Laminate flooring water disasters!

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Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• flooring
• laminate
• installation
• home
• remodeling
• improvement
• floor
• hardwood
• pergo
• armstrong
• wilsonart
• costco
• harmonics

[CmdrGendoIkari]

If you're installing in a kitchen or bathroom, you will probably need to glue them together with a water repellent glue as you're laying them so that water cannot penetrate around the edges. However, some laminates don't really need it. Take a sample piece and submerge in water overnight to see if it soaks in water (some types won't because there's oil embedded in the MDF material).

[home4bound]

@CmdrGendoIkari In some cases a water repellent glue can work, but I would say that it is probably a good idea to ask the supplier if the laminate flooring can be installed in a bathroom or kitchen. Some brands are more water resistant, while others don't do well in moisture-rich areas over time. The installation may be more affordable than hardwood, but you still need to do your homework and make sure that you use it according to the manufacturer's directions not to void your the warranty.

[home4bound]

Thanks for the comment, Beatlesfan! It sure sounds as if your dogs have been giving the laminate floor a good run for its money! Congratulations on such a superb installation. You are right about that. How you install the laminate flooring has loads to do with how it holds up. Hope your four-legged friends enjoy their romps on the floors for many years to come...

[BeatIesfan]

I have fairly cheap laminate and it's standing up very well to 3 dogs @ 275 pounds with claws running on it. On top of that their water dish too with a tiny swollen seam where water was left unoticed. It's been down for 2 years now and still looks new. My daughter's friends parents used hardwood and have only 1 60 pound dog and their floors are ruined. Of course you can sand down hardwood and refinish it to new, but I don't want to do that every 6 months. Installation is key!

[bishonenboy]

@musiclover1958 Definitely. Once your laminate is messed up, thats it! Replace the floor. Hardwood can be refinished and reused.

[musiclover1958]

LOL.  What bollux! Laminate is the WORSTT FLOORING ON THE PLANET! THE WORST!

I have CHIPS, SCRATCHES, SEAMS GOING APART, BUBBLES, it's coming UP on the EDGES! Sure, get crappy laminate if you want to SUFFER. I Give me hardwood any day over this POS flooring.

[bilesteve]

I love laminate, but then I know how to have it installed properly and have read the warranties which obviously many posters have not done.

And I have had hardwood floors twice in my life and never again. Enjoy the refinishing cost when your urethane gloss coating gets marred.

High quality laminate installed properly and maintained per manufacturer's instructions is great.

[kornorstone]

This type of flooring is actually pretty durable in most conditions. The install is everything and how it is spaced from the wall, the underlayment and sealer. When done correctly, you get a great, long lasting floor but when spaced to closely, the pieces expand and contract during seasonal change slamming the joints together an raising the edges and eventually seperates.

[chan7dan6]

Laminate flooring is cheap and nasty. At least with pine, oak, maple, walnut etc you can sand it back and it can be used for 200-300 + yrs, you get what you pay for!

[Yeormom]

Laminate flooring will weather better than traditional flooring to your normal traffic and sun but it's one and only weakness is water getting under it.