Kitchen Laminate Flooring
 

My German Father in Law put down a laminate flooring system. He said that the floor does not like water.

Needless to say, the kitchen sink cold water shut off valve started leaking over the floor. I thought I caught it soon enough with towels etc. It turns out, the flooring planks are starting to worp a bit.

What to do? Wife put a few bricks on the floor to try and press it down and dry. I think not heavy enough. I will put down a 2x6-2x8 boards with cinder blocks (heavy) for a few weeks (right in front of the kitchen sink) to press down the laminate planks and let dry out.


Thoughts and ideas?

Notorious is our resident flooring expert.

I went with $1.99 sq ft laminate in our living/dining area that holds up to water really well. Only one spot has come up a tad in four years.

I put $.99 sqft cheap laminate in my girls' playroom and it is warped in a few places. That cheaper stuff hates water.

Laminate has turned out to be a worthless product. You can't even mop it without causing problems. I just did a rent house with a PVC tile type product that is great. Wood grain look. It's real flimsy like that cheap sticky tile but very durable and water will not **** with it. Like 2.99 sq ft installed.

If it's regular laminate it's done once water gets to it. You will probably see the edges start to discolor, then peel.

Laminate is great for resisting scratches, but water is it's nemesis.

The great news is that it's really easy to tear out.

Laminate floors in a kitchen are horrible. Little upside. OK, no scracthes but as Notorious said water destroys them and you know what is in a lot of kitchens: WATER.

It's also very slippery in most cases, cold and like walking on your countertops.

Tile or wood is best. Now they have a great and inexpensive radiant heat system you can put under tile that a DIY person can easily handle.

I like wood in a kitchen but DON'T put it under the dishwasher. Put 3/4 plywood as the base there because if you ever get a leak, the wood floor swells and it will trap the dishwasher under your counter.

what do you think plywood is? :hmmm:

I put down some vinyl plank flooring in my kitchen last year and the stuff is great. Waterproof and feels good on the feet. It was the Allure Trafficmaster stuff from Home Depot. A bit pricey but worth it in my opinion.

Plywood is not the incredible sponge that hardwood flooring is. Plywood does not swell like real hardwood flooring. The ply doesn't allow for it

A hardwood floor with a massive water leak from a burst pipe can blow out walls and sill plates from expansion.

Plywood not even close

It's probably toast, but you could try to liberally pour salt on it, cover with plywood, then put bricks or cinder blocks on the plywood. Leave it for several days then clean up the salt.

Once its warped, it stays warped. Unlikely you'd be able to flatten that out.
While water is bad for laminate, it usually has to be on there for quite a while to damage it by seeping through the seams, or if the water finds its way underneath. Best to probably tear out the damaged planks and replace them.

Yeah, you're probably boned. I would guess it will destroy the finish even if you get it flattened. It gets in the seams and sits there until it gets through the finish.

Buddy of mine bought some of that PVC flooring. His was solid - not floppy, but he was in the $3 price range and it looks really good.

When I did my kitchen I ended up with this real expensive tile that I glued down that is made for kitchens. The contractor I had install it said it was the best floor he'd ever put down. But I probably wouldn't recommend it because of the cost. Where my buddy ended up was probably better than what I did.

We had the Great Flood of '11 when a water line broke in our house while we were at work. Water was everywhere, and one worry was our hardwood floors on the second floor (which are really softwood - I think they're fir or something). They were swelling and warping a little, and it was a huge downer for us since they're the original 100+ year old floors. We brought in several of those big industrial heaters/dryers and lived in hell for a few days, and they eventually ... unswelled ... or something. They're fine now.

Which is why they designed engineer floor like plywood. It's a lot more moisture resistant.

Great for wood width over 4-5", too.


Putting radiant heat under wood is scary business. I would avoid the jobs if they want to use maple or hickory, even engineered, over radiant heat. Besides, wood floor manufacturers have some insane demands that need to be met to even get the wood warrantied.

Why is that a problem? Is it warping or safety or something else?

My wife and I keep lamenting not putting radiant heating under our kitchen floor because it's kind of a cold spot in the house. It's tile now, but we've pondering putting in wood (and heating) because the tile floor is really cold in the winter.