This article explains types of damage that occurs on various types of plastic laminate or thin-wood-surface laminate flooring in buildings.

We discuss several repair approaches that can assist in repairing stained areas on both wood and laminated wood or plastic laminated floors.

Diagnose & Repair Pet Urine, Water or Solvent Stains on Wood or Laminate Flooring

Several of the types of flooring damage discussed beginning at FLOOR DAMAGE DIAGNOSIS. Stains as well as buckled, cracked, or heaved floor boards of all types may be due to leaks or high moisture, or they may be due to spills of other liquids, solvents, or to bad pets who pee where you'd rather they didn't.

On most floors, stains, gaps, buckling, warping and mold are water-related or moisture-related problems in flooring systems. Here we add another flooring damage example provided by a reader.

We think the floor shown in the photos here was damaged by a solvent spill that was left unattended.

If you are concerned about mold-contaminated flooring,

see MOLD CLEANUP - WOOD FLOORING.

[Click to enlarge any image]

Question: what is the reason for this floor damage and what can I do about it?

I noticed a damage on my floor, it seems like a water damage. I'm not a 100% sure, as this area was carpeted. I would appreciate any assistance in finding possible reasons to this damage, especially because we moved in five months ago, and the place is brand new.

Attached is the floor picture, would appreciate any advice. - Anonymous by private email 2017/05/23

Reply: water or solvent damage to a plastic laminate floor

From the photos and guessing on my part, this looks like a plastic-laminate-type flooring that had something wet placed or more likely a solvent in the area of damage.

As the floor was previously carpeted (one of your photos shows what looks like the underside of a carpet rolled back) I'd guess that there was a spill that remained in the spot for a time and was not noticed until the carpet was removed - in fact a spill and carpet damage could be the very reason carpeting would be removed.

Or someone spilled solvent after the laminate floor was installed, didn't notice or clean up in time, and then on seeing the damage, "swept it under the rug" so to speak, hoping no one would roll back the carpeting to snoop around.

It's tough, however to reconcile that history with a place being "brand new".

The damage crosses the border of individual flooring to affect three boards so it certainly occurred to the floor after the flooring was installed.

The spill could have been water or a solvent. If the laminate flooring is plastic rather than real wood, I suspect the spill was a solvent. If the laminate flooring is actually a wood product there could have been dog pee, a potted plant leaking water, or a similar condition.

If there is a basement or crawl area below this floor it would be instructive to look at the underside of the subfloor below this area.

Laminated flooring that's plastic is discussed

at LAMINATE PLASTIC FLOOR

Laminated wood flooring is described

at FLOOR, WOOD ENGINEERED, LAMINATE, INSTALL

Repair Approaches for Water or Solvent-Damaged Wood or Plastic Laminated Flooring

On wood floors that are stained and that have enough thickness of wood to permit cleaning, sanding and other treatments, I use a combination of cleaners, possibly a dilute bleach solution, drying, staining and re-finishing described

at ANIMAL STAINS & MARKS in BUILDINGS and repair efforts are also described

at PET STAINED WOOD FLOORS secret pee stains your dog or cat never mentioned.

The laminate-floor damage repair methods discussed below are best for plastic or vinyl-surfaced laminate flooring.

Also see WATER DAMAGE TO LAMINATE FLOORS

Always Try the Least Aggressive Floor Repair First

On a plastic or very thin-laminate surfaced wood floor with damage such as shown in your photo I would be inclined to clean the area and try simply sealing the surface with a coating that itself does not contain solvents that further ruin the floor.

That will not remove the ugly patch but it will reduce its nastiness.

Laminate-Fix floor repair kits are sold to re-surface an area of damaged laminated plastic flooring. For small areas of nicks, chips, scratches, cracks and some burns, you can use this product to repair surfaces on flooring as well as cabinets that used a plastic laminated surface.

Plastic laminate repair kits can be purchased on various colors so you may be able to mix colors to get close to the original color of your flooring.

To use a plastic laminate repair kit you will need to

1. Shake
   
   or stir the laminate repair mix thoroughly
2. Fill
   
   cracks or gaps in the plastic laminate floor to just below the final surface of the flooring and let that dry two hours or more. Use multiple pours or coats until the cracks or gaps are filled to just at or very slightly above the surface of the remaining floor when the kit liquid has dried hard.
3. Pour or brush on
   
   a final coating over the area of damage, taking care to stop neatly at the edges of the damaged area or to very lightly feather-brush the coating an inch or less into the surrounding floor surface.
4. Dry
   
   Let the final coating dry at least 24 hours until it is hard.
   
   Watch out: do not try final sanding or buffing before the final coat is very dry and hard. Otherwise you'll get an opaque, gouged, ugly surface and you'll have to scrape and sand it down and start over.
5. Fine-Sand or Buff
   
   Very light final sanding with 220 grit sandpaper or emory paper may be needed if you see brush marks or an edge mark where the laminate repair liquid edge stops on the good flooring. AVOID sanding into the original-finish area of the flooring or you'll damage it.
   
   Watch out: Like pruning a tree, stop sanding before you think you've done enough since over-doing it may make matters worse. Know when to stop. More about how to know when to quit making your repair job better is
   
   at THE DINK FACTOR - when to stop dinking around with it.

Examples of repairs and re-finishing of solid wood flooring with dramatic results are illustrated

at LOOSE NOISY FLOOR REPAIR where we had both loose and damaged floor boards to fix.

Should you Try to Cut-and-Replace Damaged Plastic Laminate Flooring?

Watch out: Unless you are experienced with very careful woodworking and floor repairs you should probably not not try cutting out and removing an actual section of vinyl or plastic laminate flooring in general, as it is difficult to cut the floor surface without damaging the surrounding very thin plastic surface and also because getting a replacement board in place neatly is difficult except for an experienced restorer.

Most floor repair article writers simply say give-up.

But I do not always want to throw in the plastic laminate floor damage towel, especially when the area of damage is small.

Really? Well sometimes: I figure if the laminate floor is already ruined I haven't got anything to lose by trying to cut out and repair a damaged section.

If you're determined to push past the warning above, the wood floor repair techniques, discussed in detail

at WOOD FLOOR BOARD REPLACEMENT how to cut out and replace floor boards, can sometimes be used to replace real-wood engineered wood flooring if absolutely necessary.

But some gluing and jury-rigging will be needed to hold the replacement boards in place as the side and end joints of a snap together engineered wood floor cannot be left entirely in place if replacing a board out in the field of an existing floor.

If you don't want to live with the floor damage then flooring replacement will be needed.

Our photograph above shows a thin wood top layer on a laminated wood floor product. But your flooring looks like a vinyl or plastic laminate flooring product.

If I'm right that this is a plastic or thin-wood laminate flooring product, the bad news is that a damaged thin-surfaced wood or plastic surfaced laminate floor is difficult or almost impossible to repair while left in place.

As we show here and discuss further

at LAMINATE PLASTIC FLOOR, the surface pattern on a plastic laminate floor is very thin, protected by a clear top coating.

Very thin wood surfaces on some laminate floor products can't be sanded at all - the wood veneer may be just a few millimeters thick.

And plastic laminated floor surfaces (probably your floor) use what amounts to a very thin photo-like image of wood (or other patterns) that cannot be removed, sanded, scraped without leaving the floor's inner core exposed to view.

A perfect repair of such floors will require removing enough flooring to insert matching replacement flooring "boards".

That is very difficult to do without either removing flooring starting at the floor edges (and hoping this is a clip-together floor not one that's nailed or glued down), or by very carefully cutting out the damaged floor section stopping the "cut" at the edges of intact boards.

I have repaired wood flooring by using a flooring hand-saw or a thin-bladed electric saw (protecting surrounding wood with masking tape) to cut out the damaged section.

I saw about 2 millimeters away from the edge of the floor boards to remain so that I can be sure of leaving them un-damaged and I pre-score the flooring at cut lines with a utility knife and straight-edge. The cross-cut at floor board ends is done with a knife and a super sharp chisel.

Remove Damaged Flooring

If the damaged boards are close to a wall some handymen suggest that you remove the wall-floor trim board and pull up the outer floorboard to work maybe 2 or 3 boards in to the area of damage.

For the length of the floor boards to cut out, I plan to remove the damaged floor boards to about an inch beyond the ends of the damage along the length of the boards.

Really? Well sort-of. If a damaged board is close to a wall you might need to remove the kickboard trim just to get your saw cut through the end of a board section to remove it.

A candidate for removing and replacing wood floor boards close to a wall is shown in our photograph. Leaks at side panels of an entry door not only caused this black stain in the wood flooring but rot in the subfloor and sills below.

An owner had the floor sanded and re-finished before our inspection, but had left the stained, partly-rotted floor board in place.

It would have been better to remove and replace the damaged flooring before the floor re-finishing project.

But considering that most tongue and groove or snap-together floor systems have their ends staggered across the floor, I sure as heck don't want to start removing long sections of flooring just to get at an area of damage that's just a foot in diameter.

Damaged Plastic Laminate Floor Board Cutting & Removal Procedure

Details of how to cut out damaged wood flooring to insert replacement boards are now found

at WOOD FLOOR BOARD REPLACEMENT how to cut out and replace floor boards. You can use a similar procedure, substituting a utility knife and steel straight-edge for circular saw to cut out sections of laminate flooring.

Watch out: don't try using a circular saw to cut out plastic laminate flooring for replacement of individual flooring planks or sections. The blade will damage the edges of flooring that you want to leave in place.

Laminated Flooring Repair Products & Resources

Typical laminate flooring repair kits, also sold for repairing counters, cabinets, and furniture, consist of containers of color pigments that you mix to try to match the original color of the surface you're repairing, along with (in some kits) spatulas and scrapers and adhesives.

These kits will work to repair small areas of scratches, cracks, gouges or dings but they are not suitable for repairing large areas of water-damaged or pet urine-damaged flooring.

Another common laminate floor repair is the closing of end gaps between floor boards - accomplished by using a suction cup and hammer to slide boards together to close those gaps.

• CalFlor FL49115CF Hard Surface Repair Kits, CalFlor Accessory Systems 1000 Cal Oak Road Oroville CA 95965 1-888-277-FLOR (3567) Cal b: calflor.com/
  
  Website excerpt: Repairs dings, dents, and chips in almost any flooring surface. Match any surface pattern or color! Unlimited color combinations. Perfect for marbling and graining! Formulas included to match with: MAPLE • OAK • BEECH • MERBAU • WALNUT • CHERRY • MAHOGANY • TEAK • MARBLE • CERAMIC • CONCRETE

• FCHO Floor Gap Repair Tool, and similar brands, widely sold by online vendors, manufacturer's information not found, illustrated above. Suction cup can grab smooth-surfaced laminate floor sections to be tapped along for closing gaps at end-butt-joints of flooring.
• Fixture-Fix, high gloss laminated filler & coating, suitable for any plastic laminate surface, kits available in clear, white, matte finish, possibly other colors; Website: http://www.fixture-fix.com/laminate-fix.php
  Product Description:
  
  Laminate-Fix fills and repairs nicks, chips, scratches, burns, small cracks and minor imperfections in laminate surfaces, restoring the beauty of countertops, back splashes, cabinet facings, table tops, vanities, furniture, and many other plastic laminate surfaces.
  
  We make Laminate-Fix in 29 commonly used colors.
  
  Depending on the complexity of your counter or other surface design, you may need to combine colors to make a repair.

• Manistol Vinyl Flooring Cutter, helpful for cutting custom-fit replacement floor sections as well as for making angle cuts in patterned floor installations. Manistol is manufactured by CutTool, Ltd., and sold by online vendors. Suitable only for cutting: LVP, WPC, SPC, LVT, VCT, PVC & Vinyl Plank Flooring.

• Roberts Universal Flooring Repair Kit, # 10-33, provides colored pigments to mix and match to fill scratches and gouges.
  
  Roberts Q.E.P. 1001 Broken Sound Pkwy, NW Suite A Boca Raton, FL 33487 Phone: (561) 994-5550 Fax: (561) 241-2830 Sales: (800) 777-8665 Cust. Service: (888) 875-5087 Web: robertsconsolidated.com/
• Wood & Laminate Repair Kit, for furniture, flooring, doors, includes color repair sticks, a battery-operated heat gun to melt color material, a magic marker type stain filler, sold at online vendors.

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Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

On 2022-09-30 by InspectApedia-911 (mod) - oily substance found on bedroom laminate flooring

@Michael,

Since it doesn't seem likely that the oil that you describe is coming from the floor itself, we're left with having to look for a leak source somewhere nearby.

Doesn't have to be for air conditioning but I would be looking at bonus in the home that contained a liquid that you're describing on the floor surface as oily.

On 2022-09-30 by Michael

@InspectApedia-911, We're just finishing with summer here in SC. The AC hasn't run in a couple of weeks. The air duct to the register isn't close to this section of floor. Plus...I live alone. So I know nothing has been spilled in the area.

Bought the house in 2014 and the flooring was already installed. The past couple of times I changed the sheets I was in shoes and wouldn't necessarily feel the buckling. But, I would have noticed oily shoe prints in the house, so this has to have happened in the past couple of weeks.

On 2022-09-30 by InspectApedia-911 (mod)

@Michael,

Id guess a heating system leak or a spill.

On 2022-09-30 by Michael

Last night while making the bed I noticed my bed I noticed the floor felt wavy. I was in socks, and also felt dampness.

Moved the bed to the right, and went to get a flashlight. Discovered a greasy/oily substance on the floor and slight buckling of the flooring. This room is above a full basement, and there are no waterlines underneath there.

The buckling starts on the third board from the left. The pic shows the outline of the greasy substance. I noted the socks because I now have socked left footprints through the bedroom and hallway where the substance transferred.

Any insights to offer? I can find nothing online about this. Thanks!

On 2022-06-21 by InspectApedia-911 (mod) - bamboo laminate flooring developing bubbles

@Lisa,

It might be useful to borrow or find someone who has a moisture meter that uses contact pads rather than pins so that you can make some measurements in and out of the damaged area and in the nearby walls. But it certainly looks like a coating failure.

You might also search online to see if you can find other reports of finish failures for that particular flooring. Keep me posted.

On 2022-06-21 by Lisa

@InspectApedia , I don't think anything splashed on the floor.

There's no bubbling in low traffic areas, but this is definitely happening in more than one place -- both on outside walls. Possible moisture? I honestly can't tell for sure since there's no real sign of it.

On 2022-06-21 by InspectApedia (mod)

@Lisa,

This looks like a failure of the surface finish on the bamboo wood flooring; the damage doesn't seem to extend into the wood itself.

The presence of some un-cleared dark brown blisters in the center and lower right of your first photo suggest that moisture or something has gotten under the finish.

It may be diagnostic to tell us the extent of this problem: are you seeing it only in one location of the home or in multiple spots?

This damage is in a corner. But does it appear in traffic areas?

And are there any possible moisture sources under the floor or in the nearby walls?

On 2022-06-21 by Lisa

@InspectApedia , Thank you so much for your response! The floor was put down in 2013 we believe. Installed in Bonita Springs , Florida.

The only cleaning that I am aware of was either dusting, vacuuming or water dampened mop. Here's the product information from a box the previous owner left us.

On 2022-06-20 by InspectApedia (mod)

@Lisa,

That looks like a surface coating failure, but I can't tell if something splashed onto the floor in that area of if it's a product problem.

How old is the floor?

What are its brand and product ID?

Where is it installed: country/city

And do you know the history of cleaning efforts, chemicals, spills in that area?

On 2022-06-20 by Lisa

Hi there, I cannot figure out what is going on with our laminate floor. It's started bubbling and the bubbles are filled with an oily substance?

Any clue as to what's happening and how do I remediate? THANK YOU!

On 2021-11-02 by inspectapedia.com.moderator - smoke pellet burned through laminate finish

@Brenda,

If you possibly can start by identifying the manufacturer and brand and specific model of flooring installed in your home.

Contact the manufacturer, as they may have a repair kit that provides a good match to your specific flooring.

If that were my floor, I would move and replace the damaged planks with matching flooring planks if the damage is close to a wall where that's a practical approach.

If the damage is far from a wall, then ripping the flooring up isn't a reasonable repair approach.

It may be possible to make a sharp cut to remove the damaged material and to insert a matching patch piece.

Option which is the least likely to match closely these to cut out the blackened to damage the material and use a flooring filler that is close in color to the original floor. You may be able to coat or seal with a spray polyurethane.

On 2021-11-01 by Brenda

Hi! I've searched everywhere for how to fix a similar damage on laminate floor as mine but I have so far not found anything even a little similar. A friend of mine dropped a smoke pellet on my floor and it burned through. I don't know what the best alternative is since I can't change the floor.

On 2021-10-11 by inspectapedia.com.moderator - hard to replace finish after caulking damage

@Judy,

That's going to be difficult. Depending on the extent of damage to the floor it may be possible to clean it and smooth it with 220 grit or finer sandpaper and then to use a spray on sealant that is closed in color and texture to the original surface.

I would talk to the flooring manufacturer before choosing any coating because you want to be sure that what you choose is chemically compatible with the material of the floor and it's tough surface coating

On 2021-10-11 by Judy

A tiny bit of calking for cement spilled on laminate floor. Then we tried to wipe and it spread. Took finish off of floor....seemed like it ate finish. How do we get the finish back?

On 2021-08-09 by inspectapedia.com.moderator - peeling of high gloss laminate floors in mobile home

@Suzie,

Your floor may be repairable, or not depending on exactly what kind of laminate flooring is installed.

It looks as if a gloss coating is peeling from the surface. If this is a laminate wood floor with sufficient thickness, it might be possible to sand it and refinish it.

BUT but it's a risky process because the sanding will also make the grooves between the boards either disappear or look uneven,

AND because if the floor is a very thin surface, OR not actually wood, it can't be sanded at all.

So you need to find out more about exactly what's installed.

If it's wood but thin, t might be possible to sand the edges of the peeled areas very carefully so as not to remove any significant amount of the actual surface and then the entire floor would have to be recoated. It wont look perfect but it will look better if it's done correctly.

On 2021-08-09 by Suzie

We purchased a mobile home that has beautiful high gloss laminate floors. The previous owner said his wife use a product on them that caused them to peel. I also wonder if she steamed them. Is there any way to repair? See attached image.

On 2021-04-22 - by (mod) -

@Anonymous, sure; take a look at polyurethane matte finishes and again, test in a small area first.

On 2021-04-22 by Anonymous

is there any product can be used as matte wax??

I tried many floor cleaners but that did not get the job done. I can say the problem is in the surface coating

On 2021-04-21 - by (mod) -

@Taim, I can't tell if those marks are actual damage - loss of surface material - or if they're marks in a wax or other surface coating; I'd try a floor cleaner - testing it first in an unobtrusive location.

On 2021-04-21 by Taim

How can this matte laminate be restored? No scratches it’s remarks of the wheels of the vacuum cleaners

On 2020-08-02 - by (mod) -

Anon

That looks like water damage or perhaps a spill that sat un-detected for some time.

I suspect that water leaked onto and under the floor and was not removed. The floor's particleboard base adhesives dissolved, the base softened, and the glued-on top plastic wood pattern separated from its base.

On 2020-08-01 by Anonymous

What would cause this much damage. Did try to clean some of it out. This was under our bed and is very dry.

On 2019-01-27 - by (mod) -

Anon,

I see the faint white spots in your photo and infer that something splashed or spilled on the floor enough to penetrate the clear coat. I'd try some gentle cleaners such as glass cleaner before doing anything aggressive.

You might also get more information by shining a light along rather than right at the floor surface - that might let us see if the clear coat is damaged.

On 2019-01-27 by Anon

Any idea what this could be? This flooring was put down in a garden bar (completely insulated) it looks like speckles but the texture is smooth. There has not been spillages and there is a membrane and insulation under the flooring and it is sat on top of flags.

IMAGE LOST by older version of Clark Van Oyen’s Comments Box code - now fixed. Please re-post the image if you can. Sorry. Mod.

...

Continue reading at FLOOR DAMAGE DIAGNOSIS or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

Recommended Articles

• ANIMAL STAINS & MARKS in BUILDINGS
• LAMINATE FLOOR DAMAGE REPAIR
• LAMINATE PLASTIC FLOOR
• LAMINATE WOOD FLOOR
• PET STAINED WOOD FLOORS
• WOOD FLOOR BOARD REPLACEMENT
• WOOD FLOOR DAMAGE REPAIR - repair of traditional wood flooring
• FLOOR, WOOD ENGINEERED & LAMINATED - define three basic types of flooring products: hardwood flooring, engineered wood flooring, and laminate flooring
• FORMALDEHYDE TESTS for FLOORING - testing for formaldehyde outgassing from Chinese made laminate flooring
• WOOD FLOOR ENGINEERED, REPAIRS - repair of engineered (also real) wood flooring

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