Warranty
Flooring Warranty
Every installation is covered twice over: our workmanship warranty on how the floor was installed, and the manufacturer's warranty on the product itself. They cover different things, and knowing which is which is what gets a problem resolved quickly.
Updated October 2026
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The Short Answer
Your installation is backed by our workmanship warranty. Your flooring is covered by the manufacturer's product warranty. Water from a leak or a flood is covered by neither — that is a home insurance claim.
Almost every warranty dispute in this industry comes down to sorting a problem into one of those three buckets. A plank that has gapped because the expansion gap was set wrong is ours. A wear layer that has failed in two years is the manufacturer's. A floor that was under four inches of water when the hot water tank let go is your insurer's. This page exists so that you can tell them apart before you pick up the phone.
One thing worth saying plainly: the most common reason a manufacturer denies a flooring claim is not a dishonest manufacturer. It is an installation that departed from their instructions — acclimation skipped, no expansion gap, the wrong underlay, no vapour barrier over concrete. Installing to spec is not bureaucracy. It is what keeps the larger of your two warranties alive.
Coverage
Who Covers What
| Layer | What it covers | Backed by |
|---|---|---|
| Workmanship warranty | The installation itself — gapping, buckling or peaking caused by installation error, failed click joints, loose transitions and mouldings, movement from subfloor preparation we carried out, expansion gaps set wrong. | Rock Flooring Calgary |
| Manufacturer product warranty | Defects in the product you bought — delamination, wear-layer failure, core defects, finish defects, colour defects. Terms and duration are set by the manufacturer and vary by product. | The flooring manufacturer |
| Your home insurance | Water damage from a burst hose, a failed hot water tank, an appliance leak or a backed-up drain, plus fire and other insured events. Neither warranty covers these — they are not defects. | Your insurer |
What Our Workmanship Warranty Covers
- Planks gapping, peaking or buckling because of how they were installed
- Click joints that have failed from installation error
- Transitions, nosings, mouldings and baseboard coming loose
- Movement or squeaking in a subfloor we prepared and secured
- An uneven finished surface where we carried out the levelling
- Expansion gaps set too tight or too wide, at walls or at fixed objects
- Underlay, vapour barrier or membrane installed incorrectly or omitted
If any of that shows up, we come back and look at it. Where it is our work, we put it right.
What It Does Not Cover
- Water from a leak, a burst hose, an appliance failure or a flood
- Scratches, dents, chips and gouges from furniture, pets, grit or impact
- Colour change from strong direct sunlight
- Normal wear and traffic patterns over the years
- Damage from steam mops, wax, shine products or abrasive pads
- Indoor humidity run far outside the manufacturer's specified range
- Work altered or repaired by someone else after we finished
- A condition we documented and disclosed that you chose not to correct
That last one is why our estimates spell out what we found. If a slab has a slope you would rather live with than pay to level, that is a reasonable decision — it is just written down so nobody is surprised later.
Product warranties
What Manufacturers Typically Warrant
These are industry-typical ranges to set expectations, not a promise about any particular product. The actual terms come from the manufacturer of the floor you choose, and we hand you that documentation at the end of the job.
| Product | Typical structural period | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| SPC vinyl plank (residential) | Commonly 15–30 years | Core integrity and wear layer. Residential-rated product used commercially is usually excluded. |
| WPC vinyl plank | Commonly 15–25 years | Core integrity and waterproof performance of the plank itself. |
| Laminate | Commonly 15–25 years | Surface wear and manufacturing defects. Moisture damage is excluded — laminate is not a waterproof product. |
| Engineered hardwood | Often 10–35 years structural, 1–5 years finish | Finish is almost always warranted for far less time than the structure. |
| Solid hardwood | Often 25 years to lifetime structural | Seasonal gapping in a dry Calgary winter is normal wood behaviour, not a defect. |
| Porcelain and ceramic tile | Often lifetime on the tile body | Cracking caused by slab movement is an installation and substrate question, not a tile defect. |
| Carpet | Commonly 5–15 years | Fibre and backing defects. Stains, crushing and traffic patterns are wear, not defects. |
Two patterns are worth noticing in that table. First, a long headline number usually refers to the structure, while the finish — the part you actually look at — is warranted for a fraction of that time. Second, almost every exclusion is about use rather than manufacturing: wear, impact, moisture in a product not rated for it, and sunlight.
A long warranty is also not the same as a long life. A 25-year residential warranty on a thin wear layer in a busy Calgary entryway will outlast the floor's good looks by a wide margin. The specification that predicts how a floor ages is the wear layer and the core, which our luxury vinyl plank page andSPC page go through in detail.
How to Make a Claim
- Photograph it. Wide shots of the room and close-ups of the affected area. Note the date you first noticed it and which room it is in. If it changes with the seasons, that is useful information.
- Get in touch. Email contact@rockhomepro.com or call(403) 992-7707 with your address and roughly when the floor was installed. We respond within one business day.
- We come and look. The inspection is free. We are establishing one thing: whether the cause is installation, the product, or damage and wear. Moisture readings and a look at the subfloor are often part of that.
- Resolution follows the cause. Installation issue — we put it right. Product defect — we help you file the manufacturer claim, supply the documentation they ask for and handle the repair or replacement side of it. Damage or wear — we tell you honestly and quote the repair.
Report it when you notice it rather than waiting. A single plank lifting is a small repair; the same movement left for a year can work its way across a room and take the neighbouring joints with it. Ourfloor repair page covers what is involved either way.
Protecting the floor
Keeping Both Warranties Intact in Calgary
Humidity is the local one
Calgary's indoor air runs very dry through a long heating season, often below 25% relative humidity in a cold snap, and then climbs well above 50% after summer rain. Wood-based floors react to that: solid hardwood gaps in February and closes up in July, and laminate edges take stress at the extremes.
Most manufacturers specify a range to hold — commonly somewhere around 35% to 50% — and running a humidifier in winter is what keeps a wood floor inside it. Seasonal movement within the specified range is normal and is not a defect; damage from running far outside it is excluded by most product warranties.
Grit and salt
Road salt and the gravel this city spreads all winter are abrasive, and they arrive on boots. Mats at every exterior door and frequent sweeping of entryways do more for the life of a floor than any product upgrade. Wipe up snowmelt rather than letting it stand, particularly on laminate and hardwood.
The short list that matters
- Felt pads under every furniture leg, and hard castors swapped for soft ones.
- No steam mops on vinyl or laminate, and no wax or shine restorers. Damp-mop with an approved pH-neutral cleaner.
- No rubber-backed mats on vinyl — rubber can stain it permanently yellow.
- UV protection on large south- and west-facing windows. Blinds cost less than a faded floor.
- Vacuum with the beater bar off on hard surfaces.
- Keep a spare box of your flooring, stored flat and indoors. It is what makes a future repair invisible.
Keep the care guide and warranty documentation we hand over somewhere you will find it. A claim goes much faster when the product name, batch and installation date are to hand.
Where to next
Related Pages
Floor Repair Calgary
Diagnosis and repair for problems in any floor type, warranty or not.
Subfloor Repair Calgary
Movement, squeaks and levelling — the work most claims trace back to.
Hardwood Floor Repair
Cupping, gaps, black stains and board replacement.
Reviews & Standards
The process behind every installation and what you can hold us to.
Free Estimate
What a written, itemized estimate contains and how the visit works.
Contact
Phone, email and the fastest way to reach us about a claim.
FAQ
Warranty Questions
What warranty comes with a Rock Flooring Calgary installation?
Two separate things. Your installation is backed by our workmanship warranty, which covers problems caused by how the floor was installed. The flooring material carries its own manufacturer warranty, which covers defects in the product and is set by the manufacturer rather than by us. We hand over the manufacturer's warranty and care documentation for your specific product when the job is finished.
What is the difference between a workmanship warranty and a product warranty?
A workmanship warranty covers the work: planks that gap because the expansion gap was set wrong, a transition that was not fastened properly, movement because the subfloor was not secured. A product warranty covers the thing you bought: a wear layer that fails, a core that delaminates, a finish defect. The practical test is whether an identical floor installed correctly would have had the same problem.
Does the warranty cover water damage in my basement?
Not as a warranty claim. A failed hot water tank, a washing machine hose, a backed-up floor drain or water coming in through a window well are insured events, not installation defects or product defects — that is what home insurance is for. What the warranties do cover is the floor performing as specified: a product rated for below-grade use should handle normal slab moisture, and our installation should include the vapour management the product requires.
Does my basement floor get the same warranty as the rest of the house?
Yes, our workmanship warranty applies the same way below grade, and it covers the slab preparation we carry out — moisture testing, levelling and vapour management. The manufacturer warranty applies only if the product is rated for below-grade installation, which SPC and WPC vinyl generally are and laminate and solid hardwood generally are not. That rating is one of the reasons we steer basement projects toward vinyl.
What voids a flooring manufacturer warranty?
Installation that departs from the manufacturer instructions is the most common cause of a denied claim — skipped acclimation, no expansion gap, the wrong underlay, a vapour barrier missing over concrete, or installing a product in a room it is not rated for. After installation, the usual causes are steam mops and wax or shine products on vinyl and laminate, abrasive pads, letting indoor humidity run far outside the specified range, and radiant heat above the product temperature limit.
What does the warranty not cover?
Scratches, dents, chips and gouges from furniture, pets, grit or impact. Colour change from strong direct sunlight. Normal wear in traffic lanes. Damage from unsuitable cleaning products or equipment. Water from a leak or flood. Repairs or alterations made by someone else. And any condition we documented and told you about before installation that you chose not to have corrected — a slab slope left as-is, for example.
Does the warranty transfer if I sell my home?
Ask us. Our workmanship warranty is agreed with you as the customer, so a transfer is something to confirm in writing rather than assume, and we are happy to have that conversation — call (403) 992-7707. Manufacturer product warranties are often non-transferable or reduced on resale, so check the documentation for your specific product before listing.
Will adding in-floor heating later affect my warranty?
It can. If radiant heat is part of the plan before installation, we select and install the floor accordingly and both warranties stay intact. If a heating system is added underneath or alongside an existing floor without our involvement, our workmanship warranty does not cover problems the heat causes, and the manufacturer warranty will not cover a product taken above its temperature limit — commonly 85 °F or 29 °C at the surface.
How do I make a warranty claim?
Photograph the problem area, note when you first noticed it and which room it is in, then email contact@rockhomepro.com or call (403) 992-7707 with your address and roughly when the floor was installed. We respond within one business day and arrange a time to come and look at it. The inspection is free, and it establishes whether the cause is installation, product or damage — which decides who handles it.
Do I have to use a specific cleaner to keep my warranty?
For our workmanship warranty, no — cleaning products have nothing to do with installation quality. For the manufacturer warranty, usually yes: most require a pH-neutral cleaner approved for the product and specifically exclude steam mops, wax, shine restorers and abrasive pads on vinyl and laminate. The care guide we hand over names the products approved for your floor.
Have a Claim, or a Question First?
Call (403) 992-7707 or send us the details and photos. We respond within one business day and the inspection is free — whether it turns out to be ours, the manufacturer's or neither.