I have a problem I thought someone in GD might be able to help me with.  

We moved into a brand new house in 2010 that had the usual "1 year warranty on materials/labor".

A few months after that 12 months were over, I started noticing cracks developing in the sheet vinyl flooring in our kitchen.  In my uneducated opinion, it look like it was crushed by something while still rolled up, and is now cracking due to that damage.  The cracks run about hand width apart across one whole side of the flooring.  Sheet vinyl everywhere else (bathroom, entrance foyer) is all holding up just fine.

Pics (lousy phone pictures, sorry):



Close up:




My questions:  Do I have a chance in hell of getting this stuff fixed since it's past the 1 year period?  Obviously it was damaged before or during installation, because nothing I could have done to it would cause damage in this pattern.
Is there something specific I need to be asking/saying to the Home Builder rep coming out tomorrow that could help convince them to fix it or am I wasting his time and mine?  And if I'm just boned on them fixing it, how hard/expensive would it be for me to fix it myself?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Is that sheet vinyl or the sticky tiles? At this point I would let it go and lay down ceramic.

Thats not laminate.

Thats sheet vinyl, some people still mistakenly call it linoleum.

The product itself should have some kind of warranty against defects, but improper handling or installation would void that. If the product is found defective you may be able to recoup some prorated materials costs towards a fix.

It could be any number of things causing those cracks, thermal expansion/contraction, deflecting floor, heavy objects dragged across it, chemical or uv exposure...

Rolls are usually rolled face in, and rolled in much larger diameter than the 3-4" between cracks in your pictures. If its in an extremely long run, and over say an uninsulated crawlspace, i'd be leaning towards thermal expansion.

of course some doofus could have bent it hard...

Thanks, corrected the title to property reflect the material.    

Well, I know I haven't been dragging things around on it, and it hasn't had any more UV exposure than anywhere else in the kitchen, but its only cracking on that one side of the kitchen.  I went ahead and measured and its 7" to 8" between each crack.  I'd estimate these cracks run about 18" long and the affected area is around 14 feet total in width if that helps any.  No crawlspace under the house, built on a solid slab.  


Thanks for the answers so far!  

Update:  Guy came by today, and said in 17 years of being in the home building business, he'd never seen flooring crack in this way.  He agreed it was either a manufacturing or installation defect, but since we're well past the year warranty, he might have a hard time getting people to take care of it.  

They're going to show some pictures to the flooring company and see what they think.  The good news is he agreed immediately that it was clearly not homeowner caused and that they should try to help get it fixed.  Fingers crossed that I don't wind up paying out the nose to fix this.  

Manufacturer Claim.   Talk to the builder and tell them you want them to initiate a claim.  Armstrong or Mannington (the company who made that) will cover the cost of replacement.

I've worked in the new home/flooring industry for 20 years.

Can I initiate a claim even after the warranty period?  The builder said they were going to talk to the flooring company but if no positive result ensues I might need to try that next.