I was not surprised to see this complaint board listing identical complaints on the topic I am likewise experiencing. I will never purchase another SHAW product again! Shortly after a laminate floor installation, I noticed edge curling in a few areas but I figured the installer might have been a tad aggressive while interlocking sections of laminate. After 6 years (into a worthless warranty) I contacted the supplier and asked for a claim to be submitted. At this time, most of the seams are curling, there is no water even near most of them and the floor is cleaned on my hands and knees with no heavy use of water with all moisture promptly wiped up with a chamois. An inspector came out (a smart aleck) and I didn't hear another thing for a month. I finally contacted Shaw and they said the supplier was sent a written response. I contacted the supplier, the response was that the owner over wet the floor causing the damage. My wife and I are livid! SHAW totally turned from their warranty responsibility and in effect told me to go scratch. The floor looks horrible and anyone who asks what is wrong with the floor gets an ear-ful. If I see anyone near the SHAW displays at any flooring or big box store, I tell them that SHAW manufactures flawed products and won't stand behind their warranty.

Something that was interesting- I gave the factory the EXACT wording of the maintenance instructions from a product package insert (I still have two cases of laminate left from the job). I followed maintenance instructions exactly. They told me that their maintenance instructions were not worded in the way I described. I faxed the factory the insert and they do not know how those instructions got in their product. The product was shipped directly from a GERMAN manufacturer. There is NO DOUBT in my mind that SHAW LAMINATE is defective and will not last five years of light service.

DO NOT PURCHASE A SHAW MANUFACTURED PRODUCT! You will be kicking yourself within five years for sure!

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?