Laminate floor shifting

3/5/2018 at 6:00:40 PM

While you can often go over top of an existing floor, it is always best practice to tearout the existing floor before installing a new one. Knowing you are installing your laminate overtop of damaged flooring, this could be your problem, and removing amd reinstalling will not help you.

Laminate could also be separating due to improper installation (too close to walls, poor shuffling and spacing of boards). Without seeing what you're talking about, this is all speculation, but it definitely sounds like you could use an in person professional assessment.

3/5/2018 at 6:39:49 PM

Put down pro board , screwed every 4 inches ,

Add a small amount of wood glue to the grove part of the laminate , just make sure you have 3/8's inch space between the floor and the walls , for expansion, and contraction .

Base board will hide the gap.

3/5/2018 at 7:32:28 PM

If the laminate that you are using has a backing material on the laminate piece itself the laminate does not need an under pad material. The material on the back of the under pad is the under pad that will support the laminate. If you install under pad with this laminate that has material on the back of the under pad already the laminate will be to spongey and flex to much which will cause your seams to split. Just make sure the floor that you are installing the laminate on is secure and screwed down. Any damaged pieced of the plywood that you are installing the laminate over must be damage free, cut out and replace damage sections. Just remember, any flex in your floor is not good, it must be solid.

3/5/2018 at 8:06:34 PM

Generally, laminate floor does move and should not come apart. Going over damaged floor is not a solution for laminate. I usually either cut out the damage or install new sub floor. In your case plywood may be the solution and checking spacing at all walls, doors etc. As mentioned before, the pad is the underlayment.

3/9/2018 at 5:19:41 PM

If the sub floor is damaged, that issue should be addressed and fixed. If the flooring is sliding and separating then it sounds like it was not installed correctly. Double check your joints are separated enough and not lining up. Also make sure the floor is installed tight enough in the room without gaps along the walls.