Tapi flooring gone wrong blaming builders

dougs1982

Hello were looking for advice regarding a floor fitted by Tapi. I'll explain. Bought a new build house, got luxury vinyl for downstairs. They fitted it then week later it started lifting. They assessed it and said it should have had a dpm layer. Came back fitted it again, painted a dpm on sub floor said that will be it no more issues. So couple of weeks later now we have lines appearing at 600mm intervals where joins on subfloor are. Presumably moisture seeping through. They are now claiming that its a problem with the house. Not enough ventilation beneath, excess moisture, subfloor sagging ect. Now refusing to repair [no mention of refund] until we foot bill for an independent surveyor to inspect the subfloor and slab and write a report on whose to blame. The second floor is badly fitted, pencil marks everywhere, uneven cuts, messy silicon, problem areas lifting, lumps and bumps, lines across floor where subfloor joints are. We dont even want it replaced or repaired anymore its so bad.



As a consumer where do we stand with getting a refund as they are now blaming builders?



We paid £2000 all in and think being pro floor fitters they should have known there would be moisture beneath subfloor with a concrete slab that will take years to dry. We should have been advised against getting lvt in first place. Also they way they fitted the floor is alarming as its stuck it onto a sticky back liner. I was under the impression it would be glued to a ply lined and filled substrate, good for 25 years, waterproof ect, be lucky if it lasts the year.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

As a new build house contains vast amount of moisture from the build, you should not have been advised to lay vinyl, or do any decoration until the end of the second summer of being in your house. When I enquired on our build 17 years ago, they refused to lay any vinyl apart from the utility kitchen area.

New houses can have condensation problems, here is a guide.

http://www.nhbc.co.uk/NHBCPublications/LiteratureLibrary/HomeownerDocuments/filedownload,31929,en.pdf

Cure in kitchen and bathrooms, use the fan, open the window after use. I still do years later and have no issues.

pinkshoes

dougs1982 wrote: »

Hello were looking for advice regarding a floor fitted by Tapi. I'll explain. Bought a new build house, got luxury vinyl for downstairs. They fitted it then week later it started lifting. They assessed it and said it should have had a dpm layer. Came back fitted it again, painted a dpm on sub floor said that will be it no more issues. So couple of weeks later now we have lines appearing at 600mm intervals where joins on subfloor are. Presumably moisture seeping through. They are now claiming that its a problem with the house. Not enough ventilation beneath, excess moisture, subfloor sagging ect. Now refusing to repair [no mention of refund] until we foot bill for an independent surveyor to inspect the subfloor and slab and write a report on whose to blame. The second floor is badly fitted, pencil marks everywhere, uneven cuts, messy silicon, problem areas lifting, lumps and bumps, lines across floor where subfloor joints are. We dont even want it replaced or repaired anymore its so bad.



As a consumer where do we stand with getting a refund as they are now blaming builders?



We paid £2000 all in and think being pro floor fitters they should have known there would be moisture beneath subfloor with a concrete slab that will take years to dry. We should have been advised against getting lvt in first place. Also they way they fitted the floor is alarming as its stuck it onto a sticky back liner. I was under the impression it would be glued to a ply lined and filled substrate, good for 25 years, waterproof ect, be lucky if it lasts the year.

Have a look at my previous "flooring fiasco" thread.

We had a Tapi vinyl floor fitted and it lifted. They ripped it out and did it again, and it lifted again. I made them rip it out again and issue a full refund. They left my floor butchered and squeaking!

They used cheap poor quality thin ply. We have since had it fitted by an independent with no issues!

What ply did they put down??

They are flooring EXPERTS and clearly your house is a new build, so if this was a issue it was up to them to spot this and inform you that the flooring was not suitable. Water ingress my ar*e!!

They have had one opportunity to put this right and have failed, so I would now be pushing to have it removed and a full refund.

If you have details of the vinyl, you can find the recommended fitting instructions online.

PM me for any more help.

dougs1982

Hi thanks for replying. I'll look up your thread. They didn't ply line at all. Floated floor on a peel and stick backer roll. Sales guy vaguely told me in shop it was pressure bonded down, me thinking of karndean stuff thought must be ply. My mistake there for not questioning it. You mentioned manufacturers instructions and thanks because I just looked at pack, got code and looked it up and there it is. Dryback Divino 2.5mm must be bonded to flat subfloor using pva.

Can't actually believe they called me and said house was at fault and I need to get surveyors out smh. I mean house is under 10 year warranty which includes suspended floors. Nothing wrong at all there trying send me on goose chase.

pinkshoes

dougs1982 wrote: »

You mentioned manufacturers instructions and thanks because I just looked at pack, got code and looked it up and there it is. Dryback Divino 2.5mm must be bonded to flat subfloor using pva.

In which case they did not follow manufacturer's instructions so their fault and they need to re-do it!

Hopefully this will be straightforward you!