'Squishy' Engineered Wooden Floor

Bradt Pitt

We recently had an engineered oak floor put down in our kitchen.

The guy that did it for us first put down levelling compound and put the floor down on that about two weeks later.

On top of the levelling compound, he put a layer of underlay, followed by the timber.

It all looks great but the problem is it's moving up and down - some spots are worse than others - there's a squishy feeling and you can see the floor move up and down as people walk on it.
It's very disappointing as we spent about 2k on the floor, including labour, and I think the floor just basically isn't level underneath.

The guy who put it down says you have to expect a certain amount of bounce with floating floors but this is beyond that.

Is there any way to fix it?
Could holes be drilled that would anchor the floor to the concrete? (I'm clearly no DIY expert, just trying to think of something!)

I should mention the guy who did it is married to a good friend and as such, complaining to him is not an option.

Any advice would be very welcome. Thanks a million

e.r

The floor could be trapped, and cause it to slightly buckle, Easily fixed.

but if the floor was in really bad condition before he installed that's your problem alright, no way to screw it down as it has to float otherwise it will buckle.

Like with any floor prep is key and if done incorrectly finish will suffer

slimjimmc

^ agreed.

If the bounce was there pretty immediately then I'd go with the sub-floor not being prepared properly (not flat enough) however if the bounce only appeared recently then I suspect the floor has expanded and is binding somewhere.

OP to explain further, all wooden flooring expands and contracts as moisture content fluctuates, this is normal. To accommodate expansion there should be a gap of about 10mm (or more) all around the perimeter of the floor and where the flooring meets any immovable structures such as radiator pipes and kitchen units. You normally can't see this as it's covered by the skirting boards or some wooden beading.

The problem could be due to the fitter simply leaving an insufficient gap somewhere, or the flooring wasn't left in the kitchen to acclimatise before fitting and has expanded after fitting (kitchens are damp environments) or the wooden floor as taken up an excessive amount of moisture perhaps from a damp subfloor or wet mopping. If the gap is too small somewhere or the flooring expands enough to fill it then the flooring has nowhere to go except up and you get buckling and bounce.

You could pull off the skirting or beading and check the expansion gap. If the flooring is tight against an immovable object then you may need to cut or chisel the floor boards a little to make a gap.

Bradt Pitt

Thank you both for your help.

I've checked and there's plenty of room for expansion all around.

We noticed the bounce in the floor immediately but were told that the underlay is responsible for that.

I definitely think the floor isn't level. We put in a free-standing fridge on the floor last night and had to do a lot of messing with the adjustment feet to get it to stand still.

I'll ask someone to have a look, but if the subfloor is the problem, is there any easy fix? Or am I screwed?!

slimjimmc

Afaik there's no easy fix, either lift the flooring or wait in the hope it settles. Perhaps a professional knows a trick.
How thick is the underlay, it should only be a few mm thick foam not thick like carpet underlay.

Bradt Pitt

Yeah, just a few mm thick.

I guess there's nothing we can do at this point except wait and hope it settles, as you say. We certainly can't afford to have it redone.

Disappointing to say the least.

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.

slimjimmc

No harm in getting someone out to check it anyway, you never know he might see something you missed.