Got laminate installed, has matching boards next to eachother

Curse These Metal Hands

Maybe just being too fussy here but was a bit annoyed to see two instances of the exact same pattern board being installed next to eachother, pics attached. Because its that light edge on a dark floor it really sticks out to me, and it happens twice in the hall.

They've said it would set them back hours to correct it so it will have to do as we need them done by the end of the day for furniture arriving tomorrow.

What are your thoughts?

Would a bit of stain or something work? Or best to just live with it?

ozmo

Fix it now if you are not happy - take the hit of a few hours (will probably only take a few minutes) - you will hate it forever and probably want to replace it quicker than you should....

Unless that part is under furniture and you wont see it.

I dont think you can stain laminate.

2011

Agreed

embracingLife

Jesus that's brutal job, dunno how they can justify doing it and especially insist that they can't rectify it! They f-ing chancers!

Stand your ground and make them redo it. Also you - and any other home owner who's reading this and experience tradesmen pulling a fast one on them - should have no qualms on telling them to fix it or you docking 500 euro from the final bill to pay another tradesman to rectify it later date! This usually nips this crap in the bud.

When they said it'll take hours to fix it-for future reference - just say "that's your problem... why didn't you be more careful and be aware of your job". Tell them "they're here to do the job properly and not make a balls of it etc".

I can't understand how tradesmen pull similar crap on people and fully expect to get away with it and not fix it and try to bull sh1t the customer into accepting the botched job!

Tbh I'd say this fitter did this to spite you, to f* c k up your floor and make a laugh if you. There's lots of cn uts in this country who pull a fast one on people and fully expect to get away with it. You stand your ground in all instances of shoddy work and insist they do the job they are being paid for or else you will dock a substantial amount from the final bill to get someone else to fix it and if they want the outstanding money then you will let a judge in court decide whether they will get the money. When you say this it usually 99% of the time stops their ratty attitude immediately.

They are in your house doing the job you agreed to pay them and you tell them that you fully expect them to do it properly or they have misled you into doing a job they are unable to do properly.

I can tell you from experience in dealing with tradesmen, builders and property professionals of ALL sorts including architects /engineers /surveyors if they think you are a push over they will cut corners and walk all over you.... And fully expect you to pay them for it!

I hope op got them to rectify this issue.

the_pen_turner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119467393#Comment_119467393

thats a bit extreme . nothing really wrong there only preference. i persanally wouldnt have fitted them beside each other or at all if they are the only ones like that . but the customer ordered a natural looking product that has features like this . if they didnt want boards with those features they should have bought a diferent product or asked the installer to only use the ones they want

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119468859#Comment_119468859

I agree but thats a rookie mistake and it was done by someone that didn't know any better or someone that didn't care, either way no excuse. You'd expect a paid professional to get something a simple as that right.

What makes it worse is that its one of the most prominent parts of the "pattern" that has been repeated. Many of the other pieces you'd hardly notice.

the_pen_turner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119469123#Comment_119469123

its not in question if its right or wrong , its clearly right . its a preference only. i wouldnt do it myself

but the previous poster is clearly over reacting and portraying the tradesman as some cowboy or scam artist . thats clearly not the case

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119469187#Comment_119469187

How can any professional laying laminate think thats right? Its not a preference its an obvious rookie mistake and immediately makes the floor look like cheap laminate when it doesn't need to.

zidac

I would like to see more of the floor as i sometimes think these what seem like errors end up being a kindof feature. I got a guy to build a brick feature some years ago, it was a mix pallet and it looks great. He told me he just did random and it looks great. Sometimes perfect just doesn't just work.

the_pen_turner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119469267#Comment_119469267

i mean its straight , flat , square ,no gaps etc.in that regard its fitted correctly its well fitted other than the two pieces with sap wood . the 2 boards are preference

iv laid floors with bits like that hidden under beds etc and others where they wanted them on show

anewme

That would annoy me OP and I echo what the others say, if you don't fix it now, your eye will be drawn to it every time you go near that room. I also agree it is not fitted wrong, but lazy fitting lacking attention to detail and draws the attention that the floor is laminate rather than wood as the "print" is an exact match. A natural product would not have the exact same repeat and would be laid randomly.

The conspiracy theory that Tradesmen are out to botch jobs to make a laugh out of customers is very strange. I pity any Tradesman darkening that door.

Curse These Metal Hands

Unfortunately for a few reasons we had to just leave it, but I think it is fairly crap looking, especially as both instances happen in the same row. The quality of the actual job was really good, can't fault it but for that.

The sample we looked at was made of boards that didn't have that very light colour, so it was a surprise to see it. I think regardless of the boards being right next to eachother it would be easy enough to spot them scattered around because it stands out so much.

We had discussed the idea of a rug along that stretch anyway, prior to the floors being laid, but I had thought it would be a shame to cover the floors. Will probably do it now anyway.

Attached a pic for further viewing.

zidac

I think you are over-reacting and after a couple of weeks you will not notice. a little bit of wear and it will be fine.

The Continental Op

I can see why the sample the OP looked at didn't have that light colour of sap wood, it might well have put people off buying it. The light areas looks natural in one respect in another it draws your eye to the fact there are panels that are exactly the same. Put side by side it makes that worse.

anewme

Yes, they should just have disregarded those 4 floorboards, but at least if they had been mixed randomly on both sides, it would not have looked as obvious as there are some other floorbioards with smaller bits of light.

Lack of common sense and attention to detail - what explanation have they given you OP.

HeidiHeidi

The first photo, I thought that was just a "feature" on the boards that should have been mixed through the whole floor a bit better.

The second photo makes me think that they are flawed boards that should never have made it through quality control.

That would drive me nuts.

Vestiapx

Is the fitter from the shop or a seperate person you contacted? The shop should always include the sap boards on the sample if they didn't they need to sort it.

I like the sap boards in a walnut laminate but the need to be mixed in right and some customers hate them and need to get a different floor. Even in real wood floors walnut can come stained to make it more even or graded to have no sap or mixed like on the image in that laminate and there are peop what like each. I really like your hallway and the double up DOSENT bother me at all. However it's your house so the shop need to rectify the issue as it wasn't displayed correctly on the sample.

The Continental Op

I really hate sapwood in walnut. I'm old fashioned and think that the only usable part of a walnut tree is the dark wood. I even used to burn a bit of walnut sapwood as it was discarded by the pub and shop fitters where I used to get scrap wood for burning.

I'm not sure why the sapwood is being used? Cheaper as you get more out of a tree but I do wonder if some people want it because they can't tell its walnut without seeing some sapwood.

Even in solid floors I've seen what I think is some awful walnut including complete planks of sapwood.

Tis to modern for me.

the_pen_turner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119471170#Comment_119471170

hardly a flaw . someone designed it like that . someone took the time to draw it that way, 100% intentional

SCOOP 64

Just looks like its been down years and worn, is that what it is suppose to look like?, but agreed with op i will be always looking at it

. Don't suppose a touch of lacquer will help.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119471333#Comment_119471333

Do we know if its "drawn"? I thought that but looked carefully and noticed the boards aren't exactly matching.

the_pen_turner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119471509#Comment_119471509

if its laminate then its man made so some designed it somehow

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119471520#Comment_119471520

Sorry, not with you there? So there is no walnut in that at all?

zidac

The more i look at it the more i think the guy who put down may have done deliberately, its interesting there is 2 and 2 and bits of the lighter shaded wood in the same general area and kinda spaced to fit the floor.

The idea is this laminate is to mimic natural look and i think if anything i like a bit of contrast. I personally prefer this look than have all plastic look the same color.

People differ.

the_pen_turner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119471572#Comment_119471572

im presuming its laminate , op has aminate in the title .

Ouch Chinese Byrne

Call them to come back and fix it. It looks stupid.

lawred2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119470488#Comment_119470488

Think that's fine to be honest. It's a lovely floor

Curse These Metal Hands

The fitters are from a shop. They were doing us a favour by squeezing us in early despite a very long waiting list. Plus we also had a bunch of deliveries due and after weighing it all up we just said we will live with it.

When it was pointed out they seemed confused as if it was an unreasonable observation that would take too long to fix. After that they were conscious not to do it again.

The finish is "coffee oak" and yes that light part didn't feature on the sample. I don't mind the light part but would have just wanted it scattered more.

Ouch Chinese Byrne

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119472084#Comment_119472084

If you are not happy with it then get it fixed. Don’t let them fob you off. It’s not supposed to be laid like that and they know it.

They need to fix their mistake and forget about favours they didn’t fit it for free.

...Ghost...

It will always bother you, rug or no rug. Others won't even notice

Think it looks well OP, the herringbone pattern is nice in a narrow corridor. Guaranteed you won't even notice it in a few weeks.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119472109#Comment_119472109

It's not fixable without redoing half of the floor.

From the first pic, it looks like they'd need to work their way back from the front door right down the hall. The skirtings etc will need to come off again.

Ouch Chinese Byrne

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119478784#Comment_119478784

Then that’s what they need to do. Floor fitters lay floor incorrectly then fob off customer. Based on previous comments It’s stereotypical of the Irish accepting what you are given rather then accepting what you requested.

There is no way that that’s supposed to be the design of the floor. The OP paid 1000s for the laminate and install so it would be 100% correct.

RainInSummer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119471572#Comment_119471572

I'd guess you know what laminate is from your other posts about here, but it's effectively a photograph of some walnut on a man made plank. So yep, someone in a design capacity likes sapwood.

The Continental Op

Thanks I'd know about the solid stuff and some thats real veneer but honestly didn't know they'd go to those lengths to produce boards with so few pattern changes.

RainInSummer

It's typically not an issue if it's installed somewhat sympathetically to the design.

There's lots of it in the house here and it's a good ten years old, looks like new in a lot of places and you have to go look for repeats in pattern. They are there but unless you are a shoe gazing type you won't notice.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119485811#Comment_119485811

Not a shoe gazer but I'll soon spot if your shelves and pictures are plumb or not ;-)

ec_pc

I had a similar concern when we got our hall done with semi-solid herringbone in 2020, you can clearly see some brighter contrasting pieces, but this never really bothered us and we don't even notice it. I think they have dulled a little since being installed, but we do not have any mats etc in place. Nor has anyone ever commented on it.

embracingLife

I got laminate flooring fitted few months ago. The fitters are very reputable and have a waiting list for several months.

When they finished the job, they walked me around and insisted I inspected it and was happy with their work. Also they showed me some off coloured planks similar to the OP's photos but instead of laying them they discarded them and opened up all the remaining boxes and used enough planks so everything was the same. They said that there's no way they'd fit the discoloured planks.

Btw I contacted them in the past few days and showed them this thread and the OP's photos. They laughed and couldn't believe a fitter laid these planks.

So yes I stand over what I said and clearly the OP isn't happy with the way the fitters did the job.

Hotblack Desiato

I'd be annoyed if I got a number of pieces of flooring that were very different from the rest - and with laminate there isn't the excuse of the variation in natural wood - somebody chose to make those pieces look very different to the others.

When we moved into our current house we had lots of renovation to do, we did the whole ground floor (except kitchen) in the cheapest possible B&Q laminate inexpertly installed by myself. At the time we thought we'd have got our money's worth if it lasted ten years. I honestly thought it would wear out fairly rapidly in the heaviest wear areas due to being cheap. 15 years later it's as good as new, the feckin' stuff will outlive me at this rate 😆 but the main thing is that it's reliably bland throughout in appearance and doesn't draw attention to itself, unlike having dramatically lighter bits on a predominantly dark floor. Tbh if that was me I woudn't be asking for the sapwood-coloured pieces to be moved around, I'd be asking for them to be got rid of if they weren't included in the sample pieces.

Call them back! They'll have it done in no time!

You'll be looking at it longer than it will take them to fix it!

mickdw

Surely that's a semi solid of some description and we are dealing with a rear walnut layer.

Anyway, I wouldn't fit it like that but it's not terrible. What is terrible is the edge strip butted up to the skirting to finish the floor at the edges. That shows up the whole job as being fake as fake can get.

Curse These Metal Hands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119518295#Comment_119518295

Don't know how many times it needs to be said but it's laminate.

eddie.g

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119472256#Comment_119472256

i would agree with the above,, if you are like me you will lift the rug to show others 😂 i see these things too and its only when you point it out to others they tell you they did not notice but now that its seen it cant be unseen.

if its possible for your own sanity see if they will fix it, just show them the picture,

your lucky you went for a good laminate some have so little variants that it replicates loads.

GreeBo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119478784#Comment_119478784

It was easily fixable when the OP drew their attention to it (the original photo)

OP I think you are getting away with it due to the herringbone style, as the boards don't look identical (to me), they look more like two plans from the same original piece of timber with the sap wood being narrower in one than the other. If they were laid any other way I would have a real issue with what they did but I think I could accept this. However 100% you were within your rights to get them to change/fix it when you originally asked.

I had a walnut semi-solid floor laid before, and while he did a great job, he used a couple of rows of small planks consecutively (each box had a mix of short, medium, long boards). This annoyed us as we had bought plenty of extra boxes to ensure that this wouldnt happen and by the time we spotted it the floor was complete.