# Laminate flooring not approved for 'Wet Areas' installed through out house



## Dropstone (Feb 22, 2021)

As it says, my builder installed the manufacturer of laminate flooring, Select Surfaces, a product line called "Elite" laminate flooring in every floor in this house. 

Basically Im hoping that someone can give me some leverage in the argument that this flooring was not intended by manufacturer or allowed by code to be installed through out the house to include wet areas. 

The facts....
There are two levels of this flooring.  Elite and Spill defense. 

In the manufacture FAQS it says...
The laminates in our Elite Collection are moisture resistant. The laminates in the Spill Defense Collection are waterproof for 24 hours. If you are planning to put laminate in your kitchen, we recommend using one of the laminates from the Select Surfaces Spill Defense Collection. These laminates are waterproof for 24 hours, leaving you plenty of time to clean up any spills. We do not recommend installing any laminate in your bathroom, as this is a high moisture area with daily risks of water spills.

The Care instructions say....
Clean your floor regularly.

Elite Collection: The laminates in this collection should be cleaned with a damp mop (do not wet mop).
Spill Defense Collection: The laminates in this collection can be wet mopped.
Do Not Flood the floor with water.
The Warranty say....
Exlusions-

Damage caused by severe impact, scratching, or cutting, fire, water damage, alterations, or any other wear or damage caused by acts of God.
Although Select Surfaces laminate flooring is moisture resistant, it is not waterproof. Damage caused by water or any other liquids, such as swelling and bubbling, is not covered by the warranty.
This warranty does not cover defects caused by improper sub-floor / surface preparation (proper installation is assumed to include a moisture test to ensure excessive moisture does not exist in the subfloor). A vapor barrier must be used for those on concrete sub-floors, below grade level or in moisture-prone areas.
This warranty does not apply to damage caused by water or moisture in the subfloor or underneath the flooring, including but not limited to damage from subfloor hydrostatic pressure (water or moisture under the floor that is transmitted to the surface through exerted pressure) or other conditions that result in water or moisture below the floor.
Damages
The flooring is certainly showing damages in all the wet areas including entries, kitchen, bathrooms.  The edges are beginning to buckle upward.


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## ICE (Feb 22, 2021)

You already have all of the leverage that you need...or will ever have.


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## Dropstone (Feb 22, 2021)

Secondly how should I resolve this problem?  The difference between the two levels of flooring is about 3,000 dollars.  It seems like every fix that could be had just degrades the value of the flooring.  Cutting the flooring out in the wet areas would lose the value of having the same flooring with no moldings through out. Replacing the planks of Elite flooring with Spill defense flooring  would make the wood laminate flooring look thought out the house be clashing in colors and grain.  Unfortuanley they dont make the same Silver Oak flooring in both levels or this would be an easy fix by just swapping some planks out of the wet areas.  Keeping only the bedrooms as the elite and and installing Spill defense takes away from the really nice tough of only one flooring through out.  If I were a cruel dude i would tell him to remove it all and put the right flooring but I cant do that and he probably will tell me to pound sand.  Id rather just ask him to cover what we actually do to fix the issue.


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## Dropstone (Feb 22, 2021)

Ah thanks ICE.  that makes the research part pretty much done.  I wish they would explicitly say, NOT SUITABLE FOR WET AREAS..


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## mtlogcabin (Feb 22, 2021)

You may need an attorney hopefully it would be the last resort.
Click on the links for some info in your state 



			http://uslaw.org/files/public/oh_construction_09.pdf
		




			https://www.thompsonhine.com/uploads/1137/doc/Construction_Laws_and_Customs_Ohio_-_Feb0.pdf
		


WARRANTIES 15. Does your state recognize any implied warranties related to construction projects, whether established by statute or case law? Ohio common law imposes an implied warranty on contractors that their services will be performed in a workmanlike manner (Mitchem v. Johnson, 218 N.E.2d 594 (Ohio 1966)). This implied warranty is essentially a standard of care duty for contractors and "requires a construction professional to act reasonably and to exercise that degree of care which a member of the construction trade in good standing in that community would exercise under the same or similar circumstances" (Jarupan v. Hanna, 878 N.E.2d 66 (Ohio Ct. App. 2007); River Oaks Homes, Inc. v. Twin Vinyl, Inc., 2008 WL 3892260 (Ohio Ct. App. 2008)). A contractor who breaches the implied warranty to perform in a workmanlike manner is liable for damages to repair the constructed improvement to the condition contemplated by the parties at the time of the contract (River Oaks Homes, Inc., 2008 WL 3892260, at *5; McCray v. Clinton Cty. Home Improvement, 708 N.E.2d 1075 (Ohio Ct. App. 1998); Barton v. Ellis, 518 N.E.2d 18 (Ohio Ct. App. 1986)).


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## e hilton (Feb 22, 2021)

I think you would owe him the difference in his cost of the floor product.  That’s all.  Look at it this way ... if he installed the cheap stuff at $3/sf and the expensive stuff was $4/sf ... you should pay the extra $1.  The labor would have been the same, the trim pieces would have been the same, etc, so no change there.  The only caveat is if you told him to use the cheap stuff and he said it wasnt appropriate.


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## cda (Feb 22, 2021)

Dropstone said:


> Ah thanks ICE.  that makes the research part pretty much done.  I wish they would explicitly say, NOT SUITABLE FOR WET AREAS..



How long has it been down???

Are you original house owner?


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## Dropstone (Feb 22, 2021)

I’m still in contractors warranty for 1 year that ends here in a week or so.


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## cda (Feb 22, 2021)

Dropstone said:


> I’m still in contractors warranty for 1 year that ends here in a week or so.




I am thinking, even though a bad flooring choice, it should have been brought up a long time ago???

You either bought the house with it, or when built agreed to the flooring type.

I see some stuff that maybe should not be installed/ builders grade stuff???


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## Dropstone (Feb 22, 2021)

Ya I can see your point.  It should had probably been figured out before it ever got installed.  Maybe it’s too much pressure on the installer, but shouldn’t he be the guy to say what flooring goes where?  I can share responsibility, but I’m just the guy that picked the color.  Yes, I do see your point.  Maybe then I should split the costs of whatever it is to fix this.


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## Dropstone (Feb 22, 2021)

I am remembering now what he said when I brought this to his attention.  He said they didn't put the directions in the box. Mind you, I'm reading the directions off of one of the boxes of flooring.  It's written on the box itself.  Everything.  Also, though he made flooring lengths longer then 40', didn't use t molding in any bedroom, didn't use a stair nose molding, didn't leave the gap between the wall and the flooring, didn't use the appropriate 6 mil plastic under the floor in the basement(used house wrap which isn't a vapor barrier), didn't let the flooring get aquainted to the temperature which later caused huge buckling through out as the floor lengthened and pressed on walls.  I'm really only at him, because he cut me short on the flooring quality level which made the wet areas cause damage.  The other stuff I can deal with,
but this sleight of hand feels too much.  He's no dummy either.  His craftmanship is just very, very good.  He sanded down the subfloor before installing.  Every one of his cuts are just perfect.  There's not a single visible cut out from under a baseboard.  His work is really great, but he decided to short me for some reason and also not read the directions.


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## Dropstone (Feb 22, 2021)

Mtlogcabin, thank you for that research.  Im diving into those cases tomorrow morning.


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## Aenantar (Dec 6, 2022)

Any updates? I'm interested to know how you got out of this situation. I'll have to choose a flooring material for a building near a lake soon.


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## Aenantar (Dec 6, 2022)

Aenantar said:


> Any updates? I'm interested to know how you got out of this situation. I'll have to choose a flooring material for a building near a lake soon.


 Imagine the level of humidity in this area... I looked through all the possible diy flooring ideas, and I liked LVT Tile most of all of the proposed options. Maybe the tile will be slippery due to moisture, but probably I can solve this problem. In any case, I'd choose a slippery tile over the need to replace stale laminate every year. What did you choose?


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