Mr Skill

Wood-Effect laminate flooring has become popular in recent years, as folk discover how quickly they can change a room around, and how easy these floors are to keep clean too. But everything has its downsides and laminate flooring certainly is no exception. The only way to protect yourself from problems is to Find a Floorer who does the job correctly in the first place.

• Peaking occurs when boards are too tight up against each other and the centres begin to bulge. This is almost invariably causde by a lack of free expansion space around the perimeter of the room, and can be corrected.

• Buckling and Warping are the result of water damage or moisture that could come from underground or might even be in the air. For this reason I have yet to meet a Flooring Firm in London who would consider laying laminate flooring in a bathroom, especially near a shower. Another possible cause of buckling and warping is the absence of an effective balancing substrate.

• Gapping between boards should not occur at all providing they are allowed to acclimatize before being laid. If they do open slightly under very cold conditions, the chances are that gaps will close as the room warms up again.

• Mould and Mildew are warning signs of high humidity that ought to be carefully controlled, not simply cleaned away. The solution is to root cause the underlying problem and address it.

• Chipping on corners is a sign of abuse during installation. Make sure your Flooring Quote describes the manner in which the work will be done. If it mentions the use of a mallet and tapping block (which are unnecessary in the first place) move away and look again. If the damage happens subsequently, then I’m afraid you bought a poor quality floor.

Another way to avoid these hassles is to Find a Reputable Flooring Firm on Mr-Skill. That’s because we reference-check our tradespeople to make sure their lower prices do not come with loss of quality. How’s that for winning both ways.