Laminate floor finish... bodge job or 'acceptable'

Wolfsbane2k

Hi.

I have recently had a new polydor laminate floor installed by professionals in 3 rooms on a ground floor suspended floor in a 1950's house while I have been away and have walked into a 'finished' job that in principle looks good until you look closely. They also then placed new skirting over the laminate.

Bearing in mind the age of the house, they should have expected some problems with the floorboards, and were supposed to ring me if the had to fix something else, which they never did.

Specifically, there are the following issues as I see it:
1) no expansion cork along wall edges.
2) thresholds are butt jointed laminate, so there is no support on one or more edges and there is a 5mm vertical step on one edge compared to the other.
3) some board edges are pretty poor so are not flush.
4) some boards are already slightly chipped/ corners broken

In my opinion I want them to replace all the chipped boards, fix the corking and thresholds, and address the poor edge finishes by adding laminate edging to the end joints.

Examples


At present, I have paid nothing., but they are expecting full payment (3k) in the morning.

Given that the chipped boards mean water ingress and therefore reduce the lifespan, meaning it's got to be replaced earlier, I want to withhold at least all labour costs and until it is fixed, as as far as I can see they will need to remove half the floor to get to the boards, which means I have to take my family away again and we can't use these rooms until it is done.
Does this seem reasonable?

mr_vampy

Do you have any photos of the job? I don't understand why they have put cork in the expansion gap. The whole point of the gap is to let it expand, not to fill it up with cork strips.

When you say there is a 5mm vertical step on one edge compared to the other, you mean the floor level in one room is higher than the other? Is that at the door threshold? You can get a laminate ramp/reducer profile like the one picture below.



The boards that are chipped and corners broken should definitely be replaced.

Wolfsbane2k

Sorry, meant to include pictures. I thought that cork expansion was supposed to be installed to reduce noise/ leakage but allow expansion. Turns out that's from laminate over ten years ago, and this manufacturer says to leave as a 8mm gap.



Threshold between two rooms.
And yes, they have used a piece of laminate as the threshold and screwed it down!

Wall edge with pipework. Looks like insufficient expansion around the pipework to me, and the last board isn't attached properly.

Short edge against a wall, approx 7 m run. ,( perspective distorts this, some are OK, others not)

Added:

Laminate cut and then wedged under an angled pipe.

Around another pipe


Butted up against old skirting.

Laminate fitted over grip rods

Laminate cut perfectly around kitchen unit.


Laminate butted directly against marble mantle hearth.

Wolfsbane2k

Sorry, original post for the manufacturer wrong, parador not polydor.

Doozergirl

I can't see anything.

DRP

Can't see any of your pics.

Chipped laminate should definitely be replaced.

mr_vampy

That is a very poor job indeed. And they claim to be professionals?

Wolfsbane2k

Sorry for the image links, not sure what went wrong there.
Fixed them and added some more.
I've since had the fitters in and reviewed the snag list, which they tried to turn into "don't need to worry about expansion, it won't expand but if it causes problems please call us back in 3 months time..."

Given this response and two ( not fully independent due to potentially digging for more work) flooring fitters who walked in and tried not to laugh, I've told them to to rip out and redo it all, which they have currently refused to do, and threatened legal action to get their money.

I'm going to spend the morning trying to find a independent surveyor who can inspect and issue a report that will stand up in court before we pay someone else to rip it out and start again.

Wolfsbane2k

Independent survey booked for next week.
I'm really looking forward to this going to court!

warmhands.coldheart

OMG Wolfey, that looks bl00dy horrendous ..... you sure they actually knew what they were doing.... I've pretty much done my whole ground floor myself and that looks like it was done by my kids (Who are 5 & 7) compared to my own DIY job...... Sorry but they really made a pigs ear of that !!! How they can call themselves professionals is beyond me... DO NOT PAY THEM !!!

knight_rider

Yes some of that is bad but how do you expect them to do around the pipes without cutting the laminate or removing the pipes down to floor level.

Regards the kitchen units a gap should be left but then you would need beading around the edges.