Inconsistent expansion gap for laminate flooring

uesen

Hello everyone,
I've just had laminate flooring fitted by a joiner. After he finished last night I noticed that around sections of the wall and the doorways, the expansion gap was not consistent. He also screwed the door threshold right through the laminate. 

I have attached some photos to demonstrate the gap left by the joiner. The small piece of foam underlayment is 5mm for reference. 

The laminate is from wickes and 14mm  thick. The box of the laminate suggests 12mm gap around. The room is roughly 32m2 and the subfloor is suspended T&G chipboard. This guy wasn't cheap at £600 for fixing squeaks and fitting laminate and replacing skirting boards so I am wondering if this is ok. 

Thanks

missile

Looks OK to me

Doozergirl

If there's something you're particularly worried about, they can take to the edges with a multi-tool to allow an expansion gap.   I would not expect it to be uniform as there is woodwork to cover it.   I can't work out your scale from the context.  

£600 is a lot of money, but it is not expensive.  

uesen

Thank you for your replies.

My only worry is that the boards will buckle as the expansion gap is half of the recommended - some boards are right against the tiles in other rooms/wall. 

I will be painting the skirting boards and walls so it is quite a hassle to redo all of this if the laminate buckles in 6 months. 

Jeepers_Creepers

12mm gap is a lot, but I guess if that is what they recommend, it's what they recommend.

I'd fire the fitter an email tonight to seek reassurance - just say you happened to read the instructions and wondered. This way you have a record that you brought it to their attention. If they run a multitool along there to widen the gap, then great, but if they don't you should be extra-covered.

Chances are it'll be fine, but should the worst happen, they are liable - and you asked.

grumbler

Generally, 'recommended' gap is nonsense as possible expansion is proportional to the dimensions of the floor. It makes no sense to have 12mm gap for a corridor or a small room. However, 32m2 is a big room and 5-6m is a big span.

Chickereeeee

I imagine the guidance is for worst case. I.e. you are laying laminate in a very large, freezing cold room in the winter (e.g. new house being built) and to be sure there is no problem on the hottest day (or with underfloor heating).  If it was laid in  a heated room, or even just an occupied house, it should be OK.

TELLIT01

Photo1.  There will presumably either be skirting or some form of moulding against the wall which will hide that.  The other photo's are of 2 different flooring types meeting so some form of threshold will be required.  Photo3 actually shows screw holes indicating that a threshold cover has been removed.  As the screws are still there I'm assuming it's a work in progress.

Jeepers_Creepers

Threshold strips should really be independent of the two floor coverings it spans. It should be screwed/glued to the substrate - whatever is under the flooring.

I guess if it's screwed only to the laminate flooring, it'll be fine - it'll move with it. But if these screws go through the laminate and into whatever is under it, then the laminate has been attached at that point and can no longer float. Poor practice at best.