Worth replacing laminate?

beebles

Hi all

We've just bought a ground floor flat. The building survey noted a 'bounce' to the laminate floor in the living room, but we weren't that bothered by it.

We had damp proofing done before we moved in, and to do this a radiator was taken off the wall. When I tried to repressurise the boiler to use the hot water, a lot of water came out of the pipe to the removed radiator. It was coming out for probably about 5 - 10 minutes before we realised.

We've now had that pipe stopped off so there's no more water, but it did go all over the laminate floor.

The floor now looks wavy and there are some edges which have risen a tiny bit. But we've been using a dehumidfier in there for 2 days.

We now don't know whether to replace the whole floor or just leave it - with all our furniture on and a rug, I think it'll probably look fine - so not fussed aethetically, but I don't want to leave it if it's going to be causing any damage underneath? Or if we'll need to replace it soon so worth doing before all the furniture goes in?

The floor underneath the laminate is concrete.



All thoughts welcome - and if you do think we should replace, whether it's worth going for a) laminate, b) engineered wood or c) solid wood!

Thank you!

FreeBear

"Bounce" in a laminate floor that has been laid over concrete would suggest that no expansion gap has been left round the edges. As the floor has expanded, it would have only one way to go, and that would be up in the middle.

Leaving the flooring as it is won't cause any damage to the concrete. So once it has dried out, leave it down and live with the damage & bounce. That said, if you did want to replace, it would make sense to do it now before you start filling the room up with furniture and "stuff".

As to what to replace the laminate with - Personally, I'd go for a nice thick carpet with a decent underlay. Would reduce the heat loss through the floor, and have a nice fell underfoot.

cranford

There are pros and cons to carpet and laminate. Having had lamitate downstairs for over 15 years I would never go back to carpets mainly because its so clean. On concrete if you lay a moister barrier first and then use good quality insulation boards on top, loosing heat through the concrete is not a problem.