im considering taking B & Q to small claims

katykitten

they sent an independant flooring company to inspect my hall floor (can give more info if requested) and i was told there was no manufacturing fault

however a couple of weeks after laying there are scuffs to the edges and a couple of scratches

i believe the flooring is not fit for purpose but have never taken on a big company

any guidance, experiences or warnings would be gratefully received

thanks

Hintza

You will need an expert to look at the floor and give an opinion. Until you have a qualified person on side you have no claim, B&Q have given their opinion.

Any floor will scratch if not looked after properly, eg we have an engineered oak floor and if I drag a piece of furniture over it and there is a piece of grit caught under it I will have a scratch or if I have a stone caught in my shoes the same thing could happen.

So the question will be have you caused the damage through misuse or not?

katykitten

thank you, the scuffs are all in similar places, ie at the edge of two or three planks of flooring - i dont believe i have misused the floor in any way and it was of a certain grade deemed suitable for heavy use ie the hallway

the flooring expert was supposed to be independent, so it will be one 'independent' experts opinion against another - how does this work?

Fosterdog

I posted this on your other thread about this and you never answered, these questions really are relevant

Fosterdog wrote: »

Who installed the flooring for you? If you did it yourself have you ever laid laminate before?

Was the floor underneath 100% level?
Did you use underlay and if so what type?
What floor was it laid on top of, wooden floorboards, concrete, tiles etc.? How did you hold the first piece in place before laying the rest?
Did you leave an expansion gap around it? How have you cleaned it?
Does your outer door open directly onto the hallway or is there a porch area first?
How much did you pay per m2?
How much traffic does it get? (one adult walking on it twice a day or three adults bundling in and out pushchairs and dumping shopping while four dogs run around their feet?)different people have different levels of traffic through a hallway and what is high traffic to one person is next to no use to the next.

I don't see how scratches on the surface can be a defect if they weren't present at installation, something must have dragged across it to scratch it. Also for scuffs to appear at the joins either water has got in to them and caused them to expand or they were not laid correctly (either incorrect underlay, not clicked into place properly, or first piece not fixed in place so it freely moves causing it to separate)

I have seen the water expansion when someone used a steam cleaner on it as laminate is not sealed at the joins

If the scuffs are at the edge of a few planks it really does sound as though not all the planks were fitted together correctly causing an uneven surface and a ridge that will easily get caught and scuffed.

If they have an independent report backing them up and you have one backing you up then it will come down to a number of things such as engineers qualifications, time in the role, previous reports carried out (whether they always side with the person paying them or give an accurate report regardless). The court may order a third inspection with a third independent engineer.

ValHaller

Fosterdog wrote: »

I posted this on your other thread about this and you never answered, these questions really are relevant

Previous thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4636637 to save anyone going over old ground

kk why start a new thread without even revisiting your first one?

ThumbRemote

katykitten wrote: »

they sent an independant flooring company to inspect my hall floor (can give more info if requested) and i was told there was no manufacturing fault

A couple of points on this:

'Independent' may not actually be that independent. If they want a lot more work from B&Q, they're going to tend to find in their favour.

No manufacturing fault doesn't mean it's of satisfactory quality. All they have said is that it has been made correctly - correctly may still be poor quality.