I recently had a Karndean french oak floor laid in my dining room by an approved Karndean installer. This was the first stage of a complete makeover in this room. The house is about 20 years old and has asphalt laid over concrete floors. The installer laid a smoothing compound (his words) although to me it looked like latex self leveling screed and he mixed it in the same way i've seen it mixed many times (50 years in the high class fit out trade) he then laid the Karndean planks. All seemed fine until we got a new dining room suite and changed the layout, Now one of the chairs is like a rocking chair, so out came the straight edge. The floor is quite uneven and where this particular chair goes it ramps up to the skirting board by about 8mm in 300mm. here is a photo with a key alongside the straight edge for scale, please don't anyone say 'cut a bit off the leg' cos' then that chair will wobble anywhere else it goes. So as the title, is this amount of unevenness acceptable? Sorry for the long thread but i wanted to give you the full picture. Thanks for any advice.
No such thing as a Karndean approved installer only a trained/certified installer. Smoothing compound Self leveller is the same thing I tend to call them smoothing compounds. Ideally you want Surface Regularity 1 which is no more than 3mm over 2m LVT can be laid on SR3 - 10mm over 2m but you end up with a floor like that ! It’s either the floor underneath is like and not enough compound was used to get it flatter and smoother, this all should have been discussed and priced accordingly or it’s just a crap job of screeding it and it was flatter before he started
We recently had a similar case.... The screed used on the ashfelt was of a high conpressive strength, it after time dried so hard it actually started to lift the soft ashfelt off the old concrete. Did you not notice the dips when it was installed as ashfelt can settle and move.
Spacey first comment is spot on. Unlevel floor should of all been discussed . Before fitting .... looks like he smoothed the floor . Prob needed another bag or two of latex to get it level .... So when did hook knife Harry take the karndean course ? Sent from my Moto E (4) Plus using Tapatalk
Thanks for all the reply's. We went on the Karndean website and chose a local supplier/installer from their list, so i assumed they were in some way approved by Karndean, but i suppose anyone can do the course and how well they work after that is up to them and what they think they can get away with, lol. I have in the long and distant past laid a floor or two myself, including a bit of screeding, so i have a bit of an idea what i'm talking about, but i'm a bit too old to be crawling about on all fours We paid a good quality price for a good quality floor and are a little disapointed with the finished article, i don't like to say it, but i think i could have done as good/bad a job myself. Oh well he's coming back tomorrow lets see what he has to say. J D Clarkson, the asphalt over concrete has been down 20 years, since the house was built, the smoothing compound 2 months. LVT, I don't know when he did the course.......
He should of checked the subfloor before any screening done and then explain the extra work needed to get it level and the price before proceeding. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Well he came out and as expected he gave a me million and one reasons why the uneven smoothing compound that he laid wasn't his fault, we went round in circles going over the same things but he was having none of it, he went as far as suggesting i do something with the chair legs, maybe even fit adjustable feet but there was nothing he could do They are listed on the Karndean web page as a Gold partner, I phoned the shop this morning and they said he was a separate business that shared their unit, i said that they were the ones listed on Karndean web page I placed an order with them, so therefore he must be their subcontractor and they were responsible, It seem the owner has been off ill, the subby is their son and they will pass it on to him, a lot of good that will do! I then phoned Kardean customer care to see if a rep could come out and see if in his opinion it had been laid within their guidelines, they said that can only come from the retailer. So i then phoned the retailer back and asked them to request a site visit from a Karndean rep, again they said they would pass it on the subby to contact Karndean, i wont hold my breath. I think i know the only way to put this floor right, but short of a court case we cant force him back, and the annoying thing is every time i sit at that table the lobsided chair hits me in the face. We chose a good quality expensive floor and thought we were doing the right thing in getting a so called professional in to do the job and we paid up the day the job was finished, there' a lesson there somewhere.
Yeah, don’t use Karndean approved or certified. It stands for nothing Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
So sorry to hear you have this problem @Paul Hurdsfield. I have the same problem To the professionals on this forum: if you were called by a consumer and asked to fix this (the work of someone else), how would you fix this floor be to Surface Regularity 1 (3mm over 2m). It is as simple as 1) remove all Karndean, 2) apply sufficient smoothing compound, and then 3) lay new non-Karndean brand LVT? Please ignore cost, but consider the house is lived in.
Pull it all up. Remove the old adhesive. Flood it with levelling compound and fit new LVT. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The issue isn’t with the brand of LVT “Karndean” in this case It’s an installation issue as with most LVT problems
