Got what I paid for with Laminate installer

RonnieTX

Long story short. I went with the middle of 3 quotes, from a guy who had a lot of pics and testimonials on his website, but he took twice as long as he said he would and did so/ so work. But I wanted him out of my house so I figured I would deal with the small issues and finish up myself.

Well about a month after he finished (on Christmas eve) I developed a raised section or buckle in part of the floor. He did use levelquick on sections of the slab, and I bought a good underlayment, so I don't think it's moisture. I pulled up the quarter round on both sides of the room, and there is plenty of gap. I live in Houston, with an above grade slab and no other water issues, so I wonder if this is because there isn't enough gap in the hallway?

There are no transitions in the bedroom to hallway doorways though, and I wonder if it's not expansion from the hallway and other rooms across the hall pressing on it? I have T molding left, could I just carefully dremel out a strip across where the doorjamb or threshhold would be to relieve the pressure, then go back and insert some t-molding to cover it up?


You can see with the light reflection where the bump is, just a few inches into the master bedroom


plenty of gap at the wall and I checked under the door trim and pulled it off, nothing is touching that I can see

Thanks in advance for any opinions. I don't want to tear this up as I am just going to be renting my house out and it doesn't need to be perfect, just decent and safe.

ben's plumbing

sorry i can't get pictures...but from what your saying it does seem like it may be to tight and expanison it causing you problem.. ease off at tight points see if it helps ...CAN'T HURT>

joecaption

Did he do a moisture test?
Laminite should never be run through a doorway like that, should have had trasition strips.

RonnieTX

He didn't do a moisture test. Like I said, this guy worked hard, but he didn't have the know-how. I have a good tile guy and a good sheetrock guy, but they couldn't refer me to any wood flooring installers and I did the best I could, which ended up not being the best choice.

I had all 3 bedrooms, the hallway, and the living room done though and no problems anywhere else. This is right in the middle of the house, not near any exterior walls, and the edge of the floor with the generous gaps is only 6 inches away, so I don't think it's moisture related, but again I'm no expert. No visible swelling or bubbling either. Plus it did this after only 3 or 4 weeks of being isntalled, so I think it might be that there is uninterrupted floor running the whole width of the house and there isn't enough room for expansion.

Is there any unforseen issues I could run into if I cut out a relief strip an inch wide or so across the door jamb with a dremel, then cover it back up with molding once it settles down?