Condensation damaged laminate flooring

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MarcLdn

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Hi,

I moved in a a rented flat in a newly constructed building 2 weeks ago. There is a laminate flooring in the flat.
In the utility room, there is an interrupter that reads "Extraction". This interrupted was set to off and the landlord didn't mention it when I moved in, I didn't even know it existed.

As it was cold, I started to put the heating on the first week. And suddenly I started to notice condensation as there was like water on the windows. So I started to open the windows to make it better.

Three days ago we noticed that in one area of the flat, the laminate flooring started to bump/sweat and it now looks damaged. It's only one small area but the landlord says it is because of the condensation and that's because the "extraction" interrupter was set to "off" because he says this stopped the air circulation in the flat, and also he didn't find any leak. He blames me for this.

I have 2 questions:

1) I read that condensation can indeed damage a laminate flooring but is there a way to confirm this is the reason? I reckon that after we switched the interrupter to "on", the condensation problem got much better. This interrupter actually controls the air and I can feel now that it's "on" that there is air coming from some areas of the roof (I put a toilet paper around and noticed it moves).

2) Is it normal that in only 1 week of using the heat radiator combined with that "extraction" set to off, a laminate flooring gets damaged? Don't you think that there is an installation problem with the flooring as well to be so easily damaged?

As I said, it's a new flat and I'm the first person to rent it so not sure if the laminate flooring was correctly installed.

Thanks for your help.
 
In any new building it needs masses of ventilation in the first year or two and that should have been pointed out to you.
 
Thanks, you're right and I knew it so I opened the windows and didn't do anything to make it bad. The problem is that switch which controls all the vents in the flat and which was off. No one told me about this one.

My main question is: if you move in a new build flat and the vents are switched off, would using the heating for 5 days (causing condensation) be enough to damage a laminate flooring? That sounds quite extreme and a friend of mine who is no expert in that told me that it *could* be a defect in the installation (e.g. they didn't install the flooring in good humidity conditions or didn't let it dry enough).

Nothing else in the flat was damaged, only a 2 sqm area in the 80 sqm area covered in laminate flooring. Is that something you think from experience can be caused by 5 days of condensation? :cautious:
 
It's pretty hard to say but I can't see how a tenant moving into a new build property and damage occuring in such a short period of time due to excessive condensation can ever be blamed on the tenant.
 
Is there any other form of ventilation? - e.g. trickle vents on the windows.
 
Yes there is trickle vents on the windows but they were closed when I moved in. I just opened the windows from time to time to vent the whole flat.

I've decided to challenge the landlord's opinion on this with the property management company to see what they think. :unsure:
 
MarcLdn said:
Yes there is trickle vents on the windows but they were closed when I moved in. I just opened the windows from time to time to vent the whole flat.

I've decided to challenge the landlord's opinion on this with the property management company to see what they think. :unsure:
Click to expand...
I wouldn't challenge them on a 'what they think' basis I'd challenge them on a 'it's not your fault and that's it' basis. Now trickle vents, in a new build at any road, should all be left open all the time at least for the first couple/6 months anyhoo and that's the kinda thing you're supposed to be told when you move in to a new build.
 
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