We recently refurbished our house and installed solid bamboo flooring, floating over a cork underlay on top of floorboards (and concrete in the kitchen).
Unfortunately the builder has botched the ground floor: he laid the floor then built the kitchen on top of it so the floor can't expand and move as it should. I also suspect he hasn't left enough of an expansion gap around the sides (but this is hidden under the new skirting), so the floor is now bowing upwards in several places.
The builder is refusing to come back and blaming materials (saying the floorboards are warping because cork isn't waterproof - as if it wasn't used to stop wine bottles!). We don't want to take up the whole floor as that would involve breaking it (the builder glued all the uniclic boards together) and dismantling the kitchen so we're looking at alternative solutions.
Another builder whom we called to get a second opinion suggested screwing down the boards into the wooden subfloor or joists, countersinking the screws and plugging the holes with a mixture of floorboard sawdust and PVA glue to colour match the floor. Is this really an alternative? Or will it just cause further problems such as the floorboards splitting when the floor tries to expand and contract? The builder wasn't sure - he said he'd try it because the alternative is destroying the floor anyway - so I am asking the DIYnot hivemind.
Thank you for your wisdom!
Unfortunately the builder has botched the ground floor: he laid the floor then built the kitchen on top of it so the floor can't expand and move as it should. I also suspect he hasn't left enough of an expansion gap around the sides (but this is hidden under the new skirting), so the floor is now bowing upwards in several places.
The builder is refusing to come back and blaming materials (saying the floorboards are warping because cork isn't waterproof - as if it wasn't used to stop wine bottles!). We don't want to take up the whole floor as that would involve breaking it (the builder glued all the uniclic boards together) and dismantling the kitchen so we're looking at alternative solutions.
Another builder whom we called to get a second opinion suggested screwing down the boards into the wooden subfloor or joists, countersinking the screws and plugging the holes with a mixture of floorboard sawdust and PVA glue to colour match the floor. Is this really an alternative? Or will it just cause further problems such as the floorboards splitting when the floor tries to expand and contract? The builder wasn't sure - he said he'd try it because the alternative is destroying the floor anyway - so I am asking the DIYnot hivemind.
Thank you for your wisdom!