# Laminate Floor Peeling and Discolored?



## uwpsocr13 (Jan 3, 2011)

Purchased my house about a year ago, after it had been renovated. One of the selling features was the flooring on the first level. I dont know what brand or specific type it is, but believe it is a laminate, not a hardwood. 

There's a little nook/corner of the room where the flooring has somehow become damaged. In this "nook," there's about 2' on one side that is along the back of the garage, and the other wall is along a bathroom. In this corner I have a small entertainment center that holds a 42" flat panel tv, about 4'x 4 1/2' feet, so not very big. Upon moving the tv stand one day, I noticed the flooring in this area had become SIGNIFICANTLY darker. The floor is a light cherry color, this entire area now look dark brown, almost black. I have also noticed the flooring is peeling and flaking off. It reminds me of when I was a kid and poured the glue on my desk, let it dry, and then peeled it off  . I also noticed a white substance in between two planks. The damage is only in this area. There is no apparent damage to the surrounding walls, the floor hasn't been treated with anything, and has not had anything spilled on it.

I'm concerned as to what could have caused this problem? Was it not installed properly? is it a manufacturing problem with these planks? Is it water damage? Did it have something to do with the tv stand? I'm completely baffled at this point as to what caused it, and what I can do to fix it. Please... any and all help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!!!


----------



## nealtw (Jan 3, 2011)

No idea but what is the sub floor. Is it on concrete or wood . There is a big diff. between hardwood and lam.Give us the length and width of the boards. It may help someone I D it. Are you sure you have no water. It could wick up from under without damage to walls.


----------



## uwpsocr13 (Jan 3, 2011)

nealtw said:


> No idea but what is the sub floor. Is it on concrete or wood . There is a big diff. between hardwood and lam.Give us the length and width of the boards. It may help someone I D it. Are you sure you have no water. It could wick up from under without damage to walls.



Sorry about that, not very handy. Subfloor is concrete. Pretty sure its just a laminate. Length of boards is about 45" and width is 3". As far as I know there isn't water damage. Would there be any other things to look for?

If we assume it is water damage, that is apparently only concetrated to this area (only sticks out about an inch past the tv stand)... what would my treatment options be? Would removal be required?


----------



## nealtw (Jan 4, 2011)

Don't know but lam.floor should have plastic and foam under it. without it water can wick up thru concrete. Do you have 6" of exposed foundation on the outside of this area.
If water gets between floor and poly it will not dry and the floor is hooped. Your floor is hooped either way. I would pull some up and see whats going on.


----------



## handyguys (Jan 4, 2011)

It sounds like water/moisture damage to me. Laminates cant be repaired. Replacement is tricky even if you can find the exact same product. Look outside next to that wall, make sure, as nealtw said, you have 6" of exposed foundation. Meaning the level of your floor is 6" higher than the ground. Also that the ground slopes away from the outside wall at 1/4" per foot over six feet at least.

Once you fix the source of the moisture, only then should you look at fixing the floor.


----------



## nealtw (Jan 4, 2011)

Grabbing at straws! Have you got infloor heating? Is there a chance the the floor was over heated in this area?  If there is any chance of water damage, get it out as things will be growing in there..


----------



## uwpsocr13 (Jan 4, 2011)

No In floor heating (sounds nice though).

I think I left out a detail that I didn't think was related, but my research now tells me otherwise. The adjacent bathroom, that shares this wall, has had some water spots on the ceiling. We think this might be from a a bad seal in the bathroom directly above it. I guess I had assumed that with the water damage, I would see it in the wall as well, but apparently thats not the case.   I guess the plan is to cut a hole in the ceiling and track down where the water is coming from and take care of that. And then I know I'll have to remove these boards, but am hoping I can find some manufacturing info on the bottom and attempt to replace them. I'd hate to rip up a floor thats just a year old.

Thanks for the responses. Obviously I'm not very knowledgeable about these things, so if anyone has any additional comments or suggestions, they're much appreciated. Thanks


----------



## nealtw (Jan 4, 2011)

get that part of the floor out while you think about it. if your leak is into an interier wall cut a stip out of the drywall near the bottom and check for mold. If its got into insulation on the outside wall it will need to be addressed.
Wet interier walls will dry out if the strip is left open for a few weeks.
Mold is the big question at this point. get that leak fixed.


----------



## joecaption (Jan 10, 2011)

The first place I would look is on the roof at the seal on the soil vent. Very common to have them rot out over time. They make a simple rubber ring called a rain cap that just slides over the pipe that's made far bigger then the old seal so you do not have to mess with the whole roof boot.


----------

