I would like to share my bad experience of installing SPC flooring with Floor World Cheras. There are a lot of flooring shops out there, I hope this sharing will help you guys to avoid those shops that only cost you money and troubles, one of them is this shop.

I had them install SPC flooring for my 300 sqr ft bedroom early last year. The price was RM 5 per sqr ft for 4+1 SPC flooring, made in Korea. The initial service was good, I was under impression that they had expertise on SPC flooring. Response was fast, installation arrangement went smooth, and I was a happy customer.

After the installation, that bedroom was empty for quite some time (the property is for rent, and there was no tenant during pandemic); during that period I did not notice any issue with the SPC flooring; a little over a year I had one tenant staying, and within one month the flooring was visibly warping quite badly and chipping off. I contacted the shop; they concluded that the SPC flooring had expanded but they were quite adamant saying that any SPC material is expected to expand so there was no material quality issue; they blamed me for not informing them when the expansion happened within the 1 year warranty period; they said SPC usually expands and "adjustments" are sometimes needed. To my defense, I am not an SPC flooring expert, it was difficult for me to identify whether expansion had happened and whether it was under normal tolerance or there was a problem. When I asked why I was not informed that SPC flooring might expand and adjustments might be needed (otherwise I could have been more careful in monitoring it), their answer was "we could not tell customers like that because it does not always happen". When I challenged them whether there was installation problem, their reply was "our installers are experienced".

The shop contacted their supplier to get some material compensation. As I don't want to wait that long, I asked them for a reasonable solution, however they came back to me quoting the same amount of cost like what I paid for the initial installation (but this time without any warranty!); they were not willing to share any responsibility to help solve my issue. The shop then told me that the supplier would be willing to get me material replacement if the moisture level in the room is below 8%; I do not know about this measurement, and whether this is the right threshold, at the end they came to do measurement on my subflooring; their reading was 15%, and they concluded that the room was too humid and there is nothing wrong with the material.


I then engaged 3 other flooring companies to do a site visit and they all shared the same conclusion that the issue was likely caused by
1) some humidity (the room was unoccupied for some time). My property is a condo unit on the 6th floor; the room was never under direct sun light

2) bad quality material where the SPC flooring easily expands. Before this I had laminate flooring in this bedroom for 10 years and there was no expansion issue due to humidity. One of the 3 flooring companies mentioned that for such a small area (300 sqr ft), they do not expect SPC flooring to expand that much.

3) most importantly: wrong installation! All 3 flooring companies mentioned that the floor condition of my bedroom was not even and thus not suitable for direct installation of SPC flooring; floor leveling should have been recommended first before the SPC flooring installation, otherwise all the SPC flooring clips will be broken due to uneven surface (that was the reason once the room was occupied within 1 month the flooring was visibly warping and chipped off). Floor World installer also unnecessarily used 2 layers of foams, making it too thick and bouncy, and combined with uneven surface the SPC flooring became unstable and led to broken clips.

When I challenged the owner of Floor World on the floor leveling issue, she claimed that sub-flooring was not their responsibility, what they did was to remove my old laminate and install SPC flooring. That reply summarized it all: bad quality material, lack of expertise, and unwillingness to help solve customers issues. Think twice if you want to engage them.







This post has been edited by hoera75: Jul 21 2022, 11:01 PM

I

spc just lekat nia
If the floor prior is not flat enough, when u lekat then got bumps right?

Not with glue, it uses clipping mechanism. If the floor is not flat, if people step on it, the floor will move up and down and at the end break the clip. My SPC is also very bouncy coz they put 2 layers of foams, one already sticked on the SPC , and yet they add another foam layer on the floor, that makes the clips breaking even more.
I guess the shop knows that the subfloor is not suitable and they tried to work around it by just putting another layer of foam.

agree with you, main issue here is the installer didnt advise you on the floor condition which you don't know, but the installer buat bodo, buat tak tau , just hamtam wrap up and job done.

This post has been edited by Pain4UrsinZ: Jul 22 2022, 01:09 PM

I also considering leh,

like that use laminate wood flooring better or SPC?

Other shops still recommend SPC compared to laminate. They say laminate expands even more. For me I have engaged another shop to redo everything again with SPC, this time with floor leveling. This time I will monitor and keep the room more ventilated.

SPC need smooth surfaces like vinyl and laminated.

Alternatively, throw away the PE foam and replace with rubber underlay used for carpet. Guaranteed zero problems because it won't tear easily.

I only used carpet underlay for all my flooring projects. Expensive yes but guarantee zero problems later.

And yes, 99% of installers don't check moisture prior to installation. Moisture meter ain't cheap to begin with. Myself and my team all have moisture meters but our installation rates much higher because we mostly do hotels and high-end properties.

On the other hand, can share the 3 flooring companies that you engaged to assess the situation? I'm looking for flooring companies to install SPC flooring for my new condo as well

Laminated is still wood and paper.

SPC is stone and plastic.

Engineered is pure wood.

Vinyl is plastic.

My question is do i need to knock out the tiles before installation?

My tiles i knock all inside like hollow sounding.
Just now ask the jubin guy to come and check, say better remove all tiles and cement it only put SPC or laminated wood. (I dont like parquet)

If the tiles already popping up, just remove and cement back to get the same level. If the tiles got grooves, ask a worker to scred back with cement or plaster. This is low cost way. If willing to pay, hack all the tiles out and redo the levelling.

Layman terms:

Laminated is compressed wood fibre + paper

SPC is stone & plastic mix + paper

vinyl is plastic + paper

Engineered is 1 layer nice looking / expensive type of wood + multiple layer of cheaper wood / plywood

Solid wood is 1 whole thing real wood. So the nicer looking / expensive species = very expensive


This post has been edited by Andy Loh: Jul 29 2022, 11:10 AM

Sorry for late reply, I did not check this forum for quite some time.
I would not recommend 1 of the 3 companies as their response was quite slow and they did not come back to me with quotation
The 2 other companies:
- Nii Floor
- Summit World Resources Flooring

At the end I engaged Summit World Resources to redo the SPC installation. Price is very reasonable (including leveling), response was fast, and good quality work. I recommend this company, if you search in google you would see a lot of positive reviews from their customers.

Why rubber underlay not a problem in the case? Mind to explain

The 3mm rubber underlay doesn't sink. Even if it does, it may take several years compared to several months with PE foam.

The PE foam used by everyone else was mostly used for packaging, not flooring.

Ic. Noted with thanks. If wanna keep using spc for years , is 3mm rubber underlay or what underlay is a good idea? Not wanting the joint to bend n break since many ppl walking on it.

This post has been edited by fishmango: Jul 3 2023, 01:18 AM

Sorry I a bit noob in all these, nowadays the landed house, from staircase to 1st floor to all our rooms are all SPC right?

First of all, your base must be flat enough and 1mm pe foam or 1mm Eva rubber underlay are good enough. Depend on your site situation too.

Not really, can be solid wood, spc or laminate. Depend what the developers gave tho.

Thank you so much 👍