IT WORKED! I did everything the same as the video except I drilled a few holes at once in case the foam needed more space to expand. I went very slow and alternated between the holes. When I was done I left Olympic weights on it overnight to make sure it wouldn't buckle. I wasn't about to tear the floor up for one soft spot. To all the people saying prep the floor beforehand, no duh. That would obviously be better but unless you have a time machine to go back before the floor was installed, this quick fix is cheap and easy.
Your Video on laminate floor was ABSOLUTELY GREAT on so many levels. Listen People! If replacing the floor is the option a Pro would do then why not give a $20 fix a shot and see the results. I loved the Puritans say this was a horrible job! I loved the People who loved this trick and I even loved the idea of glue instead of Great Stuff. Even the guy who wanted to come up from the bottom of the sub floor to inject the stuff ..AMAZING.. This video got people together talking and thinking. Thank you to all the people with the "should not be tried" comments, I do see your points made..they are quite valid and have experience behind them. I am being called in to repair a floor and have the quote to replace the floor, a quote to repair the sunk in areas....And, now I have an idea to try it myself. A big THANK YOU to the Author of this video; You have provided inspiration!
If ur replacing the floor, use a leveling compound and make it flat for when you put the new one down. Thats as complicated as it has to be. But most times people wanna save a little money
I always wear socks with sandals. Ever gotten a wasp or bee sting between your toes? And then have to use a $130 Epi-pen to save your own life? Socks with sandals, a life saver.
No matter what product/kit you use your gonna have to drill into the floor. Installers do it all the time so theres really nothing to worry about. I usually drill into a knot where the hole can be easily hidden. I normally use Dritac repair glue but its expensive compared to this foam stuff. Ima give it a try the next time I have a repair.
@@amyrose7261 drilling into the floor is really no big deal. If you drill into a seam or knot, you will never notice a little 1/16 inch hole once it’s filled. Don’t stress!
I don’t have laminate floor but I do appreciate the idea of attaching a tire inflator to the great stuff nozzle. That’s pure genius. Not long ago I needed to inject foam into a narrow opening. I racked my brain for a solution. The best I came up with was using the front of a pen. It worked but the inflator would’ve been better.
Amazing how so many so called pro installers know nothing about these type of fixes. The owner has to go on youtube to find these solutions lol. Thanks for the upload, saved me time and money from having to rip up floors.
I used this cheap trick on my laminate flooring and it completely removed the gap between my subfloor and laminate boards. Glad I watched this review before buying those expensive wood floor fix kits!
I'm pumped I found this video. Installing a new floor now and just tore it all up just for a soft spot only to try and level it, lay the floor back down and still have a soft spot. I'm not tearing it up again. Just ordered foam and needles haha.
@@rasscal I have all the stuff but haven't tried it yet because I'm away from home for military stuff. I don't think I'd worry about injecting too much, I don't think it would cause the floor to have high spots. It probably only expands into empty areas.
@@pelless be really careful when injecting it. It will raise the floor if you use too much. I'd advise only for small spots, and place like a level over the spot with weights on it on areas that are level so you have some resistance to lifting at the level of the rest of the floor.
This laminate flooring fix really worked for me. No problems with the foam drying. It's the same as being in a cavity behind a window or door frame. :) Thanks s a lot! 5 stars!
Yeah I used this method to stop our new subfloor that was squeaking in certain places. We had secured the boards and counter sunk the screws but somehow there was just enough of a space for the subfloor to give a bit and cause squeaks and creaks. Drilled a hole or 2 where needed slid the little hose in and give it a shot of window & door trim expanding foam. Being the subfloor was screwed down SECURE the foam only filled within the areas it could get into and expanded only as much as the gap available. No squeaking, no creaking and no feeling like it had any give. Also remedied the possibility of causing the new vinyl to be damaged due to that slight subfloor shift/movement.
@@Mr.Beastforpresident used the same brand as the video. When spraying the foam, I would stop and step on the area lightly to spread the foam. Hope this helps.
Put down vinyl plank flooring and found a soft area. Was sceptical but tried this fix and worked perfect. Floor is solid now. Pushed down every so often to help spread out. Thanks this was a great help
@@mikegrguras9825 I was initially concerned with how I would fill the hole but it's so small honestly I couldn't see it after so I left them . Darker flooring so not sure if that helped. I didnt worry about drilling in the bevel I tried to find the center area of where it was low. Did about 8 different spots couldnt tell you now where they were
@@colintaylor8234 sounds good. Yea my floor is lighter and I grabbed a scrap piece to see the hole size. Mine might need some patching and see come putty kits out there. Thanks for the reply!
I’m in the middle of a replacement floor and have found a little dip in the subfloor after installing about three feet beyond it. Will be trying this solution. Thanks for sharing your idea.
some of these comments are ridiculous and over thought (engineers) lol this is a perfect fix for a homeowner or flipper who has an already existing laminate floor they did not install themselves. No tearing out a perfectly good floor for a minor bend in the planking. Nice video.
John, I am a Quantum Molecular physicist from the future and i came back to tell Aglobal llc that his repair saved the human race. How? His repair with stand a nuclear explosion of 1000k joules....lol
I'm neutral for arguments sake: It's scary to use the word "FLIPPER" and assume high-quality,code compliant repairs or builds. BOTTOM line, would this procedure work to make a long lasting quality, trouble-free repair?
Floors in all my rentals still holding up great. Had a slight slope in one bedroom recently and I remembered this easy fix! Thanks again. Very creative !
Great Video! One piece of advice i would recommend is to drill a second hole right around the edge of the soft spot to let the air out, otherwise over time you will see that the soft spot just moved to a different spot of the floor.
Great video, my floor area was about 14 inches wide so I taped the laminate seam the entire length. Ball filler was too small for tube so razor sliced end to insert. Taped together as shown and then used glue gun to cover tape ends for secure. worked like champ. weighted seam with 2 , 5# weights on 1x2 board. Holes had little yellow beads come out, sliced off, redrilled hole and sealed with some wood putty. Thanks for the how to video.
Thanks a lot for the tutorial, I really appreciate it. The workers did a poor job with the floor leveling and it now has a lot of uneven spots which result in heavy creaking noise. This is what I needed to fix it 🎉
I can't wait to try this!! I made the mistake of hiring a "flooring installer" from the internet to lay vinyl plank flooring on the entire main floor of my house for a cash deal. I quickly found out why his price was so low. This guy put NO underpad or anything over the subfloor before laying the vinyl planks. So I have SEVERAL uneven spots that are now causing some planks to crack. I'm going to try this genius trick today. One question though, how do you hide the drill holes? I am going to have quite a few and a lot of them will be in plain site. THANK YOU!!!
@@kathr3335 If possible drill the hole through a knot looking area of the plank and gill with regular wood puddy to match. you will still see it when the light hits it right bit it will be less noticeable.
My first attempts at leveling large rooms seemed to go well but it became apparent that even tiny undulations left LOTS of soft spots all over my floors. I'm basically turning my floors into swiss cheese doing this I have so many places but it SEEMS to be working pretty well so far. Ive done about 12-15 holes and it's definitely much better. TIP: Ive been laying large heavy slabs of old countertop over the floor where I filled to press things level and try to avoid any swelling. Which also SEEMS to work well. Fortunately I have a "natural/worn" style engineered hardwood, so the holes aren't too noticable and I've even been able to hide the foam dots with a bit of matching wood stain. Thanks for saving my ass man. I hope I can find enough cans of foam to fix this squishy floor of mine!
@@chasecomptondesign slab which was liquid leveled, but pretty sure the sika leveler either sucked, or was expired (thanks home Depot). Additionally, my hickory engineered hardwood tongue and groove planks seem overly flexible conflated to many thick lvp click locks
My son is a flooring guy and he uses 2 25 lb weights. He drills the hole and then lays the plates over and injects down thru the holes on the weights. Holds everything steady and level.
I just wanted to say thanks and this worked like a charm. The only downside I got which was minor, is a little bit of the Great Stuff goes a very long ways so be careful. I had a few soft planks and it sure does beat ripping up the floor.
This works ridiculously well, if you are ever in Edmonton I owe you a beer. Like others said, this video is for people who made the error of laying floor on an uneven surface, not for those smart enough to level it correctly beforehand
When I was buying new floors my first choice was vinyl but everybody said that it requires perfectly even surface. Since I had old tiles and parquet they advised me to go with laminate because, with a the 3 or 5mm underlay, it can withstand some imperfections. Now I now it's not the case. I bought 10mm 33 class laminate and now I regret not buying 15mm one. I installed 85m2 of it and the price difference was significant but still..... I have some part that are moving when walking over and one piece that is cracking. I suppose that the one that cracks was not installed correctly and the V groove does not match. I was wandering if I could drill from under the pavement and then do something similar and then I came across this video. Even if I would prefer not to drill on new laminat the procedure is inevitable. Will it work? And will the hole do problems in future after few years of washing?
A fellow Albertan! And I just dumped 6 buckets of leveller on my floor and there’s STILL some low spots. So I’m saying f it and just putting laminate on top anyway because seriously I just hate floors so much at this point. Over it….
Great idea. Remember a little goes very far as it's only filling about 1/8" max. I do this exact repairs for spongy tub floors also. It works great. On the tubs, I use epoxy patch for the hole/s, then spray the floor with epoxy paint. 👍
Thank you so much for the idea. I had the idea to use liquid nails and small drill bit but had no idea how to get the liquid nails through such a small hole. Plus it would be flexible afterwards. This is a much better solution. Hope it holds up over time!
I'm glad I found this video. I'm going to fix my floors this weekend and was ready to drill a hole big enough to fit the tube on the can down in it. Now I know to use a needle!
I have vinyl flooring and uneven hallway. It was so bad that I was close to taken all out and replace it. Would have been very Messi. You safes me time and my marriage. That’s an amazing trick. I am at my second bottle and it works fantastic. Thank you very very much!
I guess one precaution would be - DO NOT USE THE HEAVY EXPANDING FOAM !!!!!! BE SURE IT IS "MINIMAL EXPANDING" or you will be very very sorry ...... Just thought I'd throw that out there even though you said it in the video .... This warning is crucial to NOT creating a disaster
Good tip! I kind of wondered about that too. I thought of the same trick before watching this. But I was worried it might expand too much and push the flooring up.
tire inflator tip and tape on the floor was the solution ..... I had thought of foam but was not wanting to drill a big hole .... tire inflator solves that ..... good video , great idea , thanks
correction "football" inflator tip , NOT "tire" inflator (my bad) .... anyway , good idea , I used it the other day and it worked ..... I know one thing , that foam did go everywhere !!!!!! I didn't wear gloves ..... Next time i will !!!!!!!! That crap is like roof tar , no matter how careful you are , IT GETS ON YOUR HANDS !!!!!!!
I did this repair on a few spots on my engineered wood (snap together and glued down) flooring. It worked well (so far). No more popping noise that annoyed me. The foam did not spread-out as much as I thought it would. You might have to apply this treatment in a few different places to remove the whole soft-spot. Do wear gloves as the foam stuff will not come off of your hands! Some excess spilled on the floor but cleaned up nicely with mineral spirits (paint thinner).
This is genius. Ive been doing tile for years and have seen alot of tricks but this is something else...very smart and awesome trick I will hang on too on future lvt jobs. You can't make every floor flat, some are beyond screwed up....
I actually did this before but used a 3/8s drill bit which is the same size as the tube and I plugged it afterwards with a piece of wood and colored the plug with a stain pen
I’ve had a poorly fitted spot on my floor that has made a loud crack every time I step on it and has done my head in for years. Not any more, thanks and well done for the brilliant idea👍
So you did this procedure and it worked? I too have a same spot that cracks when I walk over it. I think that in that spot the laminat was not inserted correctly. (the V groove part that connects one pice to another) On some other spots around the edges with the wallsbI have the problem shown in this video, it's moving when I walk over. Not sure if I want to drill in my new floor tough, I will try from the edge since the laminate is 1cm from the walls.
Wow I was afraid to attempt this in a new plank floor I did and then I discovered a small soft spot and boy I’m i glad I seen this video, thanks it worked for me...... Update: the very next day, I realized that I put too much foam in my soft spot and now I have a raise spot not crazy high but when you walk on it you can feel it, f#%k I can’t win, my suggestion is to put small amount of foam, I did use the window and door foam but I just put to much, thanks
Ok so I had a low spot under a hardwood floor I laid. Rather than drill a hole through the surface I went under the crawl space and drilled up through the subfloor. I drilled several holes close to the same size as the great stuff tube and sprayed about half a can. I then set a heavy five gallon bucket on top to make sure the floor didn’t heave. The hardwood was an engineered floor installed floating. Glued edges. It worked great. The floor still has flexibility as far as expansion.
Great idea . I used it to fill area from tile to bare concrete along line and used several holes along it , about 15 feet . pressurized it along line starting at one end . great fix . wife wont even know HAHA. Can i used though - didn't have wide hose , but with some rigging made it happen THanks dude good idea.
allways gonna have a soft spots on a laminate ,fix one for some time is gonna show another somewhere in the room it normal for floating floor is not glued on
Great info. However, I had difficulty with the inflator needle, couldn't get a good seal. Ended up drilling 1/4 inch hole for the foam directly. That worked better for me. Everything else the same.
Thanks for this. Do you think it would probably be okay to inject the foam into the ends of the boards were 2 meet, rather than in the middle of a long side? That seems to be the center point of my two soft spots.
just right now i am installing laminate over a concrete slab that is uneven near the door of the bathroom, and i have a rebel soft spot, that i already tried to level, i used mortar to level before installation and quickset after the first time i took it off, but man it is still there haunting me i cannot level it flat because i would be over the level of the hallway ( i am installing the laminate without transitions) .ill try this method instead owe you a beer.
Possibly. I’ll let you know because I have the same type of flooring in one part of my house and have some soft spots I’d like to fix. I’m going to try it. Worst case I need to pull a plank and replace it, no big deal. I do suggest that you find out the type/color of flooring you have and buy yourself a carton of it. These types of floors are really easy to repair by replacing planks. It’s handy to have some around!
@@johnd9357 just curious if you tried this on your LVP yet. I have a new construction on slab. Just had the flooring put down and have 2 spots that are driving me insane. Plan to try this out.
No seriously, it didn't overexpand the laminate. My issue was drippage from the tip. The foam stuck to the cardboard I had used when I set the can down between two different holes. If you've ever used foam before you know its messy and have to be careful since it sticks to everything. Make sure you use window and door foam.
As long as the expansion foam is between either; the flooring and underlay or, the underlay and substrate, it’s pretty much still a floating floor isn’t it?
I have laminate flooring and there are a few planks that dip and creak around the seam of the joints. Will using fast setting wood glue work? Or am I to use minimal foaming glue? I cannot rip apart the wood to fix it for expansion.
I placed linate on an uneven floor ...So now at some places the joints have lifted a bit...i thought about doing this thing qoth the foam so as to support the piece underneath it.Will the foam dry? Cause ubderneath it has the membrane ..?
CAUTION: there are more details to consider: how big the 'dip' is, what flooring/vapor barrier/subfloor you have, and how long you spray under the flooring. I have laminate flooring, with a vapor barrier that was installed less than a year ago on top of a concrete slab. I had one spot where I put too much - and now I have a bump. One spot where I put too little. I did 6 spots originally, which are better than they were before. But, I will now do it in 6 more spots near where I did the original holes to try to make them even better - because I didnt get it just right the first time. The length of time I sprayed in the holes before was random. After the fact, I think 20-30secs would have been enough for me. In the holes that I will do to finish up, I am going to just do about 10-15secs. I believe this method is 5x cheaper than the glue/epoxy method. I also recommend super glue or another way to fasten the needle to the plastic straw to keep it secure. Mine came loose on the first hole, thankfully I put enough tape down and had paper towels ready to go to help limit the problem. I was able to hold it in place for the other 5 holes - which was more stressful. Thank you posting this video and demonstrating this solution.
Listen people they do sell an epoxy floor repair to inject under soft spots. It's a 2 part epoxy, tape and drill a hole, squirt in, dries in under 3 minutes, fill hole with color putty. Very easy. Designed for floors. Will never crush or create humps. Do not do this Hack trick. If you have to do it, do it right. Edit correction and update: But I do not recommend this for a laminate. Epoxy is best known for engineered wood.. My answer to fix this is in one the replies on this page.
I have a soft spot on my engineered wood flooring I may try this on Would you inject the foam between the flooring and the underlay or try to drill through the underlay and inject the foam between the sub-floor and underlay?
Kevin Russell either way it's worth a try since if your laminate flooring is bad it will have to be replaced. I'd say if you measure the depth of injection try to get it under the uderlayment it may feel even under your feet. Either way it should fill the gap and should give you positive results. Please share your results.
I finally got around to doing this. I was a little reluctant as it is a new floor and quite a large soft spot. The flooring guy really fu*$#$ up and would not fix it. I seemed to worked pretty good. I am not 100% happy yet with the results but it is far better than it was. I am about 90% happy lol. I have a couple other spots I will fix this way as well. Thanks for the tip, it saved me a lot of grief!!!
As mentioned below do not use much you we’ll be screwed. Much safer to use a caulking with a turkey injector and then put a wait on it. Foam is harder to control.
⚠ Be very (very!!) careful!!! **YOU NEED TO SECURE THE PIPE USING AN HOSE CLAMP** I just tried it without it, it was a disaster: the plastic pipe (the extremity that is near the can) was pushed out with the pressure, the foam literally exploded everywhere in a nice POP! (Piece of foam everywhere from the wall to the bed, even on the hair of my girlfriend ― who somehow did not find it really funny), later the foam did came out through the thread of the push button. My advice: ● use 2 hose clamp at each extremity of the plastic tube (later the foam melted the tape I put on it to maintain the metal things for balloon). Tape isn't enough. ● press gently the button (don't build too much pressure). if you don't hear the foam coming out, stop pressing (and raise up the pipe a bit, if it touch the floor, the foam can't get out)! ● protect you eyes, hairs and the things around in case of explosion. ● I guess it exploded because the pipe was touching the floor (which is obvious) it should be a little higher.
Would this work between two end joints on laminate as one end goes down when stepped on and the other raises slightly. Must be due to a slight dip so I'm thinking the foam would level it out. Would only need it raising a tiny bit.
That is my exact problem and I'm going to try this tip I hope it won't lift the floor where injected and create a hump where it can crack somewhere else.
How do you know when you've put enough....my experience with foam like that is that it keeps expanding for a while. How do you prevent it from creating a high point?
Add a little minimal expanding foam at a time. You can add some weight on top of the floor evenly for a couple hours as a precaution. Make sure you use minimum expanding foam.
Will this fix work on a floating floor? Won’t it keep it from truly floating or will the spray foam move with it over time/not be too much of an adhesive?
How long did you squeeze the trigger on the foam can for? It sounded like you did for a second or two and then left it for the remaining time the tip was inserted in the floor.
@@dropndeal what is the answer without pulling the floor? Anything better than this? I have 1500 sq feet of laminate without any transitions with 2 super spongy spots from where the planks meet. It drives me nuts.
I don't know, but this approach seems like your basically creating uneven flooring by (foaming in) the soft spots. You may have addressed the "soft spot" by creating uneven mounds on your flooring. Wouldn't a better solution be to use the same method (attaching air needle) to a bottle or tube of construction grade glue?
Why drill at the seam? Wouldnt it be best do drill in the center? Im afraid drilling at the seams will loosen its locking abilty? I need to do this job, and am deciding on using the foam, or wood glue
The hole will be obvious in the middle of the plank. If you save the sawdust from drilling, you can mix it with glue and put it in the hole and it will be less visible.
IT WORKED! I did everything the same as the video except I drilled a few holes at once in case the foam needed more space to expand. I went very slow and alternated between the holes. When I was done I left Olympic weights on it overnight to make sure it wouldn't buckle. I wasn't about to tear the floor up for one soft spot. To all the people saying prep the floor beforehand, no duh. That would obviously be better but unless you have a time machine to go back before the floor was installed, this quick fix is cheap and easy.
u cell no pls need a repair at home my, 2096488820
As long as it fixes the issue. That’s the only point.
ok, but does it last? (Because the foam turn into powder when it's compressed with time, cf video about guys inflating tires)
@@ytrew9717 Unless you have some very heavy kids who find the spot and like to jump on it constantly it will last as long as the floor.
He does leave quite a bit out of the demo
Your Video on laminate floor was ABSOLUTELY GREAT on so many levels. Listen People! If replacing the floor is the option a Pro would do then why not give a $20 fix a shot and see the results. I loved the Puritans say this was a horrible job! I loved the People who loved this trick and I even loved the idea of glue instead of Great Stuff. Even the guy who wanted to come up from the bottom of the sub floor to inject the stuff ..AMAZING.. This video got people together talking and thinking. Thank you to all the people with the "should not be tried" comments, I do see your points made..they are quite valid and have experience behind them.
I am being called in to repair a floor and have the quote to replace the floor, a quote to repair the sunk in areas....And, now I have an idea to try it myself. A big THANK YOU to the Author of this video; You have provided inspiration!
If ur replacing the floor, use a leveling compound and make it flat for when you put the new one down. Thats as complicated as it has to be. But most times people wanna save a little money
This was such an awesome how to video that i don't think anyone caught the one big mistske he made. " never wear socks with sandals". Great vid
😂
I always wear socks with sandals. Ever gotten a wasp or bee sting between your toes? And then have to use a $130 Epi-pen to save your own life? Socks with sandals, a life saver.
I'm impressed, as a floor installer, I have bought the expensive kits to do fills, but I like the foam spray trick
What is the kit called? We are nervous about drilling in to the floor. We have a few low or soft spots
No matter what product/kit you use your gonna have to drill into the floor. Installers do it all the time so theres really nothing to worry about. I usually drill into a knot where the hole can be easily hidden. I normally use Dritac repair glue but its expensive compared to this foam stuff. Ima give it a try the next time I have a repair.
@@amyrose7261 drilling into the floor is really no big deal. If you drill into a seam or knot, you will never notice a little 1/16 inch hole once it’s filled. Don’t stress!
I don’t have laminate floor but I do appreciate the idea of attaching a tire inflator to the great stuff nozzle. That’s pure genius. Not long ago I needed to inject foam into a narrow opening. I racked my brain for a solution. The best I came up with was using the front of a pen. It worked but the inflator would’ve been better.
Amazing how so many so called pro installers know nothing about these type of fixes. The owner has to go on youtube to find these solutions lol. Thanks for the upload, saved me time and money from having to rip up floors.
A pro wouldn't use this technique 😂
I used this cheap trick on my laminate flooring and it completely removed the gap between my subfloor and laminate boards. Glad I watched this review before buying those expensive wood floor fix kits!
I'm pumped I found this video. Installing a new floor now and just tore it all up just for a soft spot only to try and level it, lay the floor back down and still have a soft spot. I'm not tearing it up again. Just ordered foam and needles haha.
How did it go? I’m worried about injecting too much
@@rasscal I have all the stuff but haven't tried it yet because I'm away from home for military stuff. I don't think I'd worry about injecting too much, I don't think it would cause the floor to have high spots. It probably only expands into empty areas.
And now you did this? Working good?
@@pelless be really careful when injecting it. It will raise the floor if you use too much. I'd advise only for small spots, and place like a level over the spot with weights on it on areas that are level so you have some resistance to lifting at the level of the rest of the floor.
@@theodorekr9701 good smart idea.
This laminate flooring fix really worked for me. No problems with the foam drying. It's the same as being in a cavity behind a window or door frame. :) Thanks s a lot! 5 stars!
Abbie Road- LLC how do you know how much to put ?
how do you cover the hole in the laminate?
@@tszabo86 Wood putty would take care of that easily.
May i know what is the name of the foam?
Yeah I used this method to stop our new subfloor that was squeaking in certain places. We had secured the boards and counter sunk the screws but somehow there was just enough of a space for the subfloor to give a bit and cause squeaks and creaks. Drilled a hole or 2 where needed slid the little hose in and give it a shot of window & door trim expanding foam. Being the subfloor was screwed down SECURE the foam only filled within the areas it could get into and expanded only as much as the gap available. No squeaking, no creaking and no feeling like it had any give. Also remedied the possibility of causing the new vinyl to be damaged due to that slight subfloor shift/movement.
Wife and I tried this hack and it worked like a charm! THANK YOU! Didn't even have to add weights to the floor!
What minimal expanding foam brand you used to not buckle up the floor from foam expansion?
@@Mr.Beastforpresident used the same brand as the video. When spraying the foam, I would stop and step on the area lightly to spread the foam. Hope this helps.
Can I ask if you drilled in the seam (long of short?) or in the middle of the board?
@@kelso72 middle of board.
How is it holding up?
Put down vinyl plank flooring and found a soft area. Was sceptical but tried this fix and worked perfect. Floor is solid now. Pushed down every so often to help spread out. Thanks this was a great help
Great to hear as I have the same issue. How did you repair the drilled hole? My vinyl plank does not have a bevel where the joins are.
@@mikegrguras9825 I was initially concerned with how I would fill the hole but it's so small honestly I couldn't see it after so I left them . Darker flooring so not sure if that helped. I didnt worry about drilling in the bevel I tried to find the center area of where it was low. Did about 8 different spots couldnt tell you now where they were
@@colintaylor8234 sounds good. Yea my floor is lighter and I grabbed a scrap piece to see the hole size. Mine might need some patching and see come putty kits out there. Thanks for the reply!
How is it holding up?
@@bellevillespirits-michell7030 no issues so far.
Great idea! It worked for me. Beats tearing up the floor. Thanks so much!!
I’m in the middle of a replacement floor and have found a little dip in the subfloor after installing about three feet beyond it. Will be trying this solution. Thanks for sharing your idea.
some of these comments are ridiculous and over thought (engineers) lol this is a perfect fix for a homeowner or flipper who has an already existing laminate floor they did not install themselves. No tearing out a perfectly good floor for a minor bend in the planking. Nice video.
+John Legnos Thanks, I agree with you since it worked for me.
John, I am a Quantum Molecular physicist from the future and i came back to tell Aglobal llc that his repair saved the human race. How? His repair with stand a nuclear explosion of 1000k joules....lol
I'm neutral for arguments sake: It's scary to use the word "FLIPPER" and assume high-quality,code compliant repairs or builds. BOTTOM line, would this procedure work to make a long lasting quality, trouble-free repair?
How about by an installer John?
This will create worse problems within a year.
Nice try though trying to shame an engineer. Better luck next time.
@keith cunningham I don't doubt that, but will this not introduce alot of creaking due to floor no longer floating?
Floors in all my rentals still holding up great. Had a slight slope in one bedroom recently and I remembered this easy fix! Thanks again. Very creative !
Great Video!
One piece of advice i would recommend is to drill a second hole right around the edge of the soft spot to let the air out, otherwise over time you will see that the soft spot just moved to a different spot of the floor.
And also to see when it's filled
@@TreyCarpenterThe_t3xh that as well! Thanks for bringing that up!
I seriously doubt those floors are air-tight.
Underpadding should take care of this, I would not worry about air.
Great video, my floor area was about 14 inches wide so I taped the laminate seam the entire length. Ball filler was too small for tube so razor sliced end to insert. Taped together as shown and then used glue gun to cover tape ends for secure. worked like champ. weighted seam with 2 , 5# weights on 1x2 board. Holes had little yellow beads come out, sliced off, redrilled hole and sealed with some wood putty. Thanks for the how to video.
Thanks a lot for the tutorial, I really appreciate it. The workers did a poor job with the floor leveling and it now has a lot of uneven spots which result in heavy creaking noise. This is what I needed to fix it 🎉
This is amazing, worked fantastic.
Thank you so very much saved us time and money.
Highly recommend this fix for soft spots in floors
Good DIY fix idea...not perfect, not permanent but neither is a laminate floor. Very good share.
I can't wait to try this!! I made the mistake of hiring a "flooring installer" from the internet to lay vinyl plank flooring on the entire main floor of my house for a cash deal. I quickly found out why his price was so low. This guy put NO underpad or anything over the subfloor before laying the vinyl planks. So I have SEVERAL uneven spots that are now causing some planks to crack. I'm going to try this genius trick today. One question though, how do you hide the drill holes? I am going to have quite a few and a lot of them will be in plain site. THANK YOU!!!
Same here and they never even answer the phone anymore
@@kathr3335 If possible drill the hole through a knot looking area of the plank and gill with regular wood puddy to match. you will still see it when the light hits it right bit it will be less noticeable.
My first attempts at leveling large rooms seemed to go well but it became apparent that even tiny undulations left LOTS of soft spots all over my floors.
I'm basically turning my floors into swiss cheese doing this I have so many places but it SEEMS to be working pretty well so far. Ive done about 12-15 holes and it's definitely much better.
TIP: Ive been laying large heavy slabs of old countertop over the floor where I filled to press things level and try to avoid any swelling. Which also SEEMS to work well.
Fortunately I have a "natural/worn" style engineered hardwood, so the holes aren't too noticable and I've even been able to hide the foam dots with a bit of matching wood stain.
Thanks for saving my ass man. I hope I can find enough cans of foam to fix this squishy floor of mine!
Were you on a slab or plywood subfloor? Glued down?
@@chasecomptondesign slab which was liquid leveled, but pretty sure the sika leveler either sucked, or was expired (thanks home Depot). Additionally, my hickory engineered hardwood tongue and groove planks seem overly flexible conflated to many thick lvp click locks
My son is a flooring guy and he uses 2 25 lb weights. He drills the hole and then lays the plates over and injects down thru the holes on the weights. Holds everything steady and level.
@@fightzoid can you explain more?
THIS IS THE MOST BRILLIANT IDEA I SAW ON TH-cam THANKS,,,,,,,,,,,I CAN FIX MY FLOOR NOW........
I had to try this, and it worked okay. I did not want to remove whole floor and redone it. Thanks for the tip.
I just wanted to say thanks and this worked like a charm. The only downside I got which was minor, is a little bit of the Great Stuff goes a very long ways so be careful. I had a few soft planks and it sure does beat ripping up the floor.
So this Great Stuff is not good for the long term?
You're incredible for this quick fix sir! Literally, whatever you believe in, God bless you for this! A time saver indeed!!!!
Just want to thank you for this video. It worked perfectly, couldn't ask for a better result. It was so cool to hear the floor "pop" as it lifted.
Just curious if after some time you still like the fix? Or has the spongeyness come back? Really want to try this but am skeptical
@@jamieschellenberg782 did you try it?
@@Cassatoa no. I've just left the spots spongy. I've noticed lots of my buddies places have the same shit spots so didn't feel as bad hahahahaha
@@jamieschellenberg782 Lol that’s funny ..
This works ridiculously well, if you are ever in Edmonton I owe you a beer. Like others said, this video is for people who made the error of laying floor on an uneven surface, not for those smart enough to level it correctly beforehand
When I was buying new floors my first choice was vinyl but everybody said that it requires perfectly even surface. Since I had old tiles and parquet they advised me to go with laminate because, with a the 3 or 5mm underlay, it can withstand some imperfections. Now I now it's not the case.
I bought 10mm 33 class laminate and now I regret not buying 15mm one. I installed 85m2 of it and the price difference was significant but still.....
I have some part that are moving when walking over and one piece that is cracking.
I suppose that the one that cracks was not installed correctly and the V groove does not match.
I was wandering if I could drill from under the pavement and then do something similar and then I came across this video.
Even if I would prefer not to drill on new laminat the procedure is inevitable.
Will it work? And will the hole do problems in future after few years of washing?
A fellow Albertan! And I just dumped 6 buckets of leveller on my floor and there’s STILL some low spots. So I’m saying f it and just putting laminate on top anyway because seriously I just hate floors so much at this point. Over it….
Great idea. Remember a little goes very far as it's only filling about 1/8" max. I do this exact repairs for spongy tub floors also. It works great. On the tubs, I use epoxy patch for the hole/s, then spray the floor with epoxy paint. 👍
Thank you so much for the idea.
I had the idea to use liquid nails and small drill bit but had no idea how to get the liquid nails through such a small hole. Plus it would be flexible afterwards. This is a much better solution. Hope it holds up over time!
I tried it but the foam kept coming through the hole at the opposite end what did I do wrong?
I'm glad I found this video. I'm going to fix my floors this weekend and was ready to drill a hole big enough to fit the tube on the can down in it. Now I know to use a needle!
I already had the idea to do this, thank you for giving the “how to do this”.
I have vinyl flooring and uneven hallway. It was so bad that I was close to taken all out and replace it. Would have been very Messi. You safes me time and my marriage. That’s an amazing trick. I am at my second bottle and it works fantastic. Thank you very very much!
Glad to hear your marriage is doing better.
I guess one precaution would be - DO NOT USE THE HEAVY EXPANDING FOAM !!!!!! BE SURE IT IS "MINIMAL EXPANDING" or you will be very very sorry ...... Just thought I'd throw that out there even though you said it in the video .... This warning is crucial to NOT creating a disaster
He already said that in the video.... no need to repeat it
Good tip! I kind of wondered about that too. I thought of the same trick before watching this. But I was worried it might expand too much and push the flooring up.
@@Davidbruun ok. Understood
@@Davidbruun Agreed. I actually missed that detail!
Thanks for that tip, i missed it on the video!
tire inflator tip and tape on the floor was the solution ..... I had thought of foam but was not wanting to drill a big hole .... tire inflator solves that ..... good video , great idea , thanks
correction "football" inflator tip , NOT "tire" inflator (my bad) .... anyway , good idea , I used it the other day and it worked ..... I know one thing , that foam did go everywhere !!!!!! I didn't wear gloves ..... Next time i will !!!!!!!! That crap is like roof tar , no matter how careful you are , IT GETS ON YOUR HANDS !!!!!!!
I did this repair on a few spots on my engineered wood (snap together and glued down) flooring. It worked well (so far). No more popping noise that annoyed me. The foam did not spread-out as much as I thought it would. You might have to apply this treatment in a few different places to remove the whole soft-spot. Do wear gloves as the foam stuff will not come off of your hands! Some excess spilled on the floor but cleaned up nicely with mineral spirits (paint thinner).
Itll scratch off with your finger nail after the foam dries. Please dont put random chemicals on your flooring guys.
Thank you for sharing the idea to fix soft spot popping fix on a uneven floor
This is genius. Ive been doing tile for years and have seen alot of tricks but this is something else...very smart and awesome trick I will hang on too on future lvt jobs. You can't make every floor flat, some are beyond screwed up....
What type of hose are you using on the Great stuff?
Thanks mate ......
I forgot to cut the end off the valve...lol .
It got l messy , but fixed my squeaky floor.
I actually did this before but used a 3/8s drill bit which is the same size as the tube and I plugged it afterwards with a piece of wood and colored the plug with a stain pen
I’ve had a poorly fitted spot on my floor that has made a loud crack every time I step on it and has done my head in for years. Not any more, thanks and well done for the brilliant idea👍
So you did this procedure and it worked?
I too have a same spot that cracks when I walk over it. I think that in that spot the laminat was not inserted correctly. (the V groove part that connects one pice to another)
On some other spots around the edges with the wallsbI have the problem shown in this video, it's moving when I walk over.
Not sure if I want to drill in my new floor tough, I will try from the edge since the laminate is 1cm from the walls.
Used this trick today worked great !
Wow I was afraid to attempt this in a new plank floor I did and then I discovered a small soft spot and boy I’m i glad I seen this video, thanks it worked for me......
Update: the very next day, I realized that I put too much foam in my soft spot and now I have a raise spot not crazy high but when you walk on it you can feel it, f#%k I can’t win, my suggestion is to put small amount of foam, I did use the window and door foam but I just put to much, thanks
What an excellent idea!
great idea but be careful. use the low expanding foam or the floor will start bowing up and youll have big issues..trust me i know
Ok so I had a low spot under a hardwood floor I laid. Rather than drill a hole through the surface I went under the crawl space and drilled up through the subfloor. I drilled several holes close to the same size as the great stuff tube and sprayed about half a can. I then set a heavy five gallon bucket on top to make sure the floor didn’t heave. The hardwood was an engineered floor installed floating. Glued edges. It worked great. The floor still has flexibility as far as expansion.
You sir, are greatly appreciated.... awesome for sharing 👏
Gave this a go today worked a treat , thanks for a great video 👍👍
Thanks for the ball inflator idea. I was trying to think of of how I might do this without making a hole large enough for the straw.
Great idea . I used it to fill area from tile to bare concrete along line and used several holes along it , about 15 feet . pressurized it along line starting at one end . great fix . wife wont even know HAHA. Can i used though - didn't have wide hose , but with some rigging made it happen THanks dude good idea.
allways gonna have a soft spots on a laminate ,fix one for some time is gonna show another somewhere in the room it normal for floating floor is not glued on
I haven't tried this yet but I'm about to. Early thanks.
Great info. However, I had difficulty with the inflator needle, couldn't get a good seal. Ended up drilling 1/4 inch hole for the foam directly. That worked better for me. Everything else the same.
Thanks for the tips, would never have thought of this trick. Any videos of the finished product?
Thanks for this. Do you think it would probably be okay to inject the foam into the ends of the boards were 2 meet, rather than in the middle of a long side? That seems to be the center point of my two soft spots.
just right now i am installing laminate over a concrete slab that is uneven near the door of the bathroom, and i have a rebel soft spot, that i already tried to level, i used mortar to level before installation and quickset after the first time i took it off, but man it is still there haunting me i cannot level it flat because i would be over the level of the hallway ( i am installing the laminate without transitions) .ill try this method instead owe you a beer.
great... now how do you cover up the big hole u just drilled into the floor ?
Genius idea! I will try this!
Would this work for LVP (lifeproof) that has the rubber backing?
Possibly. I’ll let you know because I have the same type of flooring in one part of my house and have some soft spots I’d like to fix. I’m going to try it. Worst case I need to pull a plank and replace it, no big deal. I do suggest that you find out the type/color of flooring you have and buy yourself a carton of it. These types of floors are really easy to repair by replacing planks. It’s handy to have some around!
@@johnd9357 just curious if you tried this on your LVP yet. I have a new construction on slab. Just had the flooring put down and have 2 spots that are driving me insane. Plan to try this out.
Did you guys try it on the lvp? I need to do this myself
Great quick fix, cool.
Where did you buy the needle that fits perfectly into the foam hose? Thanks
Thanks for the vid, Is the tube big enough to wrap around the ball inflator? I found it pretty hard, or I purchased the wrong type of spray foam
I love that "Oh, $h1t!" at the very end.
Oh my, The camera doesn't miss a thing. It has really worked on my floors though.
What was the reason for your "oh, sh1t!" ?
My immediate thought was, maybe the first patch was over expanding?
No seriously, it didn't overexpand the laminate. My issue was drippage from the tip. The foam stuck to the cardboard I had used when I set the can down between two different holes. If you've ever used foam before you know its messy and have to be careful since it sticks to everything. Make sure you use window and door foam.
Yeah I have that problem sometimes as well. Drip from the tip. Lol. Great idea and the best part really was the oh shit.
Worked for me too. thanks!
Will this method work with the locking vinyl planks?
As long as the expansion foam is between either; the flooring and underlay or, the underlay and substrate, it’s pretty much still a floating floor isn’t it?
I have laminate flooring and there are a few planks that dip and creak around the seam of the joints. Will using fast setting wood glue work? Or am I to use minimal foaming glue? I cannot rip apart the wood to fix it for expansion.
Have you tried it yet? Did you end up using adhesive / glue or expansion foam? Thx
Damn that's crazy as hell. I haven't seen a corded drill since 1989.
Great minds think alike had thought if this would work you proved it will thanks!!
Smart thinking. Good teaching, good experience = bulbs head!
Would have been fun to see if it was the expanding foam. Huge bubble would have formed and started bursting out the boards
I placed linate on an uneven floor
...So now at some places the joints have lifted a bit...i thought about doing this thing qoth the foam so as to support the piece underneath it.Will the foam dry? Cause ubderneath it has the membrane ..?
CAUTION: there are more details to consider: how big the 'dip' is, what flooring/vapor barrier/subfloor you have, and how long you spray under the flooring. I have laminate flooring, with a vapor barrier that was installed less than a year ago on top of a concrete slab. I had one spot where I put too much - and now I have a bump. One spot where I put too little. I did 6 spots originally, which are better than they were before. But, I will now do it in 6 more spots near where I did the original holes to try to make them even better - because I didnt get it just right the first time. The length of time I sprayed in the holes before was random. After the fact, I think 20-30secs would have been enough for me. In the holes that I will do to finish up, I am going to just do about 10-15secs. I believe this method is 5x cheaper than the glue/epoxy method. I also recommend super glue or another way to fasten the needle to the plastic straw to keep it secure. Mine came loose on the first hole, thankfully I put enough tape down and had paper towels ready to go to help limit the problem. I was able to hold it in place for the other 5 holes - which was more stressful. Thank you posting this video and demonstrating this solution.
I seen in other videos they were putting a heavy bucket on top after injection to prevent a hump from forming.
or a small piece of plywood with some cinderblocks to keep it level and not bubble.
Soft spot becomes a hill spot for a picnic!!😂😂
Nice trick! Is it possible to spray to much leaving a hump in the floor?
knock knock ...who's there ....Genius!
Listen people they do sell an epoxy floor repair to inject under soft spots. It's a 2 part epoxy, tape and drill a hole, squirt in, dries in under 3 minutes, fill hole with color putty. Very easy. Designed for floors. Will never crush or create humps. Do not do this Hack trick. If you have to do it, do it right.
Edit correction and update:
But I do not recommend this for a laminate. Epoxy is best known for engineered wood..
My answer to fix this is in one the replies on this page.
What's the name please? And do you inject it in several areas... the soft spot is about 1 ft by 2 ft.
thx
Bostik Flooring Epoxy Repair Kit th-cam.com/video/mY6bQSDqNGM/w-d-xo.html
I have a soft spot on my engineered wood flooring I may try this on Would you inject the foam between the flooring and the underlay or try to drill through the underlay and inject the foam between the sub-floor and underlay?
Kevin Russell either way it's worth a try since if your laminate flooring is bad it will have to be replaced. I'd say if you measure the depth of injection try to get it under the uderlayment it may feel even under your feet. Either way it should fill the gap and should give you positive results. Please share your results.
I finally got around to doing this. I was a little reluctant as it is a new floor and quite a large soft spot. The flooring guy really fu*$#$ up and would not fix it. I seemed to worked pretty good. I am not 100% happy yet with the results but it is far better than it was. I am about 90% happy lol. I have a couple other spots I will fix this way as well.
Thanks for the tip, it saved me a lot of grief!!!
@@kevinrussell3868 how has it held up? Have a similar issue to you on a new engineer wood floor
Won’t apply too much the foam will expand and will have a raise?
As mentioned below do not use much you we’ll be screwed. Much safer to use a caulking with a turkey injector and then put a wait on it. Foam is harder to control.
Will be trying this next week. Looks like a great technique.
How did it hold up? Planning to do the same. Appreciate the video!
So far so good, Just make sure you use window and door foam.
@@AGlobalLLC great, thanks for replying !
I have vinyl flooring. There is a soft spot, and about 8 inches of the edge bows on one plank when stepped on. Do you think that would fix it?
Any concerns with this solution causing a problem since the floors are supposed to "float" on the subfloor, with normal expansion of the wood?
Would it get the crack out the laminated floor due to walking on the pocket for a year ?
Clever thinking my friend!
Oh! From across the pond.
I knew you were a pro when you broke out the electrical tape. 😅😅
What should I plug up the hole with?
⚠ Be very (very!!) careful!!! **YOU NEED TO SECURE THE PIPE USING AN HOSE CLAMP** I just tried it without it, it was a disaster: the plastic pipe (the extremity that is near the can) was pushed out with the pressure, the foam literally exploded everywhere in a nice POP! (Piece of foam everywhere from the wall to the bed, even on the hair of my girlfriend ― who somehow did not find it really funny), later the foam did came out through the thread of the push button.
My advice:
● use 2 hose clamp at each extremity of the plastic tube (later the foam melted the tape I put on it to maintain the metal things for balloon). Tape isn't enough.
● press gently the button (don't build too much pressure). if you don't hear the foam coming out, stop pressing (and raise up the pipe a bit, if it touch the floor, the foam can't get out)!
● protect you eyes, hairs and the things around in case of explosion.
● I guess it exploded because the pipe was touching the floor (which is obvious) it should be a little higher.
LmAO! And good advice
forgot to say that it cost me a fortune (4 bottles) and it did not do anything else than this funny explosion.
Would this work between two end joints on laminate as one end goes down when stepped on and the other raises slightly. Must be due to a slight dip so I'm thinking the foam would level it out. Would only need it raising a tiny bit.
It's possible and probably wouldn't require no more than 10 seconds of window and door foam injected.
That is my exact problem and I'm going to try this tip I hope it won't lift the floor where injected and create a hump where it can crack somewhere else.
Good job! My floors aren't bouncy bur where there is heavy traffic, the laminate panels move when you walk on it. Do you think this will fix it?
How do you know when you've put enough....my experience with foam like that is that it keeps expanding for a while. How do you prevent it from creating a high point?
Add a little minimal expanding foam at a time. You can add some weight on top of the floor evenly for a couple hours as a precaution. Make sure you use minimum expanding foam.
@@AGlobalLLC how far out wide would this spread?
When you minimum expanding you mean the one for windows and doors correct?
@@prol220 rewatch the video. At the beginning you can clearly read the label on the can.
Will this fix work on a floating floor? Won’t it keep it from truly floating or will the spray foam move with it over time/not be too much of an adhesive?
Great tips, could you please add a link for the needle and and the foam that you used
That's the needle to pump basketball
what glue or product should i use to stick them back down when they are coming detached ?
How about cutting the tip off in the trash can so I don't step on it . Great video.
How long did you squeeze the trigger on the foam can for? It sounded like you did for a second or two and then left it for the remaining time the tip was inserted in the floor.
Excellent idea.Ty for sharing.
it's like in the matrix. computer, i need to know how to fix a bouncy laminate flooring. done, courtesy of youtube and aglobal. great video, respek.
@@dropndeal what is the answer without pulling the floor? Anything better than this? I have 1500 sq feet of laminate without any transitions with 2 super spongy spots from where the planks meet. It drives me nuts.
dropndeal - not the answer huh? Where’s your video? Not even an explanation! Lol. Just shut up please.
I don't know, but this approach seems like your basically creating uneven flooring by (foaming in) the soft spots. You may have addressed the "soft spot" by creating uneven mounds on your flooring. Wouldn't a better solution be to use the same method (attaching air needle) to a bottle or tube of construction grade glue?
Why drill at the seam? Wouldnt it be best do drill in the center? Im afraid drilling at the seams will loosen its locking abilty?
I need to do this job, and am deciding on using the foam, or wood glue
The hole will be obvious in the middle of the plank. If you save the sawdust from drilling, you can mix it with glue and put it in the hole and it will be less visible.