Engineered Floor is Lifting

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blackbirdxx

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Just had a new engineered wood floor fitted in my lounge. For whatever reason, after re-plastering the walls the builder decided to re-fix the skirtings prior to the floor being fitted leaving an incorrect gap to take the underlying ply, underlay and engineered floor. The builder decided to undercut the skirtings to create the correct gap rather than ruin any décor by having them removed. Unfortunately, the undercutting created some noticeable gaps between the skirting and new floor. Builder has since used silicone sealant to fill this gap and made a very good job of it.
The problem I have now is that about 4 weeks down the line, the engineered floor is lifting in the middle. I'm wondering if its likely to be the bead of silicone sealant which isn't allowing the floor to thermally expand into the gap around its perimeter.

Any thoughts?? the builder hasn't proposed anything yet.
Should silicon ever be used in this situation? Is there another material which can be used to fill the gap under skirtings?? (not timber beads pl)

Many thanks in advance....
 
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Silicone won't be strong enough to prevent the floor from expanding. I've seen it push external door frames out of the walls in the past.

It's not got enough expansion around the edges.
 
Hi, I appear to have confused everyone......
There is an expansion gap around the perimeter of the floor under the skirting which should be adequate to cater for thermal movement. The builder has put a bead of silicon to fill the gap between the underside of the skirting and the floor to make it a neat. My question is whether this is a mistake as this may stop expansion and cause the buckling??
thanks....
 
The two most common causes are
1/. Incorrect expansion gap, or something has lambed up this expansion gap?
2/. if the floor is a concrete ground bearing slab it may be wet or? has damp penetration?
 
Thanks for all responses.

Noticed that the silicone bead around the perimeter of the room has not moved at all which implies to me that the silicone is preventing the floor expanding into the gap beneath the skirting and hence causing the buckling. This floor was laid a number of weeks ago with no silicone bead and did not buckle at all, even during that very hot spell we had. The reason the builders applied this bead was to fill the ragged gap between the floor and skirting created by the undercutting. The fact the builders installed the skirting before the floor was fitted has proved to be a disaster which I wasn't happy with at the time, but hey ho we are where we are...

The problem is where do we go from here??
If the builder just removes the silicone bead I'll have to live with a ragged skirting. Is it reasonable, in the circumstances, to get the builder to replace all the skirtings and scribe the underside to the new floor as they have done or is there another solution?? The hallway has the silicone bead as well but hasn't expanded to my knowledge, probably as it gets no sun. Should the hall be dealt with as well as it will likely fail with seasonal changes, especially when the central heating gets put on for winter?

Any advice welcomed - thanks....
 
Run a blade along the silicone against the floor all the way. At least then you can prove if its really holding the floor or if there's actually not enough expansion gap. No need to completely remove the silicone to check.
 
Hot spells cause shrinkage not expansion , there is no way you can be sure you have an expansion gap under a skirting if you can’t see it . Wedges are used as temporary spacers around the perimeter when fitting and removed before fitting the skirting , impossible if the skirtings in place .
 
Thanks guys, yes the flooring was left in the lounge for a number of weeks to acclimatise prior to fitting.
It makes sense that hot weather causes the floor to shrink rather than expand. As the floor has definitely expanded, does this imply damp (or water-leak) is the problem? Obviously this doesn't remove the fact that the silicone bead is preventing the floor expanding.
 
blackbirdxx said:
Thanks guys, yes the flooring was left in the lounge for a number of weeks to acclimatise prior to fitting.
It makes sense that hot weather causes the floor to shrink rather than expand. As the floor has definitely expanded, does this imply damp (or water-leak) is the problem? Obviously this doesn't remove the fact that the silicone bead is preventing the floor expanding.
Click to expand...
Silicon is highly unlikely to stop it expanding, skirting on at least one wall needs to come off so it can be remedied .
 
I think Foxhole has it nailed?

if you consider it? some debris "could" have been inadvertently trapped between floor and wall when the flooring was introduced under the [already] fixed skirting, as stated above you simply cannot see if the expansion gap is clear of obstruction. indeed during the fitting of the skirting itself may have resulted in some hard non compressible "stuff" getting trapped under the skirting..
You could consider the removal of [to start with] one short wall of skirting to see what is in there? to be honest, all the skirting should be removed, the expansion gap checked and cleared then the skirting replaced

As for dampness? is the timber flooring on top of a concrete slab??

Ken
 
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