Concrete Slab Under Stove

Q: Today I ripped out all the tiles in my apartment's kitchen in preparation for installing my laminate floor. They came out easily, but under the stove I discovered I don't have a floor. Instead, I have a thick slab of concrete or cement board, apparently resting directly on the joists and sticking up about 3/4" above the planks of the floor around it.

Maybe stoves in 1901 (when this building was built) sent so much heat toward the floor that this was thought desirable, but it certainly isn't needed today, and I'm not sure what to do now. The goal was to add another electrical circuit, lay down a laminate floor in a few hours, buy a new stove, and finally be done with this unending renovation. With a crowbar or come-along I could probably get this thing up, but then I'd have bare joists and have to install a wood floor just to cover it up with the laminate floor, (plus I'd have a slab of concrete a yard square to carry down four flights of stairs). Or I could put the laminate floor on top of the slab and slice off the top layer of laminate to trim the "riser" part of the slab. This would leave the stove up in the air an inch or so, as it was before, and it would look OK, but it would limit a future owner's ability to move the stove. Any ideas?

A: Consider, that the slab might be asbestos! It was common to use asbestos to insulate against potential fire hazards, so you have to be careful about breaking it up.

I would lay the laminate on top of the slab and use a laminate stair nose molding, if the size is right or another molding to hide the edge.

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Laminate Flooring Questions

Q. A couple of laminate flooring questions.

1. I installed laminate in our living room and since then the stick-on tiles in the dining room are peeling up on the edges. I've decided to put down laminate floor in that room as well. I have a reducer molding between the living room and dining room. I'm going to have to replace it with a T molding and will have to remove it before starting the dining room for spacing. How do I remove it? Jig saw?

2. I'm also installing laminate in our master bathroom. Is it necessary to glue the glueless click planks because of moisture?

A. 1. Without actually seeing the installation a saber saw is probably your best bet. Although a circular saw set at the right height is easier to maintain a straight line.

2. DO NOT glue the glueless planks - they need freedom to expand and contract. Glue them and you will have no end of buckling problems. I am not sure I understand the part about "moisture" in the master bedroom. If you have a moisture problem in your home, you should fix the problem rather than trying to remodel around the problem.

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Laminate Flooring on walls?

Q. Would it be possible... or practical... or cost effective to use laminate wood flooring on a bathroom wall? There is no tub or shower, so moisture shouldn't be an issue. I'm planning to use tile on the floors, but I found some inexpensive interlocking bamboo laminate flooring that I think would look nice to use half way up the walls to go with my Asian theme. Since these are usually used as "floating" floors, what would be the best way of attaching it to the wall? Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcomed.

A. Technically there is no reason why you cannot use laminate flooring on a wall. I would use some construction adhesive. I would also use an overlapping molding to finish the top and put the baseboard in front of the planks rather than butting the planks to the top of the baseboard. Lay a bead of caulking on the floor to allow the planks to expand and contract.

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Laminate Flooring - Buckling Problem

Yesterday I saw a laminate floor that had buckled. The laminate flooring had been installed for about 6 months and was a medium quality product. The homeowners did the installation themselves, after getting verbal instructions from a sales person at a big box retailer.

They admitted that they had felt comfortable in doing the project themselves and had only skimmed the manufacturers installation instruction sheet. The room size was approximately 11’ x 17’.

To my knowledge, there are only 2 reasons for a laminate floor to buckle:

• The laminate flooring was not allowed to acclimatize itself to the room before installation. (Warehouses and big box retail stores are exceptionally dry facilities).

• There was no expansion space allowed between the flooring and the wall.

On questioning the homeowners, they said that the material was in their home for more than a week before they installed it and that they had left a 3/8’ gap all around the room. Both of these should have been adequate to prevent buckling.

Quarter round had been placed around the room to hide the gap between flooring and the walls. I removed a piece of quarter round and immediately discovered the problem. The homeowners had nailed the quarter round to the floor, through the laminate, rather than to the wall, thus locking the floor into place and not allowing the flooring to expand and contract under the quarter round.

Simple mistake and one that was relatively easy to correct.

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