Warning: That "new" laminate flooring trick everyone raves about is a disaster waiting to happen

I saw a guy online saying to skip the expansion gap on floating floors to save time. Did a hallway job in Des Moines last month following that advice and now the planks are buckling after 3 weeks of humidity. Anyone else in a humid climate had to tear out their work because of this short cut?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_tessa3d agoMost Upvoted

Pulled up a bedroom install I did last July in St. Louis right after the first real heatwave hit. Left a full half-inch gap around the walls and still had to go back three weeks later to trim the same planks at the door frame because they'd already pushed against it. Ended up pulling the baseboards off and cutting the planks back another quarter inch to stop the buckling. That fixed it, but I learned to leave closer to 3/4 inch in summer jobs now.

ryanm603d ago

Different take here. Skipping the expansion gap is a bad idea for sure, but blaming the trick itself might miss the point. That advice probably meant for dry climates or smaller rooms, not anywhere with real humidity swings like you got in Des Moines. I did a kitchen in Atlanta last August with a full 1/2 inch gap around everything and still had a few planks lift near the door. The fix there was making sure the subfloor was bone dry and using a better vapor barrier. Humidity kills floating floors no matter what, but proper prep and a real gap give you room to breathe.

lily573d ago

...and that's exactly what I get for trusting a guy on the internet who probably lives in Arizona where the humidity is basically zero. I swear, every time someone posts a "life hack" for flooring it's just a way to get free entertainment watching your floor turn into a wave pool later. I bet that "trick" came with a free side of "just use water instead of glue" too, right? Honestly, if you skip the expansion gap in a place like Des Moines you might as well just throw your planks on the lawn and let nature take its course. It's cheaper and less frustrating that way. Take my advice with a grain of salt, but I'd rather measure twice and leave a big dumb gap than redo a whole hallway in July.