Laminate flooring sucks
Posted by Geoff | Filed under Rants, Renovations
I state this now: I will never use laminate flooring again. Ever. I don’t care how inexpensive and near-indestructable it is — the stuff simply is not well-designed and is far too cumbersome for one person to install alone. The need for a second person is ridiculous and if nothing else points out the usability of the product.
I’m ranting because I’m on night #2 trying to get this stuff into the basement while Alex and the wee one are out of town. I’m pulling long nights, spending virtually every moment downstairs wrestling with a Tarkett laminate we purchased a couple of weekends ago.
I’m trying to do this mostly as a surprise for Alex — finish off as much of the basement as I can, so that when she comes home the upstairs is fully liveable, and the main room of the downstairs is finally useable. It won’t be complete, but it’ll at least be a start. And we can start to live in this house, rather than merely exist.
The instructions printed on the insert with each box make it sound simple. This stuff is the “clickable” type, which means there are special hooked grooves that interlock. The idea is that once the stuff is down, it doesn’t separate and you don’t get the gaps common with ordinary tongue-and-groove types.
It’s a complete and utter myth. This stuff is actually worse than tongue-and-groove. Especially if you’re one person. When you lay down the first row, it’s easy — lay end-to-end, and they magically interlock. Done. The problems begin with the second row. According to instructions, you lay down the row end-to-end, and then slide the entire row into the previous one, completing the effect. In principle, it makes sense.
But it never works. Once you get one section of the row in place, another part pops back out. The interlock is tenuous. And you can’t tap it into place with a hammer. Although the floor is durable, the grooves are flimsy as hell, and are prone to breakage. I’ve got gaps everywhere. They’re not just unsightly, they’re highly annoying. I can already foresee cuts forming.
And no, I don’t have any friends I can call on. I’m doing this installation until well into the morning, and I can’t ask friends to stay up that late to help me. It’s simply just not acceptable.
That’s my rant. Next time, I’ll use engineered hardwood. Or the real thing. But I’m sure as hell never using laminate again. I wish the floor had been regular concrete…
Tags: flooring
December 5th, 2007 at 16:39
Um… I’ve install laminate in four different rooms now (2 bedrooms, a sitting room, and a basement). I don’t remember having too much trouble.
The trick is you gotta remain square… your first row is extremely important. Also, look out for extremely wide/long rooms… there is a maximum length that you’re suppose to run the boards before putting in a “transition” piece I believe (I don’t remember the exact lengths).
Disclaimer: I’m a really horrible carpenter, so I don’t have mad flooring skills or anything.
December 5th, 2007 at 17:03
Floor was flat. Everything was as square as I could get it (even used a laser, for Pete’s sake!), and the stuff just shifted. Given, it was a long room (36 feet), so there’s more room for wiggle, I suppose.
I still hate it. So there. Nyah.
April 1st, 2008 at 08:23
They make a tool that you use for tapping the planks together without damaging the grooves. I never had any problems and I did it alone too. The floors turned out great and have never had any troubles with them. Am plannning on putting laminate in the rest of the house as soon as I can. As a matter of fact I enjoy working with it. When finished it gives you a sense of accomplishment.
Sorry you had so much trouble.
I have a place to get some really deep discounted laminate flooring at Click Here If Interested.
April 1st, 2008 at 18:37
I’ve done three laminate floors super cheap largely by myself. It’s fast and easy. Even consumer reports said laminate is by far the better deal and holds up better than engineered floors, then again it’s your money and time. I have seen a lot of these floors in our neighborhood installed by schlock contractors (to fool stupid buyers like myself) and they really don’t last. If you’re going to put in plank flooring, you might as go all the way and buy the real stuff. By the way, have fun refinishing engineered hardwood floors. The veneer is so thin I’m pretty sure you’ll have to REALLY watch that floor sander as it chews through it.
June 23rd, 2008 at 03:12
Can anybody give me advice on laminating my floors quickly? I liked the article on laminating . it was informative
thanks
steve
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:03
Two possible answers to this, I think:
1) Get a pro. Costs a bit more, but they can slap in a laminate floor in a day and it’ll look perfect.
2) Go to your local Home Depot, and see if they can teach you how and give you the tools you need. Then get a friend, a case of beer, and some Robaxacet (for your sore back when you’re done). Should be done in a day.
June 28th, 2008 at 07:22
I have put down laminate flooring in my family room. I like it and enjoy it.
We did this last October and now that the warmer weather is here, I am now noticing that I have a few bubble or rises in one area of the flooring. When I walk on it it moves back into place but rises again within minutes. Just wondering if my ends are too tight to the walls? This is just in the middle of a 20 by 30 foot room.
June 28th, 2008 at 07:59
Gaynor, sounds like you might have a tightness problem. I’ve heard that you need to leave something like 5/8″ (maybe an 1″?) around all sides, or the expansion due to moisture and heat will cause buckling. Sadly, I don’t know how to fix that once the floor’s in, short of taking off the baseboards and trying to cut a thin edge off with a power saw.
November 1st, 2008 at 06:52
NEVER!buy ikea laminate!even a joiner cant install it and ikea not interested!ive had lots of different floors and this is the worst ever!
December 4th, 2008 at 21:06
[...] Jump to Comments 1) Laminate flooring sucks - Our new house has it and it certainly does [...]
December 24th, 2008 at 08:56
Laminates are great for homes with big dogs and children.Eng hardwood flooring is great for a rich and warm feeling in your house and for the install over a concrete slab (that’s mainly what they were designed for)and they are very stable due to the ply on the core.Most Eng floors can be sanded up to 3 times depending on the wear layer. Good Luck
January 19th, 2009 at 11:11
You’re right, it sucks.
Searching for an answer to the same problem. In my case I had three helpers to push the laminate row, and we still couldn’t keep boards from popping out. I hate this stuff.
I had a floor done professionally through Home Depot. Thy went amazingly fast, but the laminate (Shaw) popped up and broke off in a couple spots. Home Depot and Shaw both refuse to honor the warranty (6 months into a 30 year warranty!). Did I mention I hate this stuff?
Anyway here’s the ideas I’ve heard for getting the second row to stay in place.
1) Many helpers
2) heavy weights (like an unopened box) on the pieces already in place
3) duct tape the pieces as put them down, creating a hinge
4) install in a stair step pattern from the corner, instead of one long row at a time.
I haven’t tried any of these yet, as I’m still mad as hell and have to break from this for awhile.
Good Luck!
January 19th, 2009 at 18:52
I just wasted a weekend trying. complete waste, ends chip like crazy (with a tapping block). The stuff is so cheap and not worth it at all. Garbage. Next time, real wood. Never again,
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:32
Sorry to hear about all the problems, i have installed 6 rooms about 2000 sq ft of laminate and love it. I also worked alone except go wife to help in a couple of spots where it is about 30 foot run. The trick I found to get them in is to ensure the end joints are exactly even to the other board. What I did was get some of the cut off pieces and click it into the piece I was installing and tap it with a hammer at the joints to line them up! Works great and doesn’t destroy the snap joint. I used Shaw in my kitchen and it was fantastic, in that you could get it to snap together with both pieces flat on the floor and using an cut off piece and a hammer to bang it in. The rest of the house I used some other flooring and it had to be at at least a 45 degree angle before it would go in. This seemed to be because the joint was very square rather than the beveled joint on the Shaw.The floor wears great and the wife loves it for cleanup.
I am now looking at doing my basement with it!
Good Luck!
April 11th, 2009 at 03:01
I borrowed 8 planks of the Tarkett laminate. I love the timber look but wanted to try it out 1st since my floor is not 100% flat. I had the SAME problems as Geoff. Fortunately (for once!) I tried before I purchased. It IS near impossible even on a flat part of the floor since for the Tarkett product you do need to do a whole row at a time – means 2 or 3 people required. ANY amount of curve in the floor will make it virtually impossible to fit the row when the row is lifted off the horizontal by about 30 degrees to click into the previous row.
Sucks ‘cos I loved the look of this laminate over anyting else I’d seen.
April 30th, 2009 at 07:14
Well I am glad that I have read all of your comments. I am about to lay laminate myself and wasn’t too sure what I was getting myself into.. Now I know to get some reinforcements ie my dad and husband to join me in my adventure. Wish me luck. I hope it turns out.
May 13th, 2009 at 06:45
Oh man I thought swiftlock laminate flooring from Lowes would be an easy and fast install on our back room (about 240sqft) but its turning out to be a major pain, going on 4 days now after work, including tearing up our old carpet too. the new flooring snaps together nicely but I have found differences between boxes of planks that are a problem. some are different thicknesses, resulting in an edge you can feel and others have ends that are not square so whent he planks are butted to one another I’m left with a v-shaped gap on the small ends. totally frustrating.
now I think I can make it work if I sort ‘em by boxes that fit together nicely and will probably have a lot of wasted material from end pieces I already cut. so mad about this. I was almost halfway done tonight and when my wife and I took a step back and had a fresh look at the floor, we can see there are end joints that are not square and some height differences on the planks and some potential chips forming at the ends too. major headache today just thinking about it. good thread here with some honest opinions, thanks.
May 18th, 2009 at 06:46
well I finished up my 240sq ft install with el cheapo swiftlock from Lowes and it looks good. I learned a lot, its good to use one box at a time and work in rows end to end until you finish a box. I had some problems between boxes of the 6″ ends not being parallel to each other and from thicknesses not being spot on and feeling the edge between planks. I can see some differences in shininess between the boxes but since the project is done I’m glad I did it. the floor looks good, new, shiny, clean, bright and am so glad to have carpet out of that room. I wonder how well this flooring will hold up at the joints/seams and if water spills or dog pee accidents will ruin it.
May 24th, 2009 at 03:50
Bunch of pussies.
May 24th, 2009 at 19:52
Spoken like a true gentleman.
June 6th, 2009 at 15:39
Laminate flooring is the worst. I had professionals install mine and they did a fine job. But just 4 weeks into it, in 4 areas there was bubbling/warping at the seams. Just one month into it. I would not put this crap in my dog’s house.
Then there are those who say, just put rugs down. What are you supposed to do, lay a bunch of rugs down and say “I have a real pretty floor under here, you should see it some time.”
Do not waste your money. If you ever have a problem with one piece, damn near the whole thing has to come up, as if it were wood, you could replace just that one area or simply sand it down. Once again, stay clear of the crap!!!!
June 24th, 2009 at 19:03
Well Geof, I’m exactly at where you were when you wrote your rant. By the way, thanks! I really needed a laugh after 2 days of frustration working with this crap. I’m a master carpenter and have never EVER encountered such a crap product. Thinking of returning the 40 +boxes I have left and start over with another floor covering.
June 26th, 2009 at 13:15
Hey Bernie,
My dad used real hardwood on our kitchen floor when I was a kid. It lasted 20 years without so much as looking a bit old. I totally understand why, now.
June 27th, 2009 at 10:05
[...] Laminate flooring sucks at Geoff Sowrey [...]
August 9th, 2009 at 07:46
About 6 years ago, I’ve installed 400 sq.ft. of laminates. The planks were using a solid core clicking system where the planks could be partially in and you could tap them horinzontally until they latch together.
This time, I’ve just bought Tarkett with a soft core where the tongue/groove feels like hard cardboard. I have not succeeded installing the 2nd row. You need to lift the whole row and then some planks unlatch. You cannot tap them horizontally.
August 24th, 2009 at 13:32
I’ve been trying to install some Swiftlock laminate flooring I bought from Lowes now for over a month. This stuff is very frustrating, I have no idea why they call it ‘Swiftlock’ because it certainly does not lock swiftly together. This crap does not want to go together for anything, and it doesn’t lock together as advertised, you have to sit there and force it together, while you can hear the press board tongue inside the groove ‘bending’ ….and don’t tell me I’m doing it wrong and thats why its not ‘snapping’ together because I have fooled with this in every way imaginable to get this shit to go together like its advertised and it just WONT… three other people tried their luck and it does the same exact thing to them as well. DONT BUY SWIFTLOCK its CRAP! I wish I would’ve put down the frickin peel and stick stuff now since i wasted all my money on this worthless flooring!
August 25th, 2009 at 08:01
I put down 1000 sq. ft. of Cinque Terre Coastal Elm Tarkett laminate flooring and it was a pain in the butt to get started. after completing the task and enjoying the look. The floor started creaking no matter were you steped. The instructions was followed to the “T”. With that being said, I also installed 185 sq. ft. of Occasions Maple Tarkett and low and behold it DOES NOT creak at all and the boards are a lot narrower than the Coastal Elm. Tarkett Warranty Department will do nothing, according to the independent inspector. Is anyone else had this issue???
August 27th, 2009 at 06:12
I too hate the stuff. I read about it, watched videos and talked to people at Home Depot about it before I got it. It didn’t help. When I start the second row I’m fine. Then when the second piece of the second row comes up it’s impossible. I can’t get it in without the first one coming out. I finally decided I’d have to live with a less than perfect seam for the second one and I moved on to the third one. THEN all three come loose. Over and over and over. I have banged up bloody knuckles, bruised knees and a sore back. AND I’m out over $300 for a floor I can’t use.
August 27th, 2009 at 06:36
Addendum to my above comment: Maybe different manufacturers are different. Mine was from Home Depot. It’s “Faus” http://www.fausinc.com “Cosmopolitan” They don’t even recommend a tool of any sort. They say “snap” into place with your hands. Well mine are bruised and bloody and the floor still is not in. Even if I prevail I can see that there will be some small gaps here and there that I will have to fill in with caulk, I guess.
It has been very humid. Maybe that’s a problem. The flooring spent almost a week in the room unopened before I started the installation.
Be wary. It’s not nearly as easy as they say.
August 30th, 2009 at 13:17
Hi Mike!
Don’t they say you should have the flooring open a few days before starting? I suppose if your basement is really humid, that could be a problem.
August 31st, 2009 at 14:23
I’ve installed many, many hardwood floors and am now installing my first laminate. The room is 38 feet long, and it’s going in a basement that has always been almost “dusty dry” for years, so am not concerned about dampness any more than a main floor. I snapped a chalk line down first, and set down wall spacers for the first row because no framed wall will fit a straight line over 38 feet. Yes row one was a breeze, and rows two and three were pop-out and re-do just like other posters mentioned. Then I got an inspiration: Lay the next row down onto, but not into, the tongue, and fit them end-to-end. Then, from one end, lift, press,
and close like a ZIPPER. Clean the next tongue of loose machined MDF bits as they prevent the next piece from fitting flush. Yes, the joints can be tapped. Take a piece of cut-off scrap, shave the lock off on the edge that would mate if it was a real piece, place it against the planks wherever you need, and softly tap the scrap with the side of your hammer. It will fit seamlessly and the planks will immediately fold flat. The tongue and grooves are more fragile than I would like, and there are lots of little bits of mdf left over from machining that thwart a perfect fit, so do a visual and clean before driving yourself nuts. And the REAL trick was to lay them ONTO the tongue as you fit. Don’t try to lift an entire row umpteen feet long all at once because it can’t be done without using up the entire quota of profanity for the job.
August 31st, 2009 at 14:32
I should be clear, the inspiration I got was from the Kaindl website, not my own conclusions, but it exactly addressed the frustrations I was having with rows two and three, which I had laid down, and placed a few inches away. That was wrong. See the installation video here: http://www.kaindl.com/consultation/installation.php?m=89. It is vendor specific of course, but the concept of the “lay it on the groove” is probably portable. That single trick made it a breeze. And tap with scrap.
August 31st, 2009 at 14:38
And oh, 6 mil vapour barrier onto the concrete floor, all seams Tuck taped together and then foam underlay onto that for thermal barrier and stop the creaks.
October 20th, 2009 at 07:18
I bought a Shaw laminate flooring with 1 20 year warranty and had it professionally insatlled. WIthin 6 months the seam started rising and got worse, in about 20 different spots. They sent an inspector who said it was due to excessive topical mositur I.E standing water!. We only used the Shaw brand cleaner once a month and drymopped the other times.
Even though the warranty states it is covered against normal moisture, they said they would only cover “manufacturing defects”. We should get a class action suit against these jerks!
October 28th, 2009 at 13:29
Its your technique Dude!…..
Also it is a “floating” floor: visualize floor itself as single unit sitting on sub floor, wit edges “clamped” by moulding attached to the wall NOT the floor!!!
What works well: layout your base “row” (or partial row)along one wall; then start working out of one corner.
two poub hammer is very useful with the instalation kit tools for tight seams.
Lumberliqidators click & lock flooring very good product
October 28th, 2009 at 16:28
Some laminates are just crap. I’ve been installing laminates from all comanies since they first came out. I am on a job right now that should have taken 4 or 5 hours. 9 hours later, we need to go back tomorrow and finish it. It is a thicker Tarkett laminate. It is the type that is supposed to be installed without the use of a tap block, but that is not possible. Tell me how I’m supposed to tilt my piece in at a 45 when it has to go under a door jamb or toe kick.
Like I said, I have a ridiculous amount of experience installing laminates and know all of the tricks (invented quite a few of them myself). Tarkett can be ok, but this particular product is complete crap and i will not be installing it again.
Mohawk is decent, Pergo has always been good. No substitue for hardwood.
December 19th, 2009 at 11:35
GO TO SAM’S CLUB AND GET Lock’n Seal Laminate Flooring-Brazilian Cherry. I’m a pro and this floor is so easy to install a caveman can bucking do it. IT NEVER POPS OUT. It’s tongue and groove so you’ll need a hammer and a special tapping block. Don’t buy those little black tapping blocks. They suck. Mine is a white foot long tapping block. It looks like a 2′ x 4′ that’s hard plastic.
I wouldn’t lay the OP floor for $10,000. IF YOUR LAMINATE FLOOR EVER POPS OUT SAY ON ROW 2 PIECE 2 AND SO ON TAKE THAT *HIT BACK. I’ve installed several companies and Sam’s Lock’n Seal is the Cadillac and it looks great. IMO. Shaw is hard to lay too. What becomes a nightmare with the OP is not only after you start row 2 but going down tight halls and with the floor he had it want pop in without this special back tapping block thing.
February 11th, 2010 at 17:40
Roger, you say go to Sams Club for the laminate but don’t they carry different brands? If so what brand did you install?
February 20th, 2010 at 03:23
I am so glad I’m not the only one. I hate the stuff. It shifted when we were laying it and there was nothing we could do about it. We had several people here with us when we were installing, and we couldn’t get enough weight on the plank to keep it from shifting when we were tapping. The boards wouldn’t lock from end to end on some boards. The manufacturer suggest we go back and tap them back in place and it will be fine, it shifted other boards when we were putting it together. Then they said after it’s laid if we tap it then it will fall right into place. We tried and it won’t budge. Now after the floor has been down 1 week we have some gaps(that are getting bigger), and some chips where the corners of the board are popping up. There’s also a few scratches on the surface of it from a chair, it’s not as durable as the companies say. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can possibly keep it from chipping more, how to fill in the gaps, and keep the corners of the planks from buckling?
February 21st, 2010 at 12:03
I layed laminate click floating hardwood floor thru the entire house 850 sq ft. the only problem i am having is the last row will not stay in place. no matter what i do, it pops up. I am so frustrated with it. thought about nailing too, but the floor is concrete and nails wont stay down. Any suggestions would be great. other than the last row, I have no complaints, love the floor and how it looks.