When it comes to flooring, laminate is not particularly prone to failure or damage. There are, however, various ways that a laminate floor can warp, and various reasons as to why. Here, we’ll take a look at the phenomenon referred to as peaking. A laminate floor that is peaking will seem to be rising, as if there is something underneath it. The effect is, honestly, sort of disturbing. Many folks will think that something is wrong with their foundation, or that water has somehow gotten underneath their laminate floor, but that’s rarely the case.

The Major Causes Of This Phenomenon

There’s a couple of reasons why your laminated floor could be peaking. You should make it a priority to know exactly why it is happening if you want to fix things correctly. Some make the mistake of assuming that something that caused a friend’s laminate floors to begin peaking is the same reason theirs is. This sort of assumption will cost a lot of time and money.

Peaking Can Be Caused By Lack Of Space For Expansion

Everything around us expands and shrinks, and your laminate flooring is no exception. For this reason, laminated floors should always have the appropriate amount of space at their edges, before the molding. If there is no space, the planks will instead push up against one another. Once there is enough pressure, the planks will begin to rise. Although often minor at first, if this is ignored for a long enough time, a floor can develop a hump or hill.

Fixed Moldings Will Cause Peaking

Even if there is room to expand, your laminated flooring cannot take advantage of it if the moldings cannot move. This can sometimes be a nightmare to track down if the original installer was not consistent. Since laminate flooring is intended to be floating, which means not attached to either the moldings or the sub-floor, any solid point can cause an issue. Amateur installers will occasionally attach the laminate floor to molding to keep it from moving during install, or simply because they don’t know any better.

The Length Of The Boards Can Cause Peaking

This one really depends on the manufacturer of the laminate flooring, and is probably the least likely. When a single board is too long, it can have the same effect as not having enough room to expand. This issue is avoided by never installing any single plank that is longer than is recommended by the manufacturer. If you did not install your floor, however, it can be difficult to find out who the manufacturer of your flooring is. As this generally only happens in situations where there are straight runs of 40 feet or more, you can probably rule this out unless you have a rather large house, or are dealing with a long hallway. However, if you can’t find any place where your laminate floor is fixed, then it may be time to start looking for markings on the bottom of planks.

Check out Laminate Floor Facts for more information on everything about the laminate floor.