I had some water damage to a bamboo floor in the basement last winter. This engineered floating floor from Lumber Liquidators was a bit of a pain right from the beginning. The salesman at the location I went to told me they had the amount I needed at a location about 20 miles away, but when I got there I was advised to only buy all from the same production lot, otherwise risk misalignment of tongues and grooves. Turns out we were about a half box short, and true enough those last few boards were always a little spongey. Between that and the ease with which it would scratch, I often wished I had just bought laminate from Ikea for a fraction of the price.

Fast-forward a few years and water heater fails and soaks a substantial area of the bamboo (including the spongey side). Contractor suggests ceramic tile to replace the damaged section, which he removes, treats for mold, levels and completes. He told me that he had some issues where the tile meets the remaining bamboo, as the first board has nothing to click into, so he glued it down, using liquid nails between the concrete and the vapor barrier, and more liquid nails between vapor barrier and bamboo board. I'm guessing the pros here know what happened next: it was great for the rest of the winter and spring and now it is beyond spongey. I can feel and even hear air squishing out from under the high parts.

I've mentioned it to the GC, who's working for me at another house right now, and his first responses seemed a bit evasive/defensive. Obviously he needs to come and see it, but am I the only one that believes that he should be correcting this problem at no cost to me? Original repair of 45-50 square feet cost me $1700, not including the tile which I bought myself.

 

#1 Very bad idea to have installed laminate in a basement.
#2 Laminate should never have been glued down to anything!!

 

Poster says it was engineered Joe. Still a bad idea.

 

thanks for the responses, but how about the question? this is an always dry basement (until the plumber I hired to replace the 9 year old water heater said I was crazy and that it had years left in it; it failed months later). my house is built on ledge; I look out the casement windows and see the rooftops of the houses across the street. If I get water in my basement, they'll have it in their attics.

Anyway, if you're a pro (or just skilled), and you saw a pro friend at the lumber store, and he told you, "a customer I put a tile floor in for wants me to fix the bamboo I glued down because it buckled," would you tell him that he should fix it for free, because he should've known better than to glue down a floating floor?

 

I would say he has to repair it. Hopefully your floor is not damaged and it can be fixed by removing the adhesive. He should be able to cut a gap between the two floors and insert a transition molding.