Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Buckling Floor

I didn't see a Flooring Forum so thought I'd try here :)

We installed a laminate floor (thin tongue & groove/glue joints/foam underpad) in our new living room last year. Either because of moving furniture around or the underpad getting scrunched up, there is now a high spot roughly in the centre of the room. It looks as though the tongue has broken off part of one of the boards.

It is in a bad location but I was going to try to slide a shim under the crack, fill it with glue and weigh down the area, hoping that the adjacent pieces would stick to the shim and hide the crack.

This will be difficult so before I give it a whack, I thought I would check with you guys for a better idea.

Any thoughts?

Actually we do have a flooring forum, however it's in the Decorate section instead of the Build, go figure. I only work with hardwood flooring, just can't bring myself to recommend or install laminates, mostly because of situations like you're experiencing right now with your yr-old floor, that would never be a concern with a real oak floor. Anyway I'm moving your post over to where you'll be more likely to get expert adviice.

Good luck.

The cause is either from improper acclimation or insuffecient expansion "gap". In either case the problem dates back to the original installation. Laminate flooring should acclimate in the room where it will be installed for at least 48 hours prior to installation. An expansion gap must be left around the perimeter of the floor that is at least 1/4", more on larger installations. In order to fix the problem, remove all, yes all, baseboard and inspect for an expansion gap around the perimeter of the flooring. I strongly suspect that you will find your flooring touching or in contact with a wall(s) or other vertical structure. This causes a "lock" and the floor cannot float so the expanded area lifts at a point of minimal resistance. Cut the flooring back from the outter point of contact and the floor will relax and return to a flat surface. If you have floor registers or radiator pipes they to can cause a "lock". Finally moisture can cause the same symptoms but is not usually a component to a living room failure. You might check it though if there is no other obstruction to floor expansion/movement.

sounds like he's right on:(

There ya go editor, I figured there were some experts over here that could help ya out. Thanks for the assist guys.

Floorman- What part of the city you from? Lived out in west county when I was a kid.

Yeah thanks there AwsomeDude :)

Good advice Fred but I did the aclimatization thing and also was sure to use spacers when I did the install (1/2" I believe).

I'm pretty sure the problem started with the floor itself. It is in a new addition put over a new (wood) basement. The gap occurred just about at the point where the addition joins the old (over 50 years old) part of the house. There was a lot of fugdging done by the carpenter (oohh ... if I could get my hands on him...but he and his crew left town! ... but that's another story ;) ... to make the transition from old to new. It wasn't level and there were dips here and there.

I just realised that my idea of gluing things down to the subfloor is a bad one. That would remove the floating wouldn't it? ...cause more problems later?

You could be right about the floor registers though. I'm going to have a look at that as well as the perimeter gap.

One last question: is the glue permanent? Do you think I'd be able to remove the bad pieces and put in new ones? (the area in question is only about 3 rows in from an edge)

This could be a reoccuring problem or a tough and complicated fix. Not something I would tackle without being there. As far as plank replacement is concerned try the link that follows.Plank Replacement (http://www.doityourself.com/laminate/plank_replacement.htm)