Hi, in sept 2014 I installed a solid oak floor into my kitchen. It was sold from homebase as suitable for kitchens. The floor that I laid onto was 50% tile and 50% wood planking (1930 house, probably original kitchen and dining room knocked into one room).
As per the instructions, the wood was acclimatised for a week, I laid a layer of 9mm ply across the whole area, then fibre board underlay followed by the 18mm solid oak flooring using metal clips and glue. I was careful to leave the required expansion gaps etc. I far I was concerned it was job done.
The following week a partner company to ikea installed the new kitchen over the flooring, with the plumbed in area all over the previously tiled area.
In January 2015 we started to notice the flooring swelling a bit and the occasional unexpained puddles coming from under the units around the plumbed area. We contacted ikea and asked for someone to come and investigate, asking specifically not for the partner company to be sent as we had been very unhappy with their level of professionalism.
Guess what, they sent the partner company. The guy looked at the problem for about an hour (while I looked after the kids), told me he couldn't find a problem and left. He then told ikea he thought it was a fault with the dishwasher. Electrolux came and found no problems. The following day the floor began to buckle upwards dramatically. Having filled the expansion gaps,expanding to the point where we had a ridge about 8 inches high running the length of the kitchen with the highest point originating in the plumbed part of the kitchen. Interestingly, after the guy from the partner company came the puddles stopped.
We told ikea to send somebody independent and impartial to look at the follow, which they arrange. He attended with a manager from the ikea store. However the "independent" floor guy let slip that he was contracted by the partner company, was basically not independent and impartial from the partner company.
ANYWAY, this guy gave the following explanation from why the floor had buckled .... Tile sweating. He said that because I had not screeded the tile floor the tiles had sweated causing the wood to buckle... remember the 8 inch high ridge!!! He used a crowbar and hammer to crack the flooring and level the ridge. Underneath the underlay was very very wet and the ply underneath was also wet. After removing the underlay the ply underneath dried quite quickly. They basically blamed me for the problem.
After that long rant (thanks if you got this far ) is tile sweating a likely cause for the moisture (sodden underlay) or is it more likely a leak etc that they have surreptitiously fixing. I can only find tile sweating as quite an obscure thing that happens in very humid conditions. Please help, I'd love to stick it to the MAN (Ikea and the partner company) as replacing the floor is going to be an expensive pain.
As per the instructions, the wood was acclimatised for a week, I laid a layer of 9mm ply across the whole area, then fibre board underlay followed by the 18mm solid oak flooring using metal clips and glue. I was careful to leave the required expansion gaps etc. I far I was concerned it was job done.
The following week a partner company to ikea installed the new kitchen over the flooring, with the plumbed in area all over the previously tiled area.
In January 2015 we started to notice the flooring swelling a bit and the occasional unexpained puddles coming from under the units around the plumbed area. We contacted ikea and asked for someone to come and investigate, asking specifically not for the partner company to be sent as we had been very unhappy with their level of professionalism.
Guess what, they sent the partner company. The guy looked at the problem for about an hour (while I looked after the kids), told me he couldn't find a problem and left. He then told ikea he thought it was a fault with the dishwasher. Electrolux came and found no problems. The following day the floor began to buckle upwards dramatically. Having filled the expansion gaps,expanding to the point where we had a ridge about 8 inches high running the length of the kitchen with the highest point originating in the plumbed part of the kitchen. Interestingly, after the guy from the partner company came the puddles stopped.
We told ikea to send somebody independent and impartial to look at the follow, which they arrange. He attended with a manager from the ikea store. However the "independent" floor guy let slip that he was contracted by the partner company, was basically not independent and impartial from the partner company.
ANYWAY, this guy gave the following explanation from why the floor had buckled .... Tile sweating. He said that because I had not screeded the tile floor the tiles had sweated causing the wood to buckle... remember the 8 inch high ridge!!! He used a crowbar and hammer to crack the flooring and level the ridge. Underneath the underlay was very very wet and the ply underneath was also wet. After removing the underlay the ply underneath dried quite quickly. They basically blamed me for the problem.
After that long rant (thanks if you got this far ) is tile sweating a likely cause for the moisture (sodden underlay) or is it more likely a leak etc that they have surreptitiously fixing. I can only find tile sweating as quite an obscure thing that happens in very humid conditions. Please help, I'd love to stick it to the MAN (Ikea and the partner company) as replacing the floor is going to be an expensive pain.
