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Laminate Lifting Or Peaking At The Joints
The laminate has risen into a ridge along a joint, or a whole area has domed up off the floor.
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What's happening?
A laminate floor floats. It is not fixed down, because the board core is largely wood and it grows and shrinks with the humidity in the room. If it cannot grow outwards, it grows upwards — which is exactly what peaking is. Quick-Step's installation instructions require an expansion joint of 8 to 10 mm on every side of the floor, around pipes, at thresholds and under doors, with at least 10 mm under a door, and they are explicit that the floor must never be fastened with nails, screws or glue and that the gap must not be filled with sealant. Peaking means that clearance has been lost or was never left — the floor has grown into a wall, a doorframe, a radiator pipe or a skirting screwed down through the boards.
What usually causes it?
- No expansion gap left at the perimeter, or the spacers removed and the gap filled with the skirting sitting hard on the floor
- Skirting or beading fixed down through the laminate instead of to the wall, pinning the floor
- Expansion gap filled with sealant, adhesive or expanding foam so the floor cannot move
- A run longer than about 13 m in either direction with no intermediate expansion joint
- The floor butted tight against a doorframe, a radiator pipe collar or a fitted kitchen plinth
- A rise in room humidity — a new bathroom, a leak, or a floor laid in winter and swelling in summer
- Planks laid straight from a cold van without the acclimatisation period the manufacturer requires
Is it dangerous?
A raised ridge across a doorway or a landing is a genuine trip hazard, particularly for older people and children. Beyond that, a peaked joint has its locking profile under load and will crack or chip; leaving it does not let it settle, it damages the boards permanently.
Can I fix it myself?
Find where the movement is blocked. Take the beading off along one wall — often the gap is there and the beading has simply been nailed through the floor — and check whether the boards can slide. Where the gap has been lost, the floor edge can be trimmed back, but that means lifting the perimeter row, which on a click floor usually means unclicking from the wall inwards. Do not weight the ridge down or screw it flat; the pressure has to be released, not held.
When should you call a flooring fitter?
Call a flooring fitter when the peaking spans more than one joint, when it has appeared across a doorway between rooms, when boards have already cracked or chipped at the ridge, or when you do not know where the floor is trapped. A fitter will find the pinch point, release it and re-lay the affected area with the correct clearance, which is faster than dismantling a whole room by guesswork.
What will the flooring fitter actually do?
- Lift the beading and check the perimeter clearance on every wall, including behind kitchen plinths and around pipes
- Identify what is pinning the floor — fixings through the boards, sealant in the gap, or a run with no intermediate joint
- Release the trapped edges and trim the boards back to the manufacturer's specified expansion gap
- Re-lay the affected area, replacing any planks whose locking profile has been damaged
- Refit beading or skirting fixed to the wall only, so the floor can move freely underneath
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