Hi We moved in to a recently-renovated house about 18 months ago. There is a lot (probably 100 sq m) of Karndean flooring in the house. At least I think it's Karndean, that's how it was described in the brochure. We don't have contact with the original owner and don't know who installed the floor. There is a small area, made up of 2 strips, which has lifted (see pics). It's lifted all the way along, except for the edge next to the wall which appears to be held down by some kind of sealant between the skirting and the floor. There's no sign of any adhesive residue underneath (see photos). As I mentioned above, the strip in question is along the wall, and there is a window above it. There is underfloor heating in the room but not directly underneath this section. The end of the strip that has lifted overlaps its neighbour by about 1mm, I wonder if this has pushed it up? I'd like to fix it. Partly because it's unsightly, but mainly because we're about to get a puppy who will have the whole floor up if I don't get this fixed! Any recommendations? Is just gluing it down sufficient? And if so, what adhesive to use? Thanks in advance Glenn.
From the photos, everything seems to be intact (no obvious issues with the subfloor). The plank thats lifting appears to of been set late into the adhesive, and appears to of been a tight fit (unless it went in cold, and has expanded slightly, causing the lift) If there arent any other issues that you can see anywhere else, Id be inclined to glue it back down, (without actually looking at the problem, thats probably the way forward). As only a tiny amount of adhesive is required (and you dont have a stock of adhesive at hand), Id suggest a LVT contact adhesive would suffice.
Strip the silicon sealent off and redo that once the planks are set back in. Are the skirts on top of the flooring? If so then 99% of the time you can just give the plank a pull and it will slide out then you would need to cut it back how ever much that lets the plank sit back flat. So for example cut the plank 1mm short of the skirting board then once planks are stuck back in their place reapply the silicon < this is for a diy fix. If that skirts are not on the planks then just whip them out, id scrape the old adhesive up as much as possible then still cut a thin sliver off (especially if they have expanded hence why they have been 'pushed out') the cut side of the plank and sit it back in with the right adhesive. The tiny gap will be covered by the silicon if you are reapplying it afterwards. If you dont want silicon then id say get a pro in because if you try and cut it net and mess up then you will need spares, I'm assuming the previous homeowner didnt leave any spares (if they were left any) for you to replace any.
Thanks for the replies, very helpful. The overlap I mentioned is at the short end of the plank, if I trim that off there will be space for it to lay flat. There is a tiny gap along the long edge between it and the next plank so it should go down quite easily. Can you recommend a particular brand of adhesive? They mostly seem to come in big tubs that are intended for a whole floor; if I have to get one of them I don't mind but I don't like wasting stuff. Are the aerosol can ones suitable? Thanks again Glenn.
if you don't want to buy a whole tub of glue I've found for small repairs clear silicone can work a treat (perfect for lifting feature strips), if you put a small bed of silicone with the nozzle at its smallest under the tile, squash plank down onto it then roll it all flat with a rolling pin and clean any excess that comes through with some wet wipes and make sure you weight the area down for 24 hours so that the offending plank is laying dead flat, that way whilst being an admitted bodge job to a degree (to a pro) will allow you to not take up that plank any more than it needs to and save you having to redo the silicone in that section as you will never get it looking like it wasn't repaired at some point (nature of the beast) plus minimal time effort and expense/waste. correct way would be to take plank up then put a new acclimatised plank (gilly trimmed if needed) back in on fresh ht glue after scraping the old addy residue up with a blade scraper, roll the new plank with a flooring hand roller with as much of your body weight forced into it, then cut out and redo the sealant on that whole wall to finish
All done. I've removed the weights and it seems to be staying down nicely. For sure if I ever need to do anything larger or more complicated I'll get a professional in. Now we just have to see if it withstands the puppy ...
