How to Repair Buckled Up Laminate Flooring

A buckled section of laminate flooring means the boards have taken in moisture and expanded, warping up from the surrounding flooring. Replacing the boards is the only way to fix the problem. Laminate flooring today generally means a "glueless" floor, with the boards snapped together at the edges but not connected to the sub-floor in any way. This allows the floor to be disassembled and reassembled like a jigsaw puzzle. See your flooring dealer for replacement boards.

Things You'll Need

• Hammer
• Flatbar
• New laminate flooring (same size and style as the buckled ones)
• Finish nail gun

Instructions

1. Remove the floor trim from the edges of the floor, using your hammer and flatbar. Don't break the trim as you take it off.

2. Loosen the first course of floorboards along the wall that's closest to the buckled flooring. Loosen them by pushing them toward the wall, into the small gap between the wall and the first course of boards. The gap is normally covered by floor trim. Leave the boards in order next to one another on the floor after you loosen them.

3. Loosen the next course of boards, and the next, working your way out from the wall toward the buckled area, course by course. Leave all the board in their positions relative to one another, so the pieces are still in the right order, but just aren't connected to each other. Continue until you get to the buckled section.

4. Take up the buckled boards. Set the new boards in their place.

5. Reassemble the floor, working your way back to the wall course by course. Set the trim back in place around the edges, using a finish nail gun.

References

• Self Help and More: Replacing Floor Boards.