Lipping and gaps because of damp (?) - DPM question

[anatro]

Hi,

I would be grateful if someone could help me with my issue.

About a year ago, I purchased a new build home and had laminate floor put on the ground floor on concrete.

Everything was fine for the first 6 months however around September time, I noticed all the planks started opening up on the top and bottom part which gradually kept getting worse.

I phone up the company who fitted it who sent a guy over to check the expansion gaps and it turned out that the floor wasn't touching anywhere.

They then sent over an 'independent' person to assess it and I was told that the report showed damp. Now they said that it's their fault as they should have checked that beforehand and put a DPM however even though they agree that they have to swap the floor, they refuse to just put a DPM and said that my options are:

a - lift up the floor and live on concrete for 2-3 months till the floor dries out because apparently the humidity remains too high to relay it
b- put DPM latex which would cost me an additional £1K (!) for roughly 30sqrm2

I told them why don't you put a DPM underlay now and I take full responsibility if the issue happens again however they said it's not an option and I could still take them to court regardless.

Is it true that putting a DPM underlay won't do the trick and the floor needs to dry out first? Apologies for my ignorance I just don't understand the difference between DPM underlay and latex

Any advice would be very appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

 

[dazlight]

100% the people who laid the laminate at fault.
Why didn't they do a moisture test?
If it was a new build then they should of checked how long the concrete had been down. The drying time is 1mm per day.

I'd lift the laminate then leave a week to air.
Then apply 2 coats of one of these
Stopgap F78 liquid DPM
Laybond rapid DPM
Ardex NVS95
Cost of that I'd say £250-300

This should of been done before your laminate went down.
Was it a carpet shop who did the laminate?

 

[anatro]

Thanks Dazlight for getting back to me.

The property was still unoccupied at the time and I only found out afterwards that they didn't leave the planks to acclimatise, never did a moisture test and applied the cheapest underlay (i.e. Not damp proof).

They said that they're willing to swap it for free but I'll need to leave on concrete (I have babies so can't do that) for 3 months or pay £800 extra for them to put 'Uzin L3 Gold' and in this case they can put the new flooring straightaway.

Obviously I can't afford this nor 3 months of living on concrete so I've already had a chat with a solicitor but some further advice would be great in case they're willing to find a normal compromise as I feel that none of this is my fault hence now it became my problem for some reason.

The company is a flooring trader based in Kent so they were meant to be 'experts'

 

[dazlight]

You don't need the Uzin gold. You don't need a screeding compound.
You would only need that if you were gluing a floor down.
Them liquid DPMs you can lay over in 1-2 hours.
Then use a wood underlay like timber tech 2 extra

 

[anatro]

Thanks again.

I'll suggest that to them and see what they say although I hope they won't come back again with the 'you need 3 months for the concrete to dry before we apply any DPM as the issue will happen' which seems to be their default mode for some reason.

I have friends who had a massive leak for weeks and their house took a week to dry during winter and the flooring company is saying the concrete in my house needs 3 months to get rid of the damp. I honestly find that crazy to believe...

 

[dazlight]

When new concrete gets laid it will take 6 months to a year to fully dry out.
I lay over them a lot an say to the customer to speed things up we can do

2 coats of stopgap F78 after 30 days of concrete being laid
Then the timber tech underlay or one called protech
Then laminate

The F78 is a moisture suppressant which will let moisture out very slowly and not effecting the covering above.
I know a good flooring guy in Kent, near Margate if you need any help