Faulty Laminate Floor - Advice please?

brogan1m

Two years ago we had a Karnean laminate floor fitted to an existing concrete base. The supplier, A M Selly, checked it but found there was too much damp for them to lay the Karndean directly onto the concrete. They recommended that they should lay a damp-proof membrane (DPM) directly onto the concrete floor and on top of that a floating floor consisting of special underlay tiles from a company called Easilay, and then fit the Karndean laminate on top of that.

Not long after the floor had been fitted, we started noticing marks on the floor corresponding to the underlay tile joints. Subsequently we noticed ripples in the floor that have since become steadily worse. We contacted the supplier who never came to inspect the floor but instead sent a representative from the underlay company, Easilay. 

We then recieved a letter from Selly telling us that they wanted to appoint a, "independent flooring inspector" to survey the floor and decide on the cause of the problem. The cost would be £500 plus VAT plus expenses. Selly would pay this if the inspector concluded their work was faulty, Easilay would pay if he concluded that the underlay was at fault, and we would have to pay if he decided the cause was our fault e.g a flood casusing damp to ingress. 

We refused this on the basis that we contracted with Selly, and Easilay was their subcontractor. Our claim is against Selly and we are not prepared to get involved in deciding whether them or their subcontractor is a fault. Also we are certainly not prepared to agree to pay for an inspector appointed by Selly, who may or may not decide that we are at fault. I know for a fact that we have not mistreated the floor or had any flood or water ingress from the surface. It seems to us that we are being set up so that Selly can wriggle out of their responsibility.

We are now at stalemate with Selly so I am at the point of taking out a claim against that company. I will go and speak to them one last time before fiing the claim but any advice from people on this board would be greatly appreciated.