Menu
Login
Within a few months, it started to bubble in certain spots as though it was exposed to water. While there had been spots where water came in contact with the floor; drops, water from the dogs' water bowl, those are not the affected areas. We wipe up anything we see on the floor.
Up until April there was only one dog in the house but there had been the beginnings of bubbling in two areas. Since then there are two more dogs, both Shih Tzus, very small animals. One, the male, will occasionally pee on a chair leg, table leg or the trash can. We clean them up as soon as we see them. It's never much since the dog is so small and it never sits more than an hour. But the areas where he has peed are not the areas that are being affected. Even the flooring by the sliding glass door leading outside to the deck, where the dogs drag in snow, hasn't bubbled. There is nothing by the sink, dishwasher or refrigerator. The spots are mostly in the center of the room. Initially Shaw claimed the damage was consistent with a leak in our dishwasher, sink or ice dispenser. Neither the dishwasher nor the ice dispenser were even installed till the problem had already been reported to Chester County Flooring. Shaw came out and tested for humidity and claimed that that levels were 16% and too high therefore they rejected our claim. They also claimed that the basement was damp however the laminate was laid over an existing linoleum floor which never allowed moisture up through he floor before. Even Chester County Flooring acknowleges that's an impenetrable vapor barrier. We went back to Chester County Flooring and they came out and rechecked the humidity levels and said that it varied between 8% and 16%. The bubbles are occurring in the area where the level is 8%. After their check they talked with Shaw again, Chester County Flooring said they tested their floor which is identical to our floor by pouring water on it and letting it sit for two days. We didn't see this for ourselves but they say it didn't bubble at all and then asked Shaw if dog urine could affect the floor, ignoring the fact that the problem was there before there were three dogs in the house. Plus, it is all based on Shaw saying that yes urine could damage the floor. Of course they are going to say that. I know a woman who has cats and they pee on the floor and it does nothing to the floor and she has a lower grade floor than we do. Regardless, that doesn't account for the damage all over the room.
As a result, we were offered a box of flooring to replace the parts of the floor that buckled but we have to do the work ourselves! It seems to me that either they are fully respionsible or they aren't responsible at all. If they are willing to give us new material there must be some tacit admission that the material was faulty. We don't have a urine problem. The problem existed before we got the dog and the pattern of damage does not match the couple of spots where he did urinate. The saleswoman at Chester County Flooring told my wife that something had to make the floor do that. Of course but they are saying that we have to prove we didn't do anything to void the warrenty. This is nonsense! The floor cost over $2500 and I'm supposed to install it?
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
We have had the EXACT same problems with bubbling, cracking, coming up, separating, and extremely hard to clean and keep clean. They always look like they are greasy or something. I found this CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT ON THE INTERNET. I THINK WE SHOULD ALL FILE A COMPLAINT AND SEE IF WE CAN GET REIMBURSED, http://topclassactions.com/
Have had severe health issues from Shaw flooring...please let me know if anyone else has experienced this.
I had Shaw Patriot laminate flooring installed four years ago. Within 6 weeks, the planks were curling at the edges and some had warped. There was an especially bad place that was under a chair. Called Nebraska Furniture Mart, where I purchased it. They sent out an inspector. What a JOKE. He looked around and then went to his truck to retrieve a black light. He shined it on the floor and then said the problem was pet urine. I found this strange since I have large dogs and the worst problem was under a chair. I couldn't figure out how a 70 lb. dog got under the chair to pee. There was also curling at the edges of the planks. He said I must have let water stand there. These damaged planks were all over the house, not in a small area. I knew I was getting the run around so I called NFM and Shaw. There were of no help at all. I purchased this flooring because of the "great" 30 year warranty. A warranty is only as good as the company who backs it and Shaw does not honor their warranty at all. Buyer Beware...
We had Shaw Laminate flooring installed in all of our main floor rooms. Entry, kitchen, dining room, living room, laundry room, hall and bathroom. We immediately noticed strips of a waxy substance along most of the boards. We contacted the dealer, they contacted Shaw and Shaw sent out a floor cleaner and when that didn't work they sent an independent floor "expert" to look at our problem. After about an hour of scrubbing on the substance the floor "expert" could not get the substance off the flooring. The "expert" thought it was a manufacturing problem. In the meantime, dealing with the substance, the dealer and Shaw, I noticed that water marks on the flooring would not mop up. I would mop the floor with the cleaner Shaw provided and while wet the floors looked great but as soon as the floors dried all the water spots, foot prints and dog prints would be back, looking like the floors were never cleaned. We do have a large dog, who has a beard, and as you might suspect, a dog with a beard leaves water on the floor after drinking. We have a floor mop nearby and always wipe the floor as soon as we see he has taken a drink. After reading some of the other complaints I notice many people are experiencing bubbling and gaps...I haven't noticed this but it is early as the floors were just installed about 4 months ago. Our dealer, who has worked with us as best he could got a response from Shaw that offered us $400. We spent $5, 149.76 for this flooring and $400 seems a bit benign. We told the dealer to go back to Shaw as that amount was not acceptable. They came back with a $600 offer. Now I am unsure of what to do. They will replace the floors which means 5 days of work and where do these retired old folks with a big dog go while the work is being done? And, even if they replace the floors, will I still have the same problem with spots? My floors look like the entrance to a busy shopping mall. Now what?
2 Sept 2015
We have just experienced the same issues Shaw and their distributer "Floors Direct" Melboune, Florida. Same scenerio as others on this complaint blog bord. Our laminate is 1 yr old and installed in 3 bedrooms, living room and 3 closets. SHAW is an ignorant distributer of inferior grade products and deliberate misinformation. Goog idea to steer clear of Shaw products! We are also very disappointed in Floors Direct for not recognizing the documented history of this inferior product and favorably responding to our complaints. Floors Direct merely requested that Shaw provide an inspection of the Shaw laminate by Shaw's chosen inpection company. The results were laughable and mirror every other Shaw inspection that we have read on several other complaint boards on the internet.
If anyone wishes copies of all our communications with Floors Direct regading this issue please let me know.
Bottom line is stay clear of companies who knowingly do not support customers valididated complaints.
We just built a new house (2, 625 sf) three months ago and had the Shaw laminate installed everywhere except the laundry room and both bathrooms. Immediately I started seeing the edges of the planks curling up or warping. There are also corners and sides that have noticeably swelled up. My home is set up that as soon as you walk thru the front door you have direct view to the back patio. And with the smooth surface of the laminate it's obvious that the flooring has "issues". I am so unhappy about this floor! I'm not familiar with laminate at all so when we had to make our final selections for the new house we chose this laminate because it blended with the tile we had in the other rooms. No opportunity to research because we had to make a decision that day. When the builder was prepping the house for our final walkthrough the cleaning team had a bucket of water and a regular mop and was "cleaning" it like it was a tile floor. I had heard that water could not be used on laminate but thought they knew what they were doing. I have 3 Yorkies and yes they occasionally have an accident ... especially the 15-yr old one. We try to clean up any spills or accidents as soon as they occur but I honestly don't inspect the whole house on an hourly basis to see if there are any "accidents". I see a spill and freak out because I know there's a high probably that this will cause warping to some degree and that it needs to be cleaned up immediately. This is crazy! I never thought that a FLOOR would require special handling. It's certainly not suitable for everyday living. The builder is having a floor guy come out for an inspection but I'm not very optimistic on the report. The builder rep told me that it may take a 1 - 1 1/2 YEARS for it to be normal. WHAT? I had a local floor installer come over for a quote to totally re-do our floors. When he walked in and w/o even introducing himself said he was "horrified" at the condition of the flooring. Now I have problems trusting anyone so not sure if he is giving me the runaround and just wants to sell me a new floor. His is a family owned business so I would hope that they want to do the right thing for their customers. I'll be retiring at the end of the year and we just don't have an extra $12-15K for new floors after getting into our new house. I'm sick that I may need to continue working for a few more months just to pay for a new floor. I would be interested in participating in a class action suit if I get the same answer next week that everyone else is getting. So disappointing ...
We are experiencing the same issue. I do not "mop" my floors, I use a slightly damp cloth and spot clean my floors. Our dogs are dried when they come into the house, and they do not enter on the wood flooring - they come into a linoleum floored room for drying. My entire house was done in Shaw/Swiftlock, and I have rising/curling edges EVERYWHERE IN THE HOUSE. Does anyone know if there's another class action suit for this? I saw one on a legal site, but it's since closed. I'm fed up, I can't imagine needing to do my whole house over.
I have the same problem. We have no children, just grandchildren that visit sometimes. No pets. And the same thing. If any water is left on the floor at all it has bubbled. I bought a laminate over wood for some rooms in my house as it is suppose to be more durable. Salesman saying how she has dogs and it holds up to the abuse of her large dogs. What crap. I wish I would have put wood in. At least if it gets a scratch you can buff it out. This I can't do anything with except replace. But why. It will just happen to that flooring to. When I wash it, I instantly take a towel and dry behind the mopping as I am afraid to let any water touch the floor. I have never seen such crap and have a large home and put this in two huge rooms. I will have to tear out and just put in new flooring. I have other brands in other rooms and they are beautiful and clean up perfectly. There should be some sort of lawsuit against this company.
We are having the exact same problem. They are blaming my dogs even though the areas aren't in their traffic path. They did replace the floor once, and the spots are now in different locations. The finish is literally rubbing off. They have sent an army of independent inspectors out all of which said this wasn't right... but according to Shaw and Standard Pacific, this is now a problem of having pets. I believe this floor is just nice to look at, not to live with. Terrible customer service and terrible product.
Wow - I so wish I read all these reviews before I purchased my home and paid extra for Shaw laminate to be installed! I only hope others will read these reviews! Their inspectors lie and blame everything they can to avoid having to pay out on warranty. I have a brand new home, 6 months old, and they are blaming it on the fact that I have 2 dogs which caused the "moisture issue." This is total BS! My previous home had laminate also, had pets and no problems ever with that laminate for years. So much for paying extra for laminate, it is junk! If they can't stand up for their own newly installed product, it obviously has real issues. Beware and don't make the same mistake.
I think many of the issues discussed herein about Shaw defective laminate flooring really reflect defective installation and/or selection for the application. I know this probably is not help to those who already had Shaw laminate installed, but may help those who are considering it. You have to be really careful about the dealership/installation company you choose. For example, I used a flooring installer named Bryan McGlasson in Denver who advertises “30 years of experience” with Floor Covering Direct, Inc., Floors Free Inc., and Direct Flooring & Design Inc. of Castle Rock/ Highlands Ranch. I contracted for him to install laminate flooring in the ground floor of my townhouse in Littleton. Bryan McGlasson inspected and measured the location. I chose a style of flooring which Bryan McGlasson represented was suitable for this location, and (at the suggestion of Bryan McGlasson) paid extra for a thicker membrane of underlayment. I paid for such goods and services in full and, when Bryan McGlasson performed the installation, he failed to properly acclimate the flooring product after delivery and before installation. I notified Bryan McGlasson that floor was beginning to warp at the seams. A few months after being installed, Bryan McGlasson had the manufacturer (Shaw Flooring) send a representative who inspected the defective flooring, and declared it to be a total loss due to severe warping to the point at which it was not usable because Bryan McGlasson failed to properly acclimate the product after delivery and before installation. A second credentialed flooring expert also perform testing on-site and determined that the flooring had warped to the point at which it was not usable because Bryan McGlasson failed to properly acclimate the product after delivery and before installation. The salesman/installer did not disclose to me at the time that they had lost their Shaw dealership rights due to non-payment and would not stand behind their labor or materials warranty. So make sure the product is suitable for your applications, and that your sales company is in good standing with Shaw for warranty purposes.
is a personal vendetta? a piece which claims that Mr. Bryan McGlasson sued Zodrow for online reviews which reported that a noncontest judgment on behalf of his former carpeting, flooring and tile company, Direct Flooring and Design, Inc. for poor workmanship and failure to stand behind his work and warranty after a he personally defectively installed laminate flooring in Zodrow’s condominium in 2011 . The posting also contends that the subject of Floors Free workmanship and warranties are a matter of general interest and readers of the posting should know the history and business practice of Bryan McGlasson and Floors Free, Inc.
There are many inaccuracies in his post, first of all direct floor and design inc went insolvent due to the state of the economy as it hurt many of us Americans during that time !
In which we rebuilt ourselves as many of us had to, take a look at all our satisfied customer reviews online as our reputation speaks for itself, this is the only person that has reported a negative comment against Floors free inc and never was a customer of Floors free inc
First, the readers of Zodrow’s posting, if any, should know Zodrow’s history and practices as an attorney. Zodrow is a disbarred lawyer in several states. Zodrow was disbarred by Supreme of Colorado, the Maryland Court of Appeals and California Supreme Court in 2014 for a making misrepresentations to the Colorado Supreme Court, and knowingly filing false statements in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado. Moreover, Zodrow was convicted of a felony for doing so. It is a very unlikely that Zodrow ever be readmitted to practice law in any state, because his conviction for a felony for knowingly and intentionally filing false statements in the Federal Bankruptcy Court Colorado The Maryland Court of Appeals (highest court in the State of Maryland) also disbarred Zodrow for his conduct which the Court of Appeals stated was infected with fraud, deceit and dishonesty. Accordingly, Mr. Zodrow’s truthfulness and credibility is highly questionable with respect to the statements he made in his posting, as shown below.
Significantly and consistent with his conduct resulting in his disbarment as an attorney, Zodrow misstated the facts in his posting. Thus, Zodrow was never a customer of Floors Free, Inc., and consequently, has no personal knowledge of Floors Free’s workmanship and warranties, or indeed, Floors Free’s business practices. Therefore, Zodrow has no legitimate basis for claiming that Floors Free does not stand behind its workmanship and warranties. In fact, Floors Free has received many, many positive reviews of its workmanship from customers. The readers of Zodrow’s posting, if any, should also know that Zodrow’s posting is the only negative review Floors Free has ever received. Moreover, the court ruled in the lawsuit to which Zodrow refers in his posting that the lawsuit was not a matter of public concern despite Zodrow’s contention that the lawsuit subject is a matter of general concern.
Finally, Zodrow fails to state in his posting that he attempted to sue McGlasson personally in connection with his dispute with Direct Flooring and Design in 2012. The courts in Douglas County, Colorado and in Jefferson County, Colorado ruled that Zodrow could not do so. Furthermore, Mr. McGlasson was never the owner of a number of other defunct flooring companies as Zodrow claims in his posting.
Floors Free, Inc. has a sterling reputation in the flooring industry in Colorado, and has had many satisfied customers as evidenced by the positive reviews and customer feedback Floors Free has received. As noted above, Zodrow’s posting is the only negative review Floors Free has ever received, which in Floors Free’s opinion, is based on Zodrow’s vindictiveness towards Mr. McGlasson.
Had home built 2years ago and builder gave me the option for the Shaw flooring as the upgrade to their usual laminate flooring . I would hate to see their usual stuff, it must just be sheets of cardboard. I filed a warranty claim which was of course denied. My flooring is curling up, "cupping" is the word the inspector used, and peeling off around the edges of the boards. He also says that it is only located outside a bathroom ( not true) so I guess that makes it my problem. Can anyone say "class action lawsuit"?
Columbia laminate is the same - total crap. They actually know it's crap because they have disclaimers all over the place in bold with exclamation marks that basically says, don't do anything but wipe with a dry cloth and don't DARE put any moisture on it! This product is not functional for home use so why do they make it?
Mannington warranty is written to protect them from their customers. Our floor started to de-laminate after a year of use. We have taken good care of the floor. There warranty only covers manufacturing defect and has nothing to do with being used.
We've had the same problem with shaw flooring. First floor peeled and they said it was the installers. After looking into it it was a manufacture defect in shaw flooring. Go figure! New flooring is popping and cracking and the ends are sinking when stepping on the floor. MY brother has had the same issues with shaw. They should be sued! We layed our own floor in our last home ( not shaw ) had all kinds of diff. Temps with the year and nothing went wrong with that flooring. One of the hottest summers in mi with tons of humidity and the floor was fine. Bs on shaws part and they know it too! That's the sad part.
I've been installing for over 15 years and Shaw makes the crappiest laminate I have ever seen. Their new locking system Versalock is the worst design there is. It is next to impossible to install and looks like crap. You can see all the seams. The planks do not fit together tight enough which makes it less resistant to water
This flooring is bad and needs to he recalled
I too have been rejected by Shaw flooring to correct the problem of cupping and tenting (where the ends of the planks meet ). My floor was purchased and installed by a local flooring dealer. Shaw sent out an inspector that stated in his report back to Shaw that it "appeared" we had water gushing through our front door. We live in the Mojave desert. Being as we only spent $3000. plus dollars, it would go to small claims court, where even if the case is won the defendant cannot be forced to make payment.
The problem started one year after install, all parties involved in this issue have declined to provide any help. When the flooring is walked on it makes a snapping sound that is driving me crazy. Yes, I would gladly be part of a class action lawsuit. "ANGRY"
Shaw has not gotten better with age. Our grandchildren just left and my wife is crying as she cleans our laminate floors. If anyone walks on the floor it has to be cleaned. It does not matter if they are barefoot, wearing shoes or just socks. We called Shaw and they said she was probably cleaning it too much. We insisted and they finally sent out an "independent" adjuster to look at the floors. He determined that nothing is wrong with the floor. As an investor I have probably put Shaw flooring in over 50 homes, mostly carpet. I have always used the carpet store in St Pete, Florida. The customer service is antagonistic. I would absolutely advise to never use Shaw. Everyone makes mistakes. The good companies respond appropriately. The posts on here show that Shaw does not.
Shaw is a low quality laminate product which reflects in how it performs installed. LoJeMc is cracking me up with the [It's not like I bought cheap stuff at Home Depot and had my brother install it. I did it the right way. Except reading this...!] comment. Shaw is sold my most independent retailers as well as Home Depot and Lowes. It does'nt matter where you buy it. At the end of the day, when you purchase crap product for the price point, you get what you pay for. I'm sure if you analyse the mental process used in each of these purchases, no one said let's get shaw because it is the superior product, it involved price for perceived quality. Smh. Also, despite linoleum acting as a vapor barrier, moisture still travels via cracks between the baseboard and the material, and assuming you all installed the product with the correct expansion gaps around all sides, it is 100% possible for moisture to have penetrated between floor covering layers and damage pockets of your floor. Also, Shaw recommends [•Maintain a normal indoor relative humidity level between 35% and 65% throughout the year to minimize the natural expansion and contraction of the wood.] for their laminate products, so where did this 16% number come from? Sounds like there are some inaccuracies in this tale.
I usually do research before making major purchases, but since our highly recommended installer sent us to his flooring store - Prosource, I bypassed this step. I trusted the products they sell would be decent and worth the money. Wrong. This Shaw is crap. Blistering and bubbling within 6 months - no where near a water source. And this spot was under a rug! Eventually more of these bubbles showed up in the powder room and hallway. The sales rep knew exactly where I was installing these floors - foyer, hallway, kitchen, powder room. Shaw sent an "independent inspector" but the conclusion was the same as I read in a few other of these prior comments. "The bubbles on the floor were caused from sight related topographical moisture and are not a result of a manufacturing error." Sure, in the powder room (tiny bathroom with only a sink and toilet) drop of water are going to get on the floor. But no water was in the hallway - the first place it showed up. And another place in the hallway, my dog vomited and I wiped it up within 5 minutes...bubbles. So, even if Shaw concludes this, it's bull. They should make it known it's sensitive to moisture. And, the sales rep at Prosource, who knew exactly where I was having it installed, should have said something. Maybe she didn't know. I'm furious. And I'm done exhausting my options until there are no more options. It's not like I bought cheap stuff at Home Depot and had my brother install it. I did it the right way. Except reading this...!
Thanks folks my wife wanted this in the kitchen, sun room and laundry after going to Menards, Not going to happen after reading these, Sorry for your trouble, Thanks for saving me the B.S.
We have all the same complaints. We have per go in our kitchen and our dishwasher overflowed, it heaved up, but we put weights on it and it eventually went back to normal. That floor withstood wet kids running in from the pool for years. When we put our living room and dining room, we put down Shaw, it can't withstand a drop of anything. The representative told us its because we have too much moisture. The kitchen is on the same level and that floor is18years old and looks better than the 3 year old Shaw. We also have Per go in the bedrooms and our pets have thrown up during the night or had accidents and these floors do not have a mark. I clean these floors with vinegar water and they look beautiful. I don't care what I use on the Shaw it never looks good. It shows every footprint and streak. I absolutely HATE it. Our dealer told us now that we will have to sue him and he would have to go after Shaw. What a PAIN!
We purchased shaw laminate. Any time you walk on it, it has to be cleaned. Even if you walk in your socks, it leaves footprints. So, basically shaw has made a laminate that you cannot walk on. Their adjuster blamed the cleaner. We used bono as recommended by shaw. This will be a twenty thousand dollar fix, if we don't just sell our house.
Thanks for all who posted their issues with Shaw. Eight years ago we purchased about 1200 sq' of Shaw hardwood "click loc" floor and had no problem installing it ourselves. The pieces fit together nicely. So we were about to purchase 400 sq' for our new addition and were undecided about between Shaw and another brand so we bought one carton of each to bring home to put each of them together to see which on e we liked. Well, we didn't get very far. No matter how we tried the Shaw pieces simply would NOT go together properly. Like i said, i did the whole house before so i got a pretty good idea how this is done. But this new design is garbage. It's going back to Menards and we're shopping for something else.
Manufacturers of laminate flooring know all about water and moisture issues that beset the industry. Its their achilles heel.
As with all large Corporations, they would rather spend thousands of dollars avoiding/defending a complaint, than spending a few hundred to fix it.
What they need to do is start selling a truly waterproof product like we do in Australia. www.aquastep.com.au
I would like to know if ANYONE has had a satisfactory explanation from Shaw as to how the water is getting into the seams when the floor is in an area without water? I personally think there is something in the way it is stored and when you get the floor it has already been affected by water or high humidity. We just purchased a home and have been looking at laminate floors. We actually just decided on a Shaw product and I am so glad we read this first. No Shaw for us.
Our Shaw versalock is just a year old. We are VERY DISAPPOINTED with it. I do not know but maybe $3 a sq. ft. is too cheap . While installing it, 25 % of the planks had visible defects on the edges. We returned them all to the store. There they told us that they would give them to the sales rep and that the defects should not have passed the quality inspections at the manufacturer. We still managed to install some bad pieces and after two weeks one very noticeable defect appeared. It was as if there was a hollow spot under the top layer.. While we really like the overall look of the floor, it is impossible to clean it and have it look nice without drying it with a towel. It is cold, noisy and very hard. I have rugs all over the place. We continue to see areas on the edge of the planks that look like water seeped under the edge as it appears raised.. My floor has never had any standing water on it anywhere. Some of these areas feel raised and others do not. I will probably replace it a lot sooner than I ever thought. I will never even look at another Shaw floor..
We had a flood that affected kitchen, dinning room and great room. Insurance paying for all laminate to be replaced. Restoration company sent out flooring guy who just brought us samples of Shaw laminate claimed it was the best, we had it installed and before installation guys left it was buckling and horrible, we were accused of water on floor and by installer. Edges are chipped it is buckling and looks horrible. I called insurance adjuster and he said they won't be paid until its right. Flooring guy is filing claim with Shaw. Thanks to all your post on this product I am just going to have it removed. I had Pergo for 18 years and even with the flood there was little buckling, we just had mold that was under the floor. I hope there is a class action suit for all those who have had this crap they call flooring go bad and hope you get some satisfaction, I will be happy to add my comments. Thanks again to everyone for your posts.
We are having the same problems with our Shaw laminate flooring. The laminate is lifting on the edges and poor adhesion to the substrate material. I have been in the construction trades for over 25 years and it seems these large companies never back there products.
I also have Shaw laminate flooring in my living room purchased from Lowe's and installed by the company they suggested. Within two months of purchase the floor showed chipping and I reported it to Lowe's. One of Shaw's people came here to look at it, took pictures and made a big scene of doing his job. Shaw claimed that we had chipped the floor by moving heavy furniture over it. The area in question has a fleece dog bed over it and that is all that had been in that area since it was installed. Needless to say they would not stand by their warranty and the floor has more scratches and cracking now. I would suggest that anyone thinking about Shaw flooring should definitely do some research before buying. Obviously they sell an inferior product they know it and I hope the public does also.
We have had our Shaw flooring for less than a year and are also very unhappy with the quality. We will never ever buy Shaw again. Unfortunately, I didn't see these complaints before we made our flooring choice.I thought they were all pretty similar with their 10-20+year warranties. I live in a house with 2 cats and a toddler. Within 3 days, our kitchen area of laminate was destroyed from a small tube that came loose from under the sink. Bubbled and warped right away. OK, we thought, our fault, maybe it sat longer than we thought. However, since then, we have found that cat puke wiped up immediately also resulted in bubbling along the seam. A small jar of kids bubbles spilled, also bubbled and warped right away and was wiped up within 15 seconds. And we have many more examples of things being wiped IMMEDIATELY resulting in warped seams. And this does not even begin to mention how easily it is scratched-even with felt on the bottom of all of our furniture! I clean this using a laminate floor spray and a dry cloth. Never even dared to use a Wet swiffer or a mop. Now, I am not a newbie to laminate. We had a PERGO for 7+ years with a dishwasher that broke and leaked, cat puke and pee, several spills, wet shoes, mopped and Wet Swiffer-NO ISSUES! My mother also has Wilsonart, they are nowhere near as fanatic as we are about preventing scratches and spills-NO ISSUES. Shaw is definitely an inferior choice for laminate flooring. The Shaw rep just shrugged his shoulders-they don't care about the damage, even insinuated that this was my fault in the way I cleaned the floors. Ridiculous. Shaw, never again!
Thank you to everyone who posted - I was about to buy Shaw and am now going to change my direction.
We had Lowes install Shaw Swiftlock laminate in October of 2011. Anytime water hits the seems for more then 10 minutes we have permanant swelling. Lowes is telling us that we need to wipe it up immediately. The floor is wearing poorly in traffic areas as well. This flooring is the worst product I have ever purchased in my life. The really bad news, we did the entire 2350 sq ft with it. Please, Please DO NOT PURCHASE SHAWS LAMINATE FLOORING or you will regret it like so mnay of us that have posted here.
Wish I would have read this thread before we had Shaw laminate flooring put down in December 2011. Within 2 weeks of it being installed, the corners of some of the 'boards' started to peel. The floor had never been mopped before we noticed the peeling. We contacted the store that installed the flooring who submitted a claim to shaw. Shaw sent an 'inspector' to our house. Our claim was denied as 'improper care and maintenance'. WHAT? after 2 weeks? Don't buy any Shaw products...their handling of this claim for an obvious bad product, speaks volumes on what kind of company they are. Side note: We previously had Pergo brand laminate for 14 years with no problems.
I have had this in my personal house for less than 3 months and the joints began to seperate. The planks began to buckle in the oddest place. Contacted flooring store that sold me the floor and had 2 inspectors, 3 installers and the manager of the flooring store come and see. All agreed that this was a material issue. Shaw denied having a problem with the material. I have 18 houses and all have laminate in them. I will NEVER USE SHAW AGAIN!
If you have had a problem with Shaw not honoring their warranty, I urge you to contact the BBB in Tennessee/Georgia and file a complaint. For all the complaints on the net, there are less than 200 complaints filed with the BBB. It is not difficult to do, just Google BBB and follow the links to the Tenn/GA region. Here is the info you will need. http://chattanooga.bbb.org/consumers
Shaw Industries
PO Box East Walnut Ave.
Dalton, GA [protected]
The BBB in Tenn/Ga give Shaw an A+ rating. We need to change that.
I agree with the OP. A few years ago we installed Pergo in one room in our basement. We loved it (and it doesn't have any of the Shaw flooring problems, though we didn't know this at the time) but we didn't want the bamboo print in the upstairs part of the house. Shaw makes a beautiful figured maple pattern laminate, we did as much homework as we could, spent the same amount we did on the Pergo, and thought we were getting a good product. We were very wrong. Within 2 days, our small dog had a small accident and the floor bubbled. Despite being uber-cautious about water ALL THE TIME, things happen, and the Shaw doesn't hold up. A drip from a water bowl, an accident we didn't find in time, a stray ice cube on the floor, guests who come in with wet shoes... Life happens, but the Shaw is ridiculously sensitive. Fifteen minutes (tops!) is all you get to clean up a spill, even a small one, before the floor is ruined permanently. (This does NOT happen with the particular style of Pergo we chose for the basement.) There really should be a disclaimer for this flooring: For bedrooms only! It's terrible for kitchens, laundry rooms, and room adjacent to exterior doors. We've even had a problem having Shaw flooring *near* our bathroom. My advice to anyone who wants Shaw? Don't.
Shaw laminate is garbage and the warranty is worthless. The factory rep comes to your house and automatically says the bubbling is water damage. Even when the bad boards are in random areas not even near the sink or dishwasher. I wish an attorney would take up a class action lawsuit against Shaw. We would get pennys on the dollar but I would derive great satisfaction from seeing Shaw's reputation tarnished.
I installed $4, 000 of Shaw laminate on our first story floors after renovation. They do not lock together good at all because they have cheapened the interlocking edges. I installed Shaw laminate on the upstairs floors about 7 years ago and the process went well. Comparing some leftover flooring from then with the flooring used last year, you can see how cheap it is now. Shaw makes a crappy product so don't look for their customer service to be any different. than the flooring. I tell anyone who is thinking of flooring NOT to use Shaw. I even sent Warren Buffet a letter because Berkshire Hathaway has Shaw Industries as a holding company. NO response back from him. If you buy Shaw you will be holding your ### when everything is said and done.