Staggering of Laminate Floor
Laminate flooring manufacturers require their floors to be staggered anywhere from 8 to 12 inches or more. (See manufacturers installation instructions.)
A floating floor that is not staggered will look odd.
A floating floor not staggered properly will compromise its strength and structural stability.
The planks in the photo above have not been staggered. Not only does this look bad, the floor will not perform properly.
Out of Rack Laminate Floor
Planks must be installed tightly together on both the short and long sides.
When the laminate flooring is not installed tightly together a wedge shaped gap known as “Out of Rack” will occur.
About Terry Weinheimer | Kevin Weinheimer
Dear sir,
Recently I rented a home that just had laminate flooring installed. The flooring was not installed correctly and it is beveling and there are spots that look like bubbles in some areas at the edges. The floor boards have not been staggered and show warping. This concerns me a great deal. I have only lived in the home one month. I have showed the landlord the flooring and honestly they just scratched their heads and did not address the issues. I took photos of the flooring and submitted my concerns. I was also told when the flooring was buckling “that as soon as the moisture leaves the floors will seal” is this true?
Donna
The way you describe this floor it has already failed and was certainly installed to fail. Whoever told you that as soon as a floor buckles it will seal when the moisture leaves is ignorant when it comes to floors. I am not an attorney and cannot give legal advise. If it were me I would take every effort now to protect myself from a future claim. I would hold onto copies of those photos, letters to the landlord and even this submission to laminate floor problems in case the landlord tries to blame you for this floor failure. If the landlord is smart they will go after the responsible person now. My guess is that they installed the floor themselves. Good luck to you!
Terry