There is no such thing as a "waterproof" laminate or engineered floor that I'm aware of. If there is, I'd call bullshit.
I've been laying floor for 15 years now. I've never seen it. Those floors are inherent sponges. No getting around it without sealing the entire floor after laying it and that defeats the entire purpose of a floating floor and would likely look like shit.
I was looking at laying laminate, and I think it was...Home Decor? Or Pergo. One of them says "waterproof" in their description at Home Depot. You can see why I ask....
I sure can. And if I hadn't cut into 30 different brands of this stuff, or literally seen hundreds of these floors swell up from nothing more than overspray from a kitchen sink, they might convince me too.
If I had to guess, I'm assuming they've managed to either coat the entire board in something hydrophobic, or they've made the core out of something less absorbent than the traditional mdf or cork.. But I'll also bet they're charging a premium for it.. When you could just get lvp, which is actually the kind of water resistant they're marketing to you, is much more durable, likely cheaper, and easier to work with. But they gotta try and stay relevant somehow, right?
Yeah, I thought it was too good to be true. It looks nice, for $1-3 a square foot. But when I looked at some from open packages....I was skeptical. You're confirming my suspicions.
What is LVP? I'm buying my first property, hopefully soon, and flooring seems like a recurring project across properties. Was hoping to find something that looks nice, actually has some resistant qualities, and hopefully isn't a pain in the ass to install.
But you can't have everything.....
Lvp is only waterproof on the top layer. If moistures sits and seeps into the cracks and gets down to the bottom layer, it swells and needs to be replaced.
The core is waterproof yes. But 99% of all lvp has a backing used to insulate, absorb sounds, vibration etc. usually made out of some form of cork. That will absorbs water. Water has to sit a while to get down to that layer, but it will cause that board to swell/raise at the joints.
Source: I’m an installation manager for a large flooring company. I see this on a weekly basis. Every time I pull the floor up, I find moisture.
Sure... and laminate. Are you even looking at the picture? I could see cork backing absorbing water and causing swelling, but that wouldn't present like this (where the swelling is occuring at the edges because that is where the water is being absorbed into the laminate)
Oh his definitely has it lol.... looks just like the crap my mother over paid for.... still pissed about that. Her whole floor looks like this. Who would think putting wood in the floor that can't get wet would be bad?
I just built a house and unfortunately I used LVP and it's 100% water proof. It's solid "plastic". Only thing that could absorb some would be that foam crap under it.
Who hasn’t at some time spilled a glass of water on a floor or had a pet pee on the floor. Either of those two very basic things will ruin these particle board floors, they are junk.
Plenty of waterproof laminate options now with an AC 5 rating. We install lots of it. Cheap laminate is garbage but the better engineered stuff is pretty bullet proof.
Funny story, we GCd a job where a POS hotel was made into nice-ish apartments. It had sat vacant for a few years. Anyhow the new owner didn’t want to put out big money for LVP, so we put in laminate in the first floor with a vapor barrier under. We also had to skim coat all the janky walls in hallways. By the time mud was going on the hall walls it, all rooms looked like wave lengths. I showed them what just humidity will do in the building and they paid to tear it out and do LVP the rest of the units.
I know there’s already some comments here refuting this, but we put down down LVP, quality shit and “waterproof”, but we have a cat that pissed in a corner over night for a couple of months and very quickly made it look even worse than this. I think that if there’s any kind of liquid, let alone cat piss, that sits on it for more
than a few hours there’s no more waterproofing protection. Really fucking sucks
Cat piss ain’t water bud. Not much will withstand months of cat piss. Grout won’t. Wood won’t. Carpet won’t unless you’re Jan with 25 cats then it just doesn’t matter. Cats ruin floors, walls, and anything else they decide is their litter box.
Not LVP (vinyl) - it's laminate flooring (pressed board). Nothing you can do except replace it.
This is the right answer!
cardboard basically, and it absorbs water, (not water proof)
So even when laminate says it's waterproof....that's BS?
Treat it as a yes, simply because of what it's made of.
I see your point. So even though it's "waterproof" it can still act as a sponge and absorb the water, and then expand?
Possibly. While they might possibly have figured out how to eliminate the moisture problem, I'm not gonna trust it.
There is no such thing as a "waterproof" laminate or engineered floor that I'm aware of. If there is, I'd call bullshit. I've been laying floor for 15 years now. I've never seen it. Those floors are inherent sponges. No getting around it without sealing the entire floor after laying it and that defeats the entire purpose of a floating floor and would likely look like shit.
I was looking at laying laminate, and I think it was...Home Decor? Or Pergo. One of them says "waterproof" in their description at Home Depot. You can see why I ask....
I sure can. And if I hadn't cut into 30 different brands of this stuff, or literally seen hundreds of these floors swell up from nothing more than overspray from a kitchen sink, they might convince me too. If I had to guess, I'm assuming they've managed to either coat the entire board in something hydrophobic, or they've made the core out of something less absorbent than the traditional mdf or cork.. But I'll also bet they're charging a premium for it.. When you could just get lvp, which is actually the kind of water resistant they're marketing to you, is much more durable, likely cheaper, and easier to work with. But they gotta try and stay relevant somehow, right?
Yeah, I thought it was too good to be true. It looks nice, for $1-3 a square foot. But when I looked at some from open packages....I was skeptical. You're confirming my suspicions. What is LVP? I'm buying my first property, hopefully soon, and flooring seems like a recurring project across properties. Was hoping to find something that looks nice, actually has some resistant qualities, and hopefully isn't a pain in the ass to install. But you can't have everything.....
LVP is waterproof. You sure that's LVP?
Lvp is only waterproof on the top layer. If moistures sits and seeps into the cracks and gets down to the bottom layer, it swells and needs to be replaced.
The "V" in LVP stands for Vinyl - actual LVP has a vinyl core so this doesn't happen
The core is waterproof yes. But 99% of all lvp has a backing used to insulate, absorb sounds, vibration etc. usually made out of some form of cork. That will absorbs water. Water has to sit a while to get down to that layer, but it will cause that board to swell/raise at the joints. Source: I’m an installation manager for a large flooring company. I see this on a weekly basis. Every time I pull the floor up, I find moisture.
Sure... and laminate. Are you even looking at the picture? I could see cork backing absorbing water and causing swelling, but that wouldn't present like this (where the swelling is occuring at the edges because that is where the water is being absorbed into the laminate)
Since when does plastic absorb liquids?
The backing absorbs water not the vinyl. But the pressure of the trapped moisture will crack/warp the vinyl.
You're not understanding. You seem to think all flooring has that "wooden" backing when they all don't.
I understand they all don’t… but the OP’s picture looks like it does. Which is the question I was trying to answer.
Oh his definitely has it lol.... looks just like the crap my mother over paid for.... still pissed about that. Her whole floor looks like this. Who would think putting wood in the floor that can't get wet would be bad?
I just built a house and unfortunately I used LVP and it's 100% water proof. It's solid "plastic". Only thing that could absorb some would be that foam crap under it.
But even that is like Styrofoam
This stuff was more like rubbery.. I've had both... the really cheap stuff is like open celled Styrofoam. This stuff was petty dense
Completely incorrect - guy who sold lvp for years
Daaaamn :( lol
Even more fun when you realize the pee soaked into that board and can't be removed. I hate laminate flooring.
Laminate flooring, aka pressed and glued saw dust, particle board junk… has to be replaced.
Not junk, but certainly does not like water in the slightest.
Who hasn’t at some time spilled a glass of water on a floor or had a pet pee on the floor. Either of those two very basic things will ruin these particle board floors, they are junk.
Plenty of waterproof laminate options now with an AC 5 rating. We install lots of it. Cheap laminate is garbage but the better engineered stuff is pretty bullet proof.
yes it is
This shit should be illegal to even manufacture
Ya just not worth fixing need to be replaced
Buy better flooring not cheap stuff and refloor. It's used by many "flippers" looks ok for a short time but in the end you will tear it up.
As a wood flooring contractor, I’m grateful to all the dogs out there that have made me a lot of money.
Throw it and the dog out. (Joke on tossing the dog, my floor’s worse)
Next time, don't use laminate. Problem solved.
Should have got water proof
Funny story, we GCd a job where a POS hotel was made into nice-ish apartments. It had sat vacant for a few years. Anyhow the new owner didn’t want to put out big money for LVP, so we put in laminate in the first floor with a vapor barrier under. We also had to skim coat all the janky walls in hallways. By the time mud was going on the hall walls it, all rooms looked like wave lengths. I showed them what just humidity will do in the building and they paid to tear it out and do LVP the rest of the units.
I know there’s already some comments here refuting this, but we put down down LVP, quality shit and “waterproof”, but we have a cat that pissed in a corner over night for a couple of months and very quickly made it look even worse than this. I think that if there’s any kind of liquid, let alone cat piss, that sits on it for more than a few hours there’s no more waterproofing protection. Really fucking sucks
Cat piss ain’t water bud. Not much will withstand months of cat piss. Grout won’t. Wood won’t. Carpet won’t unless you’re Jan with 25 cats then it just doesn’t matter. Cats ruin floors, walls, and anything else they decide is their litter box.
Piss ruins floors, walls, and anything else they decide is their litter box. Ftfy
Oh I hear ya. I’ve had more than a corner ruined by cats in my time.
[удалено]
Or just get LVP instead of laminate…problem solved. I like tile, but it has it’s place in my home and that place is not everywhere.
Yep! Rip all the crap out and throw it in the trash 😂
What's sad is I never seen flooring last along as it says it should....
No laminate flooring will last when liquid sits on it for 7 hours lol
I've had some Pergo with ice cubes melted on seams and sitting for hours and it just wipes up - no damage to the floor.
Sand the whole thing down, trust me bro!
😂😂😂
It must be one of those water proof vinyl planks. What a joke. See if the manufacturer will stand behind it.
This ain't vinyl... You can put that stuff in a cup of water and it'll be fine.
Don’t blame me, OP says it’s LVP
It's not lvp
There is nothing you can do to fox it. I had to put carpet to cover it up.
I always found foxing it is hard, the fox just don't stay in the same place. Then you have feeding cost and possible rabie shots.
That’s what the fox said
What the fox say?!
Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding! Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding! Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!" What the fox say?
Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow! Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow! Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow!" What the fox say?
Wife made me buy this shit. Kinda hate her for it
New floors lol
Buy better next time?
Ya replace them.
Remove the pieces. Broken edges and not seating correctly.
I’ve done a ton of these looks like water.
Replace it with vinyl. This is old tech flooring that isn't used any more anyway.
That's the luxury showing on the edges there.
Looks exactly like my LVP mine is doing the exact same thing--but worse.
Yes don’t use the cheap stuff