Laminate Touching Wall – An Issue?

paperclap

Hi all,

During the last winter months, we’d laid out new laminate flooring.

However, now the spring months are bringing warmer temperatures, I think some of the laminate has expanded.

We laid laminate around some tiles around our fireplace, leaving a less than suggested expansion gap. A few mm in places. However, around the perimeters of the room the expansion gaps are 6-10mm.

Opposite the fireplace on the other side of the room is our sofa. Heavy of course, so little expansion of the flooring could be had there I presume.

So therefore can only expand three ways… left, right and toward the fireplace.

A very small portion of the laminate is now touching the tile. We’re talking 15cm. The rest of the planks running along the tiles have a few mm expansion gap still (the tiles aren’t perfectly straight, hence the uneven expansion gaps).

Will this be an issue? Could this cause bowing of the laminate?

I’ve attached a photo. Not sure you can see the touching point all that well… so have used my fingers as a guide!

Thank you in advance.

Bendy_House

Even tho' the sofa is heavy, it still sits on a floating floor, and also has regular 'thumps' made to it, so isn't a 'dead' weight but one that is shaken if not stirred. So, I'd hope/expect that the laminate flooring - once it cannot move any more due to the tiles - will move the required teeny bit the other way instead under the vibes of the sofa, and to where there is a gap.

If it doesn't move, and if it expands further, then most likely the first thing you'll notice is a bit of extra 'bounce' in the boards in front of the tiles.

If you want to persuade the flooring to move, don't walk - jump.