New laminate problem - floor fitter disagrees

[FLOORINGFAIL]

Had laminate flooring laid today. Subfloor isn’t 100% level - discrepancies of 1cm in some places, mainly around one area. The floor fitter and us knew this beforehand, and the fitter advised the flooring could be feathered up rather than levelling the whole room.

Once he left, i notice in one area that the laminate bounces - about 1cm down when pressed. Which suggests this hasn’t been feathered as he said.

My question is, was it reasonable to contact the fitter again and ask for this to be fixed (along with a poorly fitted edge where there is a step)?

He has tried to say this is the best that can be done, I don’t know what i’m talking about, i’m not understanding him etc. He has reluctantly agreed to come round again next week to take a look but isn’t convinced it’s something he can fix.

If it can’t be fixed, what then? I haven’t yet paid. If someone else can fix it, can I invoice him for repairs? Do i ask for a price reduction?

he’s made me feel as though I’m completely mad but the floor literally bounces in one spot. It’s in the centre of the room so not an easy fix i imagine.

I think you should have had the floor levelled first.

@Xarrie I agree. I trusted the fitter when he said he could feather it.

What's causing the bounce, is the laminate not actually solidly against the under floor here, so it's hovering a bit? Or did he place something spongy under that part?

I would take the stance that if he couldn't do it properly, whether it be 'feathering' or levelling the floor prior to starting, then he shouldn't have taken the job OP. So unless he finishes it to a standard you're happy with, then don't pay him, simple as that. If he tells you it can't be done, then tell him he'll just have to take the floor up and arrange for it to be levelled, then do it all again. I certainly wouldn't be accepting a job I wasn't happy with, but then I've always been a stroppy cow, since being treated like an idiot by gas fitters, when I was very young and newly married! It made me so angry that although I was scared, I put in an official complaint to the Gas Board. They wanted to send the same disrespectful gits back to re-do the job, but I refused as I felt intimidated by them, so they got a supervisor to come and fix things properly in the end. I thought he might be nasty about it when he came, but instead was really apologetic, and agreed that they'd done a shit job, and had taken the piss because I was young, and they thought they could get away with it. Now, I don't let anyone walk over me.

Were you happy to pay for the full levelling. But he didn’t wish to?

@Isiteveningyet Yes. We wanted the job done properly as the previous owners had made a sh*t job of it - we told him this the first time we met. He said it wouldn’t be needed as he can feather it up. He has done that for part of the area, but not all of it.

@Daftasyoulike That’s how I feel - i feel like he’s tried to wiggle out of it by implying I’m unreasonable/lack understanding. Probably thought I wouldn’t even notice!

@dudsville It’s the kind of laminate that clicks together. I assume it’s stuck down somehow but i’m not too sure how it works. He did have spray adhesive which i assumed was for the underlay.

I realise i’m replying in reverse order - oops!

Click flooring isn't usually glued down so should be easy enough to get up and re lay.

I know someone who mislaid click flooring and it led to a bounce! I can't remember how they got it wrong though. Basically they took it up and laid it the right way and it was fine.

Yeah just say you're not happy- if it needs to be taken up and levelled then so be it. You asked for a proper job. Wtf is feathering. The floor isn't stuck down but the underlay is - so to take it up and remove the underlay to then level the floor will be a right pain. He won't like it but if you haven't paid yet then you have got all the power.

I had this and they re laid it 3 time but it still bounced. In the end they removed it all and I didn't pay anything.

I had to have the sub floor levelled and went for LVT.

We had this with laminate floor laid in our new extension. The subfloor was fine in the extension but the concrete floor in the original part of the house was uneven. The joiner wasn't keen to use the levelling stuff and tbh we weren't keen with the extra hassle and expense. There were a couple of patches that bounced so we got the joiner back and he used a kit where you inject a sort of adhesive that fills the void under the board in the bouncy patches (bought it on Amazon). It worked really well and after a month or so once the floor had settled we were happy with it all and we don't have any more bouncing.

If you have a floor that isn’t 100% level, click laminate will never work. Been there…. Our bathroom floor has a very gentle slope at one end, hardly anything but enough to put strain on the laminate, and in our case it started to break. We ended up having to take it all up and lay basic lino....
We we’re lucky in that a major well known carpet store had done an assessment and told us the click laminate would work… so we were able to get replacement free because we had been given incorrect advice.
Your fitter knew the floor was uneven, and should have told you then it wasn’t suitable.