Laminate Planks Separating

What's happening?

This is the opposite fault to peaking. Instead of growing into itself, the floor has been dragged apart. A click floor holds together by mechanical interlock alone, and that interlock can be pulled open by anything that drags one plank away from its neighbour: a heavy sofa or fridge slid across the surface, a floor that is creeping in one direction because it was pinned at the other, a subfloor that dips so the joint is unsupported and hinges every time it is walked on, or an area laid over a run longer than the manufacturer allows without an intermediate joint. Once a joint is open, the exposed core edge takes up moisture from spills and swells, so the gap gets harder to close the longer it is left.

What usually causes it?

• Heavy furniture or appliances dragged across the floor rather than lifted or slid on protectors
• The floor creeping in one direction because it is pinned at one edge and free at the other
• A dip or hollow in the subfloor leaving the joint unsupported so it flexes and unclicks
• A run longer than the manufacturer's limit — commonly around 13 m — with no intermediate expansion joint
• Planks tapped together badly at fitting, so the profile never fully engaged
• Shrinkage after the floor was laid without the acclimatisation the manufacturer requires
• Locking profiles chipped during fitting, so the joint has nothing left to hold with

When should you call a flooring fitter?

Call a flooring fitter when several joints have opened, when the joints keep re-opening after being tapped back, when the boards rock or the subfloor is uneven under them, or when the exposed edges have already swollen. Repeated separation usually means the subfloor is not flat enough or the floor is trapped somewhere, and both need finding rather than patching.

What will the flooring fitter actually do?

• Check the subfloor for flatness and identify dips that are letting joints flex
• Look for what is pinning or dragging the floor — fixings, thresholds, kitchen plinths or a missing intermediate joint
• Lift back to the affected area and re-engage the joints properly with a pulling bar and tapping block
• Level the subfloor where hollows are causing joints to hinge, before re-laying over it
• Replace planks with chipped locking profiles or swollen core edges, and reinstate the perimeter clearance