Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Bouncing Laminate

Should a laminate floor, in certain spots bow down when stepped on and release when stepped off? In some spots its so noticeable that you feel it, especialy noticeable when you view someone walking on from the side.

No! It will soon crack and break the tongue off and separation of the joints is in the near future. Edge chipping from the up and down movement is also a concern.

Flattness requirements for the substrate are pretty strict, and required for a reason. 1/8 inch in a 6 feet radius is flattness spec for the substrate. If you can feel and see downward flexing, floor prep was thrown out the window, because they were not going to get paid for it, and slapped that floor in as fast as possible to make a quick buck. This happens a lot when purchasing through a cut rate retail dealer, where they are bidding an independent contractors, labor costs. They are rarely employees, but subcontracted, at dictated prices.

We just moved into our first house and it has laminate flooring throughout the main floor. I've noticed this bouncing in ours too, particularly in the kitchen. I've also noticed that since we moved in a few of the pieces have begun to seperate forming small gaps between them. I'm assuming that the previous owners installed this very close to the time we bought the house and it seems like kind of a rush job.

Short of redoing the whole thing, is there anything we can do ourselves to correct this before it gets worse? I'm fine with the existing gaps for the time being as they aren't too bad but I'd like to prevent any future gaps and/or cracked laminate sections if I can.

Short of redoing the whole thing, is there anything we can do ourselves d like to prevent any future gaps and/or cracked laminate sections if I can.





No, nothing you can do without pulling it up and prepping the substrate, right.

We just moved into our first house and it has laminate flooring throughout the main floor. I've noticed this bouncing in ours too, particularly in the kitchen. I've also noticed that since we moved in a few of the pieces have begun to seperate forming small gaps between them. I'm assuming that the previous owners installed this very close to the time we bought the house and it seems like kind of a rush job.

Short of redoing the whole thing, is there anything we can do ourselves to correct this before it gets worse? I'm fine with the existing gaps for the time being as they aren't too bad but I'd like to prevent any future gaps and/or cracked laminate sections if I can.

I'd say it depends where the gaps are. If the gaps are on the ends, it may have indeed been a rush job. I've noticed the same thing in a few spots in my floor that I laid. You can attempt to kick the ends together with one person standing on one board in tennis shoes, and the other kicking the other board to try and push to together. This may not work of course, in which case you need to pull the floor apart and do it by hand. If the gaps are on the long side, then the subfloor may be heaving or it may not be flat. Then you have a problem.

I'm having the same problem. My wife and I brought a guy in who has done some work for us in the past to do the hardwoods. I was inspecting the work that he (actually his "hardwood person" who, judging by her work, has no experience) did yesterday and the floor gives noticeably when I put pressure on it. I'm trying to decide at this point whether to tell him to do it over or bring someone else in to correct his work. His "hardwood person" also racked the floor with as little as 1" difference in the end of the slats in some spots. I should have just done the install myself.