Fix my floor

The fail index

Eight ways a floor goes wrong.

Start with what you can see or hear. Each page names the mistake, explains why it happened, gives you the fix in order, and tells you how to stop it coming back. No judgement. We have made most of these.

A dark luxury room with a lifted seam in the wood floor, a black marble wall with gold veins and a deep red velvet chair in the background.

Eight fails, in the order they usually happen. Pick the one that looks like your floor.

A lifted seam in a dark wood laminate floor, one plank edge rising above the other under warm gold light. Laminate peaking at the seams: fix it Beginner-friendly · 1–3 hours, plus a day of waiting Fail
A narrow gap between two dark oak floorboards beside a black skirting board, lit by cold winter light. Winter gaps between floor planks: fix them Beginner-friendly · 30 minutes–2 hours, plus a week of watching Fail
A dark luxury vinyl plank floor buckled into a wave across two planks, the raised edge catching gold light. Buckled vinyl plank: how to fix the wave Some patience · 1–3 hours, plus a day of watching Fail
A single screw driven into a dark wood floor, with a screwdriver resting in the foreground. Squeaky floor: find the squeak and stop it Beginner-friendly · 1–2 hours for one squeak, a weekend for a whole room Fail
Two large dark slate tiles meeting at a raised edge, the height difference revealed by raking gold light. Uneven tile lippage: fix it before it sets Some patience · 30–60 minutes to check and reset a few tiles, a day for a whole floor Fail
A brass transition strip lifted and twisted between dark wood flooring and black tile. Wrong transition strip: how to fix it Beginner-friendly · 45 minutes to 2 hours per doorway Fail
A dark wood plank butted tight against a black threshold with no expansion gap. No expansion gap: why your floor buckled Beginner-friendly · 2–4 hours for one room Fail
Amber adhesive oozing from a dark plank seam in glossy beads under warm light. Glue oozing from floor seams: clean it up Some patience · 1–3 hours, plus drying Fail
Not sure which one you have?

Press the ridge. Slide a coin under the trim. Lay a straightedge across the seam. If two fails seem to fit, start with no expansion gap; it is the most common cause and the cheapest to rule out.

Every fail page is written for a normal house on a normal weekend. Where a number matters, the instructions on your flooring carton win over anything here. Where a job is genuinely a pro job, the page says so instead of pretending otherwise.