Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Dealing with poor 'professional' installation

I'm just looking for some thoughts and advice.

We had a new hardwood floor installed ~10 months ago, and had some issues with the contractor at that time. We tried to resolve them, and got half-hearted attempts, so we finally just wanted to be done with him and let him go.

Since installation, we have continued to find defects in the installation: rain comes in through the front door and caused some boards to warp, gaps between some boards this winter expanded to just under 1/4", boards were left so uneven that registers don't completely cover them, the boards were installed parallel to the floor joists, and the list goes on.

My biggest concern is the last one I listed. I live in MD which is rather humid, and from what I've read since, installing parallel with the floor joists is a big no, no. How concerned should I be? Having already filed a complaint with the licensing board, is this something that warrants removing and re-installing the floor?

My wife and I have had lucky/good experiences with home improvements in the past, but made a lot of mistakes this time ourselves: no written contract and the lowest bidder.:wall:

Thanks,
Brett

Sorry to hear about your experiences. Not all flooring installers are like that.

I don't know what to tell you, except if you feel you have installation defects, is to get a certified inspection done, and go after the contractor for repairs or reinstallation of new wood.

Need to know what the subfloor is and also the thickness of it. Then need to know the on-center spacing on the floor joist , such as 16" OC, 19.2" OC, ect.

You ought to get that moisture problem at the door fixed asap. That would not be the installers fault.

I'm not sure how you measure this, but the floor joists have an 18" gap between them and are a little less than 3" wide. Does that mean ~19.2" OC?

The subfloor is marked 23/32" and the flooring installed is 5/8" solid.

I took care of the moisture at the front door within a couple weeks of noticing it by installing a good storm door, and the flooring there has straightened/flattened out . . . mostly.

Thanks,
Brett

Brett, i don't know what you got for the truss system. Floor trusses are normally 3 1/2" wide and generally spaced at 19.2"OC which would give you 15 and some odd inches between them. You must have something spaced at around 21" OC. Regardless, if you have 18" between them that would be a no-no if you have a single layer subfloor.

To get by with that on a "single" layer subfloor it has to be at least 7/8" T&G plywood, not OSB, and the floor has to be run perpendicular. No way you can lay it parallel and expect to get by with it. Eventually you will probably see a wave effect between the trusses.

You need to contact a certified independent hardwood floor inspector and have a report written up. Perry can probably link you to some in your area. I am sorry, but this sounds like a faulty installation for an installer not to know this.

I guess that's my only other question--how do I find a certified independent hardwood floor inspector?

The reply we got from the complaint we filed assigned an 'investigator' to our case, but we've been unable to have any direct contact with him as of yet. It's been about 2 weeks since we got the reply, and my wife has called several times at different times during the day.

Thank you very much for your help.

http://fits4.org/ilist/ilist.html

The inspector came last night and pointed out a lot of things beyond what I already knew was wrong. For example, there are a number of boards that have no nails in them at all, and the majority of boards he checked had the first nail much more than 2" from the end of the board. He certainly made it clear that the installation was not professional, and that the only way to repair it would be to remove the whole thing and re-install a new floor.

I should get the written report within a week and then get to enjoy trying to convince the installer that the floor needs to be redone.:eek:

-Brett

Well, we didn't get the floor re-installed, but were able to negotiate about a 75% refund. :cool:

Thank you so much for pointing me at an inspector. The inspection was a real eye opener, and was the key to getting anything at all.

-Brett