Laminate flooring questions

[bone collector 13]

Any fellow roksliders by chance in the flooring business? Ran into an issue after a small water damage, that apparently the laminate in my home is no longer manufactured at the same thickness. So I’m currently trying to source 4-5 boxes of laminate from someone’s basement lol. I have the ability to refloor the whole house if needed but was hoping it wouldn’t come to that.

 

[Maverick1]

I am not in the flooring business. But had an area of water damage similar to what you describe. Finding replacement flooring was impossible. And drying it out to hope the swelling would go down does not work, even with an industrial dehumidifier.

In most instances the local big box stores won’t have your particular flooring in stock. An outlet location might, but it’s unlikely.

To others out there, I would suggest buying several extra boxes of laminate flooring if you ever do such a project and store them in a safe location.

 

[Pescetism]

I'm in the flooring business. If you have the style name and color I'd be happy to check availability tomorrow afternoon when I'm back at work. I've got 15 stores to pull inventory from and several have "old" laminates still in inventory. If that fails there are other avenues to search.

 

[ben h]

I was just cleaning my garage and found a box of laminite from the 90's. They have made huge improvments in this type of flooring since then, but I will give credit to its durability. This stuff has looked terrible since the day I installed it in 1999, but it doesn't look much worse now. Some of the newer laminites, I think look really nice and will probably last, except for "spec home-builder grade" with the slightest amount of water.

 

[Luked]

We had to do ours a few years ago due to the same problem. We had a pipe freeze and break and didn't know it until we used it..was an outdoor spicket that was piped in under our kitchen sink.
We had to replace the entire floor in our house as it is a continuous floor pattern throughout most of the house.
Was a pain in the ass. But we ended up with a nicer floor than what we had to start with and I did all the work myself.

 

[deltadukman]

I'm in the insurance business and water claims on wood floors are always like this. After about 6 months to a year, you can never find matching flooring for some reason.

 

[Deeker]

I do water mitigation and building for a living. 25 ish years at this point. Even if you can “match” with the exact flooring it won’t look correct. The floor in your house has been exposed to sun, dirt , and wear. You will notice a difference. It sucks to pull a whole floor, but it the long run you will be happy you did it.

 

[bone collector 13]

I'm in the flooring business. If you have the style name and color I'd be happy to check availability tomorrow afternoon when I'm back at work. I've got 15 stores to pull inventory from and several have "old" laminates still in inventory. If that fails there are other avenues to search.

Mohawk revwood board walk collection, sail cloth color. I need the 12mm stuff, and what’s being made today is 10mm

 

[bone collector 13]

I am not in the flooring business. But had an area of water damage similar to what you describe. Finding replacement flooring was impossible. And drying it out to hope the swelling would go down does not work, even with an industrial dehumidifier.

In most instances the local big box stores won’t have your particular flooring in stock. An outlet location might, but it’s unlikely.

To others out there, I would suggest buying several extra boxes of laminate flooring if you ever do such a project and store them in a safe location.

Seriously! My laminate was manufactured 05/25 and 06/25 they changed it almost annoying that they even manufactured it still knowing it was changing, but I’m sure they gave my builder a hell of a deal on it lol

 

[bone collector 13]

I do water mitigation and building for a living. 25 ish years at this point. Even if you can “match” with the exact flooring it won’t look correct. The floor in your house has been exposed to sun, dirt , and wear. You will notice a difference. It sucks to pull a whole floor, but it the long run you will be happy you did it.

That was my thought as well, but the bright side the home is only 6 months old. So I was hopeful it wouldn’t be a dramatic difference.

 

[bone collector 13]

Thanks for all the feedback folks! It’s been a hell of a ride watching my home get built (moved in last September) and then turning around and having to demo and rebuild a portion of it.

 

[Pescetism]

Mohawk revwood board walk collection, sail cloth color. I need the 12mm stuff, and what’s being made today is 10mm

None in-stock but I'll check with our rep on Monday. That product is new enough that Mohawk may still have some available in special goods.

I've got another option for you though. If this is a low traffic area you could install 1.5 - 2 mm laminate pad or 1/8" underlayment to raise the floor height in the damaged area so you can install the 10 mm version. The locks would probably need to be cut and glued together but it usually works (and looks) fine.

 

[Maverick1]

Seriously! My laminate was manufactured 05/25 and 06/25 they changed it almost annoying that they even manufactured it still knowing it was changing, but I’m sure they gave my builder a hell of a deal on it lol

Oof! Yeah, that’s rough. In my situation the flooring was 10+ years old, so I knew it was a long shot when the water damage happened…..what you are facing is different all together!