laying laminate - whats he doing wrong?

peachespeaches

We bought a load of laminate last year from focus when it was half price. We fitted some in our last house and some was OK but we found some places just wouldnt click together and stay put, leaving unsightly gaps. Its the sort where there is an overlapping joint that clicks into place.

My DH has just laid the remainder in our new kitchen and has had lots more trouble. The floor is quite uneven and despite using underlay there are quite a few gaps visible which seem to widen every day!

Whats he doing wrong?

Shazmar_2

If the floor is uneven without the underlay it will still be uneven with the underlay, you need to get the floor as even as possible first. Also though the laminate just clicks together you need to use the proper tool to force it home. Like the one on this page http://www.iloveflooring.co.uk/p415206/quickstep-fitting-kit.html though you should be able to pick one up at B&Q etc.

weekendwarrior

I recently fitted laminate flooring and found it much easier to assemble it into long lengths first and so click the short edges together and then with the help of a friend lift the long lenghts and then click them into position. There is some good info here-
Laminate Flooring

tanith

Just a thought but did you store it in a cold or damp place? even if it were stacked unevenly it does warp if it gets damp... we had some left over which I put on a shelf in the garage and I did notice it had warped a little when I was sorting out some stuff so I threw it away....

ormus

most important, the floor must be level.
leave the packs in the room for a few days to acclimatise. stack level on the floor, not leaning against a wall!
but warping shouldnt be a big problem. laminate is fairly inert. not like real wood.
make sure it really has clicked into place. you can normally tell, any gap just dissappears.