding.

I cant figure out why lol.
 


i can do that with my heel lol.

unlike that vid, when i remove the gap in middle of room, now im left with gap by wall/molding and that is what has consumed my brain all morning.

HOW?

it wasnt like this 5 months ago. there were no "gaps" in this room.

Builder/flooring co now gonna come out to see whats going on and fix.
 
It's only free for the first 90 days or so, then you have to pay for it to continue floating properly.

Maybe your house is growing, maybe your floor is shrinking? You should consider moving. Ever consider a houseboat? They can also be "free floating."

I believe the gap measurement at the wall should only be about 1/2" but don't quote me on that; it may vary by flooring manufacturer. If you're pushing 1.5" it sounds like someone didn't cut and fit it correctly.
 
I dont think vinyl plank should have the same expansion /contraction that real wood does, but it is a possibility. Or it was cut too short. Could you hide it with bigger quarter rounds?
 
So i have free-floating floors.

In one bedroom, several flooring planks are "separating" from each other. But when i take my heel and kinda "kick em" back together, then i have a space at the shoe/toe molding by wall.

Almost as if they were mis-cut and were just on the edge of the molding...but that doesnt explain why NOW when i reconnect them i have a 1-1.5" gap at wall. Very confusing.

Can someone explain? and is there a simple fix ? ( im guessing take up the shoe molding and insert some sort of filler/backing to keep the planks in place? )
It could be that the molding overhangs just a little and you kicking it bat together misaligned it a little. It probably just got skewed a little closer to the opposite wall. You could pull the molding and add a spacer to each side. You don’t want that spacer to be in contact with the flooring as the material needs room to expand and contract. You want to make sure the flooring can still float.

@staphory explained it, but maybe not clear enough, so I'll extrapolate what he's saying.

For a floating floor, the floor ends just under the molding on either side of the room. This is so that if the floor expands, it doesn't push against the bottom plates of each wall and buckle. Depending on how thick your drywall and molding is, the floor could have a good 3/4" to 1" gap on each side away from the wooden bottom of the each wall. This gap is not seen because it's covered by molding and drywall. You kicked your flooring together towards the middle, but what you may have also done is push the whole row of flooring towards the wall on the opposite side of the room, closing the 1" gap and possibly hitting the wood on the other side. This has caused the gap on the wall you are looking at. What you need to do is "kick" the whole row back towards the wall that now has a gap so that row tucks back under the molding, but be careful not to go too far as to create a gap at the other wall.

I hope this makes sense.

Also, if your flooring is pulling apart in the middle, it's possible either the end click joint on that piece either broke off or was never properly clicked in. If it broke off, that floor is never going to stay together where it separated if it's in a high traffic area. Might be wise to glue that joint.
 
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We have the opposite problem. The laminate in the kitchen is too tight in one area, causing it to buckle when the indoor humidity gets high. Recently high temps have been in the 70's with lows in the 50's meaning neither the AC nor the heat is coming on very much. The indoor thermometer also has a hygrometer showing the humidity in the 66-70% range, where it is normally 45-50%.

Ima git me a carpenter out here to fix this mess. @dtc where you at?? :hihi:
 
We have the opposite problem. The laminate in the kitchen is too tight in one area, causing it to buckle when the indoor humidity gets high. Recently high temps have been in the 70's with lows in the 50's meaning neither the AC nor the heat is coming on very much. The indoor thermometer also has a hygrometer showing the humidity in the 66-70% range, where it is normally 45-50%.

Ima git the carpenter out here to fix this mess. @dtc where you at?? :hihi:

That happens, too. Is it in a corner or in the middle? Middles are much harder to fix. In a corner, you can pull up, recut, and relay the floor, which is the better solution. However, if it's in the middle, you could pull up the quarter round and using a vibro-blade to slice off the end of each board close to the base boards and put the quarter round back. Then you would just have to touch up the quarter round and base boards... I mean if you are interested in doing it yourself.
 

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