Thread: What are my rights in this situation? Faulty Workmanship

I recently had a new floor put down in my flat (May '06) and it has subsequently developed a fault, see image below. The floor has started to rise along one section stopping me from closing the door.


I phoned the company that fitted the floor and have been in email contact since. The last email asked that I get a joiner round to quote for fixing the floor because "to travel up from Yorkshire would be very bad commerce". I live in Glasgow so approx. a 4 hour trip for him.

What are my rights regarding repair etc?

Thanks in advance.

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You're entitled to be satisfied, so do as they suggest - a local joiner may fix this for a small amount, and if your contractor pays this, there's no problem. Try to get a joiner that comes recommended. By the way, apart from the imperfection the floor looks lovely!

I can see from the photo that its a laminate floor and the reason its risen is because when it was laid, it was probably laid right up to the edge of the room at all sides. This type of flooring should have a gap for expansion round the edge, as it will expand and shrink depending on the temperature and weather conditions etc. Ideally it should have had a beading layed over the edge to hide the small gap around it or appropriate skirting board with edging, so I would check and explain to the fitters that, that appears to be the reason for the problem. Either way, if it can be relaid on the outer boards as its probably clipped together, board by board and the expense will be covered by the origional company, than apart from the inconvenience...the problem will be solved.

It's an 18mm solid oak floor, not laminate. As it's real wood it can suffer expansion problems from moisture. Essentially it's the same kinda problem. Not enough space to expand. So original company will have to pay/supply the material and the cost of a joiner to fix it?

Having a second look again at the photo, I can see that the boards have been staggered the wrong way, which wont support the individual boards properly either. You generally lay full boards, but stagger at the beginning and maybe the end of the room, if they run out, or at least the first board on a new run, so to speak. It appears theyve cut short boards in the middle of the room which doesnt help either.

The boards were various lengths

ok, just got youre message..but the expansion bit was clear to me. Shame that such nice flooring had to be bodged...good luck

They were various lengths for a purpose, just put in the wrong place

Court action would mean raising the case in E&W and the attendant problems of cross-border litigation. Their suggestion of getting someone local to fix it DOES seem the most sensible, however, since THEY are in the business, why not get them to source a local contractor - this means there's no responsibility on the OP to pay additionally and try to get the costs repaid if they subsequently don't want to play ball.

why didn't he just remove the door & adjust it with a plain or a sander?

agree original speciast responsible should put it right; let them source if they want to subcontract!
just imagine the problems if you find someone and they bodge it.