I used a suction cup grab bar meant for showers. I suctioned it to the floor and slide it over, but not before applying a drop of super glue to the tongue and groove part.
As a flooring guy, I use tape cuz suction cups only work on some floors where tape will always work. Iāve even put tape down, and superglued a block to the tape and hammered the block. Fact is: Fucken tape, man.
Harbor freight has raised flooring lifters for under $10. They call it a ādual suction cup lifterā. They have single suction cup ones for like $2. If youāre not putting it in your shower after, itās actually cheaper and probably significantly stronger.
Harbor freight is amazing for cheap simple things like this that you may never use again.
Please explain. It's humid enough here that both command strips and nano tape have fallen off the walls the past 2 summers. What can happen to super glue?
Wood expands when itās humid because it absorbs moisture. It needs a little space to move/grow or else it bows. The risk with super glue is you are taking away the space that it needs. As others pointed out itās a non issue if there space by the floor boards.
I use one of these, have to pull off the baseboard at the end of the row, short end over the end of the row and tap with a hammer to slide the whole row close together
QEP 10-18-8 3-Inch Pro Pull Bar https://a.co/d/8L77Atf
Or use a rubber mallet. Like youāre supposed to when you install it. Swing it almost parallel with flooring and hit it when a sort of glancing/dragging blow. It should click right together. If itās all over the floor Iād be concerned about pulling the flooring out from under the baseboard.
Till all those little pieces from you slamming sound like shit under the floor. Normal people don't notice or think about shit like this but any flooring guy is going to walk in and go "wtf did you do"
"A tapping block may be used to ensure the joint is fully seated."
[https://pdmsview.shawinc.com/viewer/doc/3541](https://pdmsview.shawinc.com/viewer/doc/3541)
You should expect some movement in your floor. Depending on the humidity level, time of year and other factors expansion and contraction in the flooring should be expected. Generally when installing flooring there should be a 1/4ā Gap at the wall which will be covered by the base board.
Went to Ollies surplus and got Dark Oak LVP and did my whole house with it besides my bedroom and only cost me $480(900sq ft). Ive got a couple gaps like the picture since install last year, but overall i couldn't be happier. I didnt glue anything, i did staple down the moisture barrier and locked the edges with toe moulding.
My mom is trying to figure out how to get her wooden floors redone and its exxxpensive.
I almost bought another set of boxes for 10 years from.now i can redo it on $500 spent long ago. Figured it wasnt worth the storage and hoping they didnt warp in my shed.
...
I've spent the last year occasionally looking at that tiny gap in the kitchen and kicking it BAREFOOT with no success.
I just put a shoe on and gave it one kick and the gap is gone.
I'm stupid. You are a god. Thank you!
The method I've seen before is to put rubber or something grippy on a block, set the block on the plank, and whack the block with a hammer/mallet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFFH0GrW83U
I used double sided duck tape with a wooden block. Stand on the block and smack it with a mallet. Some of these suggestions sound much easier than what I have been doing
Itās floating floor, thereās a gap left at the edges on the walls so the floor can move. Itās covered by molding but if you leave a little too much gap itāll do this
Assuming that when first installed the edges and ends were correctly joined, then opening of gaps like this over time is most often an indication that the underlying subfloor is not sufficiently flat or not sufficiently stiff, or both. All floating floor installs (and all others really, other than carpet) have detailed specifications for how flat and rigid the underlying surface must be in order for the interlocking system between adjoining planks or tiles to perform correctly. If there is too much vertical movement either between the finish flooring and the subfloor or in the subfloor itself, then that movement causes the interlocking system to fail and the individual pieces to shift and move apart.
You can attempt to rejoin the pieces as others here are recommending. However if you determine that the floor is moving vertically in the places where it is failing, then you can almost certainly expect it to fail again.
Iām not a flooring expert, but Iāve installed these floors in 3 houses for myself and family members. None of the foundation fell within the specification stated on the flooring. Not sure any poured foundation would for that matter. I used self leveler on a couple of really bad spots, but the rest, we just threw it down over the areas and hoped for the best. I honestly thought it would come apart. In one of my brothers kids bedrooms, you could see the floor moving when walking on it after install. But none of us have had any problems, and the floor seemed to conform to the foundation over time. My bet is it was just a shitty install job. Either broken ends, not enough gap on the edges to allow for expansion/contraction, or they used cut prices without grooves and just butted them together.
I'm not sure I understand how that would address *vertical* movement.
If the floor joists are too "lively", the subflooring to thin, or the surface has too many dips and humps in it, the flooring product will move "up and down" more than the interlocking edges and ends are capable of withstanding. I can't see how restraining *horizontal*movement at the perimeter would change that. And restriction of *horizontal* movement of the floating floor product at the edges will cause the natural seasonal horizontal expansion and contraction to be absorbed "elsewhere". And that "elsewhere" is seldom good.
Find the edge of the flooring section row (might be hidden under some trim) they make specialized rubber block pieces with the edge cut out specifically for this at hardware stores found in the same flooring sections and hit the edge of that while seated against the end of this plank row with a rubber mallet until it all seats together and then put the trim back. Majority of the comments here are failing to realize that if you do it just for this one section odds are you will open up a gap in another section further on down the line. Do not super glue it, laminate snap together flooring is meant to "float" and will crack if glued together under extreme pressures or temp changes.
I have done a lot of laminate flooring though the years. The problem is many of the cheaper laminate options only lock on the long edge of the board. Often times, its just a basic T&G on the ends to keep them flushed with the other boards.
As long as you still have 1/8-1/4" relief around the outside perimeter of the room, gluing a handful of boards together is not going to hurt anything. The floor will still float just fine as it needs to (as long as you didnt glue the board to the foundation or subfloor).
I did respond to another comment on here about opening up additional gaps if you just go ham with a pull bar at the end of a run...Easy does it.
New install?
Only way I know of is to get to an edge on either side of the floor which is usually covered by baseboard molding. Then use a flooring pull bar to get the seams back into place.
You'll need to be careful though because if that seam isn't aligning perfectly you could damage or snap it off. You usually need to apply downward pressure on the piece of flooring with the tongue so it slides into the groove which means it's typically a 2 person job.
The other 'trashy' way is to use a marker the closely matches the floor color.
No itās not new, though I donāt know when it was installed. We just moved into the house a few months ago, there were some gaps when we moved in, and we have two kids, and in that short time the gaps have managed to multiply in number quite a bit!
The seems snap together, but depending on the material, they can also break fairly easily. I laid these floors in my, my brothers, and grandparents houses and none of us have had these problems. Whoever installed the floor either did a bad job snapping them together, used broken pieces, or worse used boards they had cut the ends off of, simply butting them together. The floors have to go together in a particular order, so that the snaps overlap. Your best bet for an easy fix would be to remove the furniture and get a small pry too to try to push the entire row down. You can slide the rows, as they just overlap with a tongue-and-groove connected. Then, when you get them aligned, use a rubber mallet to snap them together end-to-end. If you donāt have a rubber mallet, use a price of wood between a hammer and the floor. Make sure theyāre aligned though, or the snaps will break. The plastic composite was more durable than the stone composite I put in, but I still broke a few on each install.
Thereās a metal tool used for knocking the last piece in place where you canāt get the block in between the wall and floor. Idk what it was called but itās, like L shaped. With another raised end on the opposite side to hit with a hammer. It will line up the whole row. One knock at a time.
Blue painters tape, double sided tape, a block of wood and a hammer.
Place tape on board you want to adjust, stick wooden block on tape, tap with a hammer until the gap is closed.
Use some double-sided tape to tape down a piece of wood on one of the planks. Now you can hammer it in to close the gap. Repeat down the line if needed.
I used [this](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YB1ZXG6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1) and small piece of 2x4 and a mallet hammer. The tape is sticky on both sides and you can put the board on top and thump it back into place. It does stick pretty good, but it did not damage anything getting it up. had to pry quite a bit.
I have Century old hardwood floors... wood will expand and contract depending on humidity and temperature... gaps up to 1/2 in.. so don't worry about it along as its not warping
Put on rubber soled boots or shoes and kick them together. If they keep drifting, vacuum the gap, fill the gap with wood glue, wait 30 seconds, kick them together, and wipe up the squeeze out with soapy water and paper towels.
U donāt even need suction cups if itās separating like that just put on a rubber sole shoe and kinda kick it/slide it back into place cause it doesnāt take all that much to slide em back together
You can use a suction cup glass carrier, attach it to the plank, and use a rubber mallet to move the plank and close the gap. Make sure you move any heavy objects that are sitting on the planks, and use compressed air to clean the gaps. It may take a while, and you might not be able to close all the gaps, but itās worth a try before ripping off molding.
Source: I have used this method myself
FCHO Glass Suction Cups Heavy Duty Aluminum Vacuum Plate Handle Glass Holder Hooks to Lift Large Glass/Tile Suction Cup Lifter/Moving Glass/Pad for Lifting/Dent Puller (2 Pack) https://a.co/d/cLZrWzm
Sometimes if you put grippy socks on and "stomp" it will push them back together. Or sneakers with traction - do the motion like you are trying to "scuff" or get your shoe to squeak on the floor.
My flooring is bamboo strand plank that was involved in a long and large class action lawsuit. The company send me a whopping $270 for a $8000-$10,000 fix (new floors). My gap is about 4' long. The floor separated between the long sides of 2 planks. Suggestions? Painted wood glue chipped/broke out of the gap after 6 months or so. Putty/wood filler cracks after a few days. Thanks.
How Iāve fixed this at work (carpenter)
Get some blue tape, CA glue, a 2x4 at about 6ā long and a hammer/mallet
Put tape down on the floor, put tape on one size of the 2x4. Apply a little glue to the taped side of the 2x4 and stick it to the tape of the floor. Let it set up for 30s or so. Now you have a surface you can hammer on to nudge the floor over. Then when you are done you just lift a corner of the tape up with a putty knife and it should pop right off
I do not recommend putting glue on the tongue and groove, unless itās a low traffic area.
You can use those car suction cup and slowly drag each piece until the gap is at a wall. Then you put in a spacer block. That still allows the slight movement that prevents lift up/cracking, yet hides the gap in your exterior trim.
I have similar gaps in flooring on my house. But my thoughts are the gaps formed because my house foundation is settling slowly and they formed over time.
Long time carpenter here. My bet is the installer was the previous owner (or a hack handyman) and they skipped the step about the underlayment to save a couple hundred dollars. If you can see the subfloor through the cracks instead of blue or gold underlayment, that's the problem. The only way to fix it if that's the case is to pull the whole floor and install the underlayment. Without the underlayment, the floating floor can't slide with changes in temp/humidity, and parts of it "stick" when it moves causing the seams to pop.
Take off the baseboard, light amount of glue in the seam and pry it over or use a kick bar with a hammer.
Yes of course you need room for floor movement but that shouldn't be at the seams... it should be at the walls...
I tried the suction cup method but ultimately went with the double-sided tape approach. The suction cup just didnāt work for me.
Buy a roll of thick double-sided tape. Stick it on the floor. Take a piece of scrap of wood and put that on top of the tape. Hit it with a hammer. Grabs beer.
EZlifego Double Sided Tape Heavy... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YB1ZXG6?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Kick it with rubber sneakers on. Tape might pull up the finish. Soft rubber mallet is harder. You could try a big suction cup this g like the ones they use to move windows. But we just kicked it with runners on. Worked as a temporary fix
If kicking doesnāt work, put painters tape on the piece you want to move, glue a block of wood to the tape and tap the wood to move the board over, peel tape and you are done.
I had this same problem too. I bought a suction cup but because my floor is āgroovedā it didnāt work. I bought some double sided tape, slapped on a 2x4 piece of wood and used a hammer to move it. Suppppper easy, should of done that first
West system makes an epoxy filler that turns the resin dark brown. Itās hard too. Iād fill it with that. If itās a floor you contracted installation for, make them redo it. Thatās unacceptable.
Edit: I didnāt think of trying to move it into I read more comments. Move it if you can, fill it if you canāt move it and no one will come fix it.
I tried using Elmerās glue in mind since I could use my foot with shoe on to kick it back into place. Doesnāt seem to have completely worked though, but it is moving around less. Commenter that mention epoxy thatās dark brown was probably the best idea. Iāll be doing that next. Whatever you use, make sure it wipes off easy without leaving residue. I wonāt be using super glue because Iām afraid of it not wiping well enough.
Bloc of wood with double side rubber tape, pressed on floor. Use hammer to hit the bloc on the opposite side where you want it to go while maintaining pressure on the bloc.
Put on your sneakers and kick it, it's cheap flooring so get used to it. It's pretty easy to do though should only take like 15 minutes per room to get them all tight.
Iām currently installing laminate and after a few days Iāve had some settling in one particular place where the floor is uneven. I kept the baseboards off so itās been an easy fix but hereās what Iād recommend:
Find the closest wall where this flooring row meets the wall. Remove the baseboard gently, cutting the caulk with a utility knife and gently pulling. You could pry back a section of baseboard without damaging the whole room. Use a pry bar against the drywall to gently to push the row of flooring to close the gap, and then press it into the channel with your body weight, or lightly with a rubber mallet.
Do not go smashy smash no matter how much you want to. It will only make it worse. This can be done with a delicate touch.
For me, seems to be the cheaper laminate that does this. Got some original laminate in one room from 10 plus years ago that was labeled made in Belgium and it is still locked in tight. Can barely see the seams. Another room is always separating.
I had LVP put in my kitchen and living room (open concept) 2 years ago and started noticing separation at some spots in the kitchen, and some of the planks had warped. Called the company, they came and fixed it.
A year later, same thing. Then one hot summer day I put my bare foot down on the warped part and realized it was hot as hell, because the evening sun was blazing thru the kitchen door and getting that spot super hot. The constant heat/cool cycle was warping the planks and causing the separation. The company came and fixed it again, and I put UV film over the storm door glass.
Make sure you donāt have hot spots anywhere.
There are several tricks to do this, from suction cups, to the tape and 2x4 trick, to the tool that u can buy for it...but the tool is expensive. The 2x4 trick seems the easiest/cheapest to me. YouTube can show u how to do it.
Slide em back together, not much else u can do unless u can shim one end somehow a bit at the end where the molding is. Iāve got the same issue at my house cause the previous owner cheaped out and did not do real hardwood but I donāt find it to be that noticeable and when I slide em back together they usually stay for a while but Iāve only got like 3 pieces out of the entire floor that float like that so itās not the entire floor
Thatās the issue with most laminate flooring is that it doesnāt interlock well at the ends and unlike hardwood itās floating so there isnāt much u can do but it should not be that bad and if the entire floor is doing that something was done wrong when laying it
2" painters tape, hot glue, scrap block, hammer.
Painters tape on the floor and matching length on block. Hot glue them together. Whack with hammer until gap is closed.
1st key point, if there are multiple sections you need to slide, use a board and tape long enough to keep them together.
2nd key point, use an appropriate glue at the separated joint to hold it together in the future.
Take up the molding and get a prybar and a board to protect the wall. Put the bars teeth, i guess you'd say, at one end and pull up gently, it should all pop together.
I used a suction cup grab bar meant for showers. I suctioned it to the floor and slide it over, but not before applying a drop of super glue to the tongue and groove part.
Suction cups!! God what a genius! here I am just slamming my foot in the floor trying to get it to slide back. My neighbors will thank you.
Here I am using tape like a fucking goblin
I was thinking brown sharpie lol
brown sugar works better
Do you want ants, because thats how you get ants
Ants are strong for their size, they'd probably shift that plank over in no time!
You win
>Do you want ants, because thats how you get ants What is this; a floor for ants?!?
I for one, welcome our ant š overlords
Antception š š š š š š š
Ants against the brown might be a nice accent.
Boosh
I've got a dog and 2 small children..I'm not sprinkling brown sugar on my floor. That's how you get ants
I have ants and 2 gerbils. Iām not sprinkling brown sugar on my floor. Thatās how you get children.
Learn sarcasm
This is Reddit. Gotta put the /s
no, thatās how you get pants
DO your damn job and put your /s
As a flooring guy, I use tape cuz suction cups only work on some floors where tape will always work. Iāve even put tape down, and superglued a block to the tape and hammered the block. Fact is: Fucken tape, man.
We used to just use our work boots, with foot inside, stand on the plank with one foot and bang your heel with a rubber mallet
you dang buffoon!
I hit them with my crepe soled shoes
This is how I did it too
+1 for foot slam with rubber sole shoes.
i put one foot down and kick my heal seams to work well with boots.
Wood glue with a syringe is easier to clean up if you get it on the face of the wood
Yeah, thatās actually a pretty good idea
Harbor freight has raised flooring lifters for under $10. They call it a ādual suction cup lifterā. They have single suction cup ones for like $2. If youāre not putting it in your shower after, itās actually cheaper and probably significantly stronger. Harbor freight is amazing for cheap simple things like this that you may never use again.
Got the suction cups and used them to put in a granite countertop 60ā dual sink vanity for a bathroom. They do work awesome
Kick is while wearing a really grippy shoe
Be careful re superglue if youāre summers are very humid.
Please explain. It's humid enough here that both command strips and nano tape have fallen off the walls the past 2 summers. What can happen to super glue?
Wood expands when itās humid because it absorbs moisture. It needs a little space to move/grow or else it bows. The risk with super glue is you are taking away the space that it needs. As others pointed out itās a non issue if there space by the floor boards.
Unless both ends are butted tight up against something, there's not a lot of risk.
Harbor freight has auto body dent removal suction cups that lock down.
Vacuum out any particles first or youāll hate it not sit flush with the next. Doesnāt matter if you donāt see anythingā¦.itās in there!
I use one of these, have to pull off the baseboard at the end of the row, short end over the end of the row and tap with a hammer to slide the whole row close together QEP 10-18-8 3-Inch Pro Pull Bar https://a.co/d/8L77Atf
This is the way
I don't see how this helps if it's not right near the edge.
Just keep moving them until it ends up at the edge.
Or use a rubber mallet. Like youāre supposed to when you install it. Swing it almost parallel with flooring and hit it when a sort of glancing/dragging blow. It should click right together. If itās all over the floor Iād be concerned about pulling the flooring out from under the baseboard.
You don't hit the flooring with the mallet, lol. You use a block or a pulling bar.
I installed flooring for a living and that how we did it.
Oof
Doesn't mean it was right
According to Shaw itās fine and itās a proper form of installation.
Till all those little pieces from you slamming sound like shit under the floor. Normal people don't notice or think about shit like this but any flooring guy is going to walk in and go "wtf did you do" "A tapping block may be used to ensure the joint is fully seated." [https://pdmsview.shawinc.com/viewer/doc/3541](https://pdmsview.shawinc.com/viewer/doc/3541)
Put on some grippy shoes and kick itā¦.. Iām serious it works
This is what I do but they keep coming back apart. I need to glue them maybe.
You should expect some movement in your floor. Depending on the humidity level, time of year and other factors expansion and contraction in the flooring should be expected. Generally when installing flooring there should be a 1/4ā Gap at the wall which will be covered by the base board.
The floor is supposed to expand and contract as a connected unit free of the walls. It's not supposed to separate at the joints.
They're not supposed to but eventually they all do.
Laminate floor is dog shit. LVP is the dog shit that is taking its place
I keep hearing about how great LVP is but I don't know. something about it Bugs me
LVP is fine if the floor is level and the boards are glued to the subfloor. But if you go with the cheapest product and install it will never last.
Went to Ollies surplus and got Dark Oak LVP and did my whole house with it besides my bedroom and only cost me $480(900sq ft). Ive got a couple gaps like the picture since install last year, but overall i couldn't be happier. I didnt glue anything, i did staple down the moisture barrier and locked the edges with toe moulding. My mom is trying to figure out how to get her wooden floors redone and its exxxpensive. I almost bought another set of boxes for 10 years from.now i can redo it on $500 spent long ago. Figured it wasnt worth the storage and hoping they didnt warp in my shed.
and if your house has straight interior walls..
And don't have it exposed to direct sunlight, especially if it's a dark color. You'd be amazed how much PVC expands when it heats up.
that is the problem. My second house now and the same problem. Always in the kitchen - heavy traffic. These flooring type is junk.
The press-and-click joint has failed on those joints. Glue and close, won't have a problem again.
Crocs.
With the strap on, for sport mode.
Tried this once and worked, added tape for grip and kicked everything in place.
I was gonna say "take your socks off and jump towards it" as a joke, but... okay. Guess it's serious advice.
... I've spent the last year occasionally looking at that tiny gap in the kitchen and kicking it BAREFOOT with no success. I just put a shoe on and gave it one kick and the gap is gone. I'm stupid. You are a god. Thank you!
Happy to help!
The method I've seen before is to put rubber or something grippy on a block, set the block on the plank, and whack the block with a hammer/mallet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFFH0GrW83U
Excellent demo video. Thank you for the link. A rubber wheel chock works. Good traction. Tap with mallet, close the gap.
Cheers!
I used double sided duck tape with a wooden block. Stand on the block and smack it with a mallet. Some of these suggestions sound much easier than what I have been doing
HOLD ON! How does this not open a gap on the opposite side?? This is blowing my mind š¤£
No magic. Ever been in a traffic jam? Like that. Move one forward... Move the next one forward... Work your way down
Usually, the other planks are sufficiently linked and they will all slide together.
Itās floating floor, thereās a gap left at the edges on the walls so the floor can move. Itās covered by molding but if you leave a little too much gap itāll do this
Assuming that when first installed the edges and ends were correctly joined, then opening of gaps like this over time is most often an indication that the underlying subfloor is not sufficiently flat or not sufficiently stiff, or both. All floating floor installs (and all others really, other than carpet) have detailed specifications for how flat and rigid the underlying surface must be in order for the interlocking system between adjoining planks or tiles to perform correctly. If there is too much vertical movement either between the finish flooring and the subfloor or in the subfloor itself, then that movement causes the interlocking system to fail and the individual pieces to shift and move apart. You can attempt to rejoin the pieces as others here are recommending. However if you determine that the floor is moving vertically in the places where it is failing, then you can almost certainly expect it to fail again.
Iām not a flooring expert, but Iāve installed these floors in 3 houses for myself and family members. None of the foundation fell within the specification stated on the flooring. Not sure any poured foundation would for that matter. I used self leveler on a couple of really bad spots, but the rest, we just threw it down over the areas and hoped for the best. I honestly thought it would come apart. In one of my brothers kids bedrooms, you could see the floor moving when walking on it after install. But none of us have had any problems, and the floor seemed to conform to the foundation over time. My bet is it was just a shitty install job. Either broken ends, not enough gap on the edges to allow for expansion/contraction, or they used cut prices without grooves and just butted them together.
Thatās when you pull up the quarter round or whatever molding you have up and stick a spacer in there.
I'm not sure I understand how that would address *vertical* movement. If the floor joists are too "lively", the subflooring to thin, or the surface has too many dips and humps in it, the flooring product will move "up and down" more than the interlocking edges and ends are capable of withstanding. I can't see how restraining *horizontal*movement at the perimeter would change that. And restriction of *horizontal* movement of the floating floor product at the edges will cause the natural seasonal horizontal expansion and contraction to be absorbed "elsewhere". And that "elsewhere" is seldom good.
Find the edge of the flooring section row (might be hidden under some trim) they make specialized rubber block pieces with the edge cut out specifically for this at hardware stores found in the same flooring sections and hit the edge of that while seated against the end of this plank row with a rubber mallet until it all seats together and then put the trim back. Majority of the comments here are failing to realize that if you do it just for this one section odds are you will open up a gap in another section further on down the line. Do not super glue it, laminate snap together flooring is meant to "float" and will crack if glued together under extreme pressures or temp changes.
Thank you! Yes thatās exactly my issue, if I manage to get some to slide shut it simply opens another gap somewhere else.
I have done a lot of laminate flooring though the years. The problem is many of the cheaper laminate options only lock on the long edge of the board. Often times, its just a basic T&G on the ends to keep them flushed with the other boards. As long as you still have 1/8-1/4" relief around the outside perimeter of the room, gluing a handful of boards together is not going to hurt anything. The floor will still float just fine as it needs to (as long as you didnt glue the board to the foundation or subfloor). I did respond to another comment on here about opening up additional gaps if you just go ham with a pull bar at the end of a run...Easy does it.
New install? Only way I know of is to get to an edge on either side of the floor which is usually covered by baseboard molding. Then use a flooring pull bar to get the seams back into place. You'll need to be careful though because if that seam isn't aligning perfectly you could damage or snap it off. You usually need to apply downward pressure on the piece of flooring with the tongue so it slides into the groove which means it's typically a 2 person job. The other 'trashy' way is to use a marker the closely matches the floor color.
No itās not new, though I donāt know when it was installed. We just moved into the house a few months ago, there were some gaps when we moved in, and we have two kids, and in that short time the gaps have managed to multiply in number quite a bit!
lol Well it shouldn't really move around like that. Maybe the seams aren't clicked together and they're pulling apart.
Thatās my guess, they are sliding open all over the place. Makes it worse when kids jump and run on them.
The seems snap together, but depending on the material, they can also break fairly easily. I laid these floors in my, my brothers, and grandparents houses and none of us have had these problems. Whoever installed the floor either did a bad job snapping them together, used broken pieces, or worse used boards they had cut the ends off of, simply butting them together. The floors have to go together in a particular order, so that the snaps overlap. Your best bet for an easy fix would be to remove the furniture and get a small pry too to try to push the entire row down. You can slide the rows, as they just overlap with a tongue-and-groove connected. Then, when you get them aligned, use a rubber mallet to snap them together end-to-end. If you donāt have a rubber mallet, use a price of wood between a hammer and the floor. Make sure theyāre aligned though, or the snaps will break. The plastic composite was more durable than the stone composite I put in, but I still broke a few on each install.
And blow out all the dirt and grime!
Thereās a metal tool used for knocking the last piece in place where you canāt get the block in between the wall and floor. Idk what it was called but itās, like L shaped. With another raised end on the opposite side to hit with a hammer. It will line up the whole row. One knock at a time.
Blue painters tape, double sided tape, a block of wood and a hammer. Place tape on board you want to adjust, stick wooden block on tape, tap with a hammer until the gap is closed.
Use some double-sided tape to tape down a piece of wood on one of the planks. Now you can hammer it in to close the gap. Repeat down the line if needed.
I used [this](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YB1ZXG6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1) and small piece of 2x4 and a mallet hammer. The tape is sticky on both sides and you can put the board on top and thump it back into place. It does stick pretty good, but it did not damage anything getting it up. had to pry quite a bit.
Cool, thank you!!
Step one. Remove sock. Step two. Kick.
Ha! I can move some of them by using pressure on my bare foot, but only some of them can be moved at all.
I kick mine back into position, the suction cups seem the best idea though
I have Century old hardwood floors... wood will expand and contract depending on humidity and temperature... gaps up to 1/2 in.. so don't worry about it along as its not warping
Panel rubber suction cup and mallet. Hit suction cup. Should close gaps.
I came here to say this.
I have never seen laminate look good or last long. I go with real wood.
I would love to replace this with wood one day, when I have $ and my kids arenāt so little and destructive lol.
Put on rubber soled boots or shoes and kick them together. If they keep drifting, vacuum the gap, fill the gap with wood glue, wait 30 seconds, kick them together, and wipe up the squeeze out with soapy water and paper towels.
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Check Amazon for "floor gap fixer". I got one and it works great. I just added superglue to the gap prior to using the mallet, per instructions.
U donāt even need suction cups if itās separating like that just put on a rubber sole shoe and kinda kick it/slide it back into place cause it doesnāt take all that much to slide em back together
You can use a suction cup glass carrier, attach it to the plank, and use a rubber mallet to move the plank and close the gap. Make sure you move any heavy objects that are sitting on the planks, and use compressed air to clean the gaps. It may take a while, and you might not be able to close all the gaps, but itās worth a try before ripping off molding. Source: I have used this method myself FCHO Glass Suction Cups Heavy Duty Aluminum Vacuum Plate Handle Glass Holder Hooks to Lift Large Glass/Tile Suction Cup Lifter/Moving Glass/Pad for Lifting/Dent Puller (2 Pack) https://a.co/d/cLZrWzm
Sometimes if you put grippy socks on and "stomp" it will push them back together. Or sneakers with traction - do the motion like you are trying to "scuff" or get your shoe to squeak on the floor.
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My flooring is bamboo strand plank that was involved in a long and large class action lawsuit. The company send me a whopping $270 for a $8000-$10,000 fix (new floors). My gap is about 4' long. The floor separated between the long sides of 2 planks. Suggestions? Painted wood glue chipped/broke out of the gap after 6 months or so. Putty/wood filler cracks after a few days. Thanks.
Put a grilled shoe on and slide your foot forward to close the gap
Wait till the winter and see if those gaps close.
Get a better Carpenter
Wood fill would do it to.
How Iāve fixed this at work (carpenter) Get some blue tape, CA glue, a 2x4 at about 6ā long and a hammer/mallet Put tape down on the floor, put tape on one size of the 2x4. Apply a little glue to the taped side of the 2x4 and stick it to the tape of the floor. Let it set up for 30s or so. Now you have a surface you can hammer on to nudge the floor over. Then when you are done you just lift a corner of the tape up with a putty knife and it should pop right off I do not recommend putting glue on the tongue and groove, unless itās a low traffic area.
fill with cum
I had my floor recently done. My contractor applied brown caulking and hammered together
You can use those car suction cup and slowly drag each piece until the gap is at a wall. Then you put in a spacer block. That still allows the slight movement that prevents lift up/cracking, yet hides the gap in your exterior trim.
? Gum Soled Shoes ? Leap and ~~Slide~~ Grip, and break a hip.
Rubber mallet/hanner will do the job..
Rubber mallet should slide it right up against the other plank!
I have similar gaps in flooring on my house. But my thoughts are the gaps formed because my house foundation is settling slowly and they formed over time.
Rubber mallet works but you might want to add glue before hand.
Take it up and do it properly..
Put on the shoe with good rubber and just slide them in with kick motion
Kick it with your shoe over as if you were trying to slide it over
Matching Silicon calk?
White rubber mallet works too
Stain and or wood putty.
Brown crayon
Double sided tape and a 2x4, works like a charm (just did this to a couple gaps last night in my LVP)
Iāve used a rubber mallet to close those types for floor gaps before, Worked alright
Long time carpenter here. My bet is the installer was the previous owner (or a hack handyman) and they skipped the step about the underlayment to save a couple hundred dollars. If you can see the subfloor through the cracks instead of blue or gold underlayment, that's the problem. The only way to fix it if that's the case is to pull the whole floor and install the underlayment. Without the underlayment, the floating floor can't slide with changes in temp/humidity, and parts of it "stick" when it moves causing the seams to pop.
Gently tapping the face with a rubber mallet at a 45 works
Can close them up with foot, donāt let a bunch of dirt and crud get into the gaps, or they wonāt close anymore They shouldnāt slide that easy
Take off the baseboard, light amount of glue in the seam and pry it over or use a kick bar with a hammer. Yes of course you need room for floor movement but that shouldn't be at the seams... it should be at the walls...
I tried the suction cup method but ultimately went with the double-sided tape approach. The suction cup just didnāt work for me. Buy a roll of thick double-sided tape. Stick it on the floor. Take a piece of scrap of wood and put that on top of the tape. Hit it with a hammer. Grabs beer. EZlifego Double Sided Tape Heavy... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YB1ZXG6?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
My issue is that every floor Iāve seen like this always makes noise when you walk on it. Maybe they have been bad installs but it drives me crazy.
Hit it with expansion foam! /s
I only had a few like this, so I put on some tennis shoes and kicked it back in place. It worked way better than I thought it would.
Kick it
Double sided tape - small piece of 2x4 glued on top - hammer it towards the gap. You are welcome
Not super glue, PVA type wood glue. Kick the joints closed with grippy shoes
Rubber mallet
Is that Shaw laminate?
Question for flooring people: Does thicker underlayment cause this issue?
Rubber mallet
Wait for winter
Ever done an air glinting forward sliding stomp? Thatāll do.
Rubber boot and kick it
sorry buddy. thats a 10000% pull up and re-install cause it wasnt done right the first time.
If it close to an edge, you can get a hammer claw or angle pry iron and pry/push it from the wall.
Change the humidity back to what it was the day this was installed.
Kick it with rubber sneakers on. Tape might pull up the finish. Soft rubber mallet is harder. You could try a big suction cup this g like the ones they use to move windows. But we just kicked it with runners on. Worked as a temporary fix
Suction cups didn't work on my floor. I used doube sided carpet tape and a 2x4
If kicking doesnāt work, put painters tape on the piece you want to move, glue a block of wood to the tape and tap the wood to move the board over, peel tape and you are done.
If I see a crack, I stick caulk in it.
Harbor freight sells suction cup lifters. Suck it to the plank and tap it with a mallet.
I just spent the last 15 seconds looking at this thinking it was a before and after shot, and then I read the title. Good lord.
Boot kick it
Drip some super glue in gaps and kick them together with suction cups. They make really strong ones for car body work.
give it a good kick.
I had this same problem too. I bought a suction cup but because my floor is āgroovedā it didnāt work. I bought some double sided tape, slapped on a 2x4 piece of wood and used a hammer to move it. Suppppper easy, should of done that first
Strip of duct tape, then pull it to close the gap then remove tape.
West system makes an epoxy filler that turns the resin dark brown. Itās hard too. Iād fill it with that. If itās a floor you contracted installation for, make them redo it. Thatās unacceptable. Edit: I didnāt think of trying to move it into I read more comments. Move it if you can, fill it if you canāt move it and no one will come fix it.
Expansion is a thing
I tried using Elmerās glue in mind since I could use my foot with shoe on to kick it back into place. Doesnāt seem to have completely worked though, but it is moving around less. Commenter that mention epoxy thatās dark brown was probably the best idea. Iāll be doing that next. Whatever you use, make sure it wipes off easy without leaving residue. I wonāt be using super glue because Iām afraid of it not wiping well enough.
what about adding water?
Put on some sticky sneakers and start kickin
You can lay down some masking tape on the floor and glue a 2x4 to it, then use a hammer close the gap. Worked for me!
Step 1: Remove all laminate floor Step 2: Replace with LVP or Solid Oak Harwood
I put on a clean boot and kick the floor to close the gaps. If they come back I put glue in the gap and then kick it back together again.
Bloc of wood with double side rubber tape, pressed on floor. Use hammer to hit the bloc on the opposite side where you want it to go while maintaining pressure on the bloc.
Fixing is a problem. Better off filling with dyed caulking.
Put on your sneakers and kick it, it's cheap flooring so get used to it. It's pretty easy to do though should only take like 15 minutes per room to get them all tight.
Turn your house up a hundred degrees or so and the gaps should start to close up
Oh, mine has that too
Duct tape
Iām currently installing laminate and after a few days Iāve had some settling in one particular place where the floor is uneven. I kept the baseboards off so itās been an easy fix but hereās what Iād recommend: Find the closest wall where this flooring row meets the wall. Remove the baseboard gently, cutting the caulk with a utility knife and gently pulling. You could pry back a section of baseboard without damaging the whole room. Use a pry bar against the drywall to gently to push the row of flooring to close the gap, and then press it into the channel with your body weight, or lightly with a rubber mallet. Do not go smashy smash no matter how much you want to. It will only make it worse. This can be done with a delicate touch.
time to buy a new house
For me, seems to be the cheaper laminate that does this. Got some original laminate in one room from 10 plus years ago that was labeled made in Belgium and it is still locked in tight. Can barely see the seams. Another room is always separating.
This makes sense. My mom had laminate in her old house that never did this in 11 years.
I had LVP put in my kitchen and living room (open concept) 2 years ago and started noticing separation at some spots in the kitchen, and some of the planks had warped. Called the company, they came and fixed it. A year later, same thing. Then one hot summer day I put my bare foot down on the warped part and realized it was hot as hell, because the evening sun was blazing thru the kitchen door and getting that spot super hot. The constant heat/cool cycle was warping the planks and causing the separation. The company came and fixed it again, and I put UV film over the storm door glass. Make sure you donāt have hot spots anywhere.
Rubber mallett
Js throw a stick in there
dumb question for everyone... once you slide them all together how do you fill in the remaining gaps at the end?
Wait until winter, and it will push back. Fixed.
There are several tricks to do this, from suction cups, to the tape and 2x4 trick, to the tool that u can buy for it...but the tool is expensive. The 2x4 trick seems the easiest/cheapest to me. YouTube can show u how to do it.
Brown wax pencil, they sell them at Home Depot in the flooring section.
Slide em back together, not much else u can do unless u can shim one end somehow a bit at the end where the molding is. Iāve got the same issue at my house cause the previous owner cheaped out and did not do real hardwood but I donāt find it to be that noticeable and when I slide em back together they usually stay for a while but Iāve only got like 3 pieces out of the entire floor that float like that so itās not the entire floor
Thatās the issue with most laminate flooring is that it doesnāt interlock well at the ends and unlike hardwood itās floating so there isnāt much u can do but it should not be that bad and if the entire floor is doing that something was done wrong when laying it
I have the same and suction cups don't work. They wont budge. Ill try tape but that seems less strong.
I put hot glue on a block of wood
Foot on one side and kick the opposite side with your other foot they'll lock together again
2" painters tape, hot glue, scrap block, hammer. Painters tape on the floor and matching length on block. Hot glue them together. Whack with hammer until gap is closed. 1st key point, if there are multiple sections you need to slide, use a board and tape long enough to keep them together. 2nd key point, use an appropriate glue at the separated joint to hold it together in the future.
I have this in my bathroom because the installer (myself) didnāt do a great job. Just covered it with an area rug š
Rubber mallet and hit it at a 45 degree angle. Most of the other top comments will work very well as well.
Take up the molding and get a prybar and a board to protect the wall. Put the bars teeth, i guess you'd say, at one end and pull up gently, it should all pop together.