Had Mohawk prefinished oak solid 3/4" flooring installed professionally. Many chipped boards, some split boards and many ugly face nails along with NO expansion gaps. Having dispute over installer who still claims he's not at fault. Independent inspector says it is his fault for many of the problems. He's offering to recut the expansion gaps since there aren't any. I'm worried this will only further butcher my floor. The boards are currently so tight they go well under the wall in some areas. how could they possibly be cut out without screwing up the floor?

He also is offering to replace a 4' x 32' major problem area. However, this is in the middle of the room. How could this even be done witout face nailing them all in? I'd say there are over 2 dozen boards with chipped ends and such and the floor was also staged outdoors on a damp humid day during the install.

Should I be taking this guy to court? Is there any hope for a good floor short of starting over? This was over a $5K job roughly 500 sq feet.

Please define "chipped board". Where are the "ugly face-nails"?

I don't quite understand how the expansion gap could be known when the material is "well under the wall".

Thanks,
Chuck.

Chuck,

The boards are chipped along the long ends in such a way that it's like reversed dimpled. Some are chipped so bad wood had to be peeled away and it catches on socks. All face nailing is ugly, especially when it runs the length of your house as it does in this case b/c they started on a face nailed starter strip b/c they claimed they couldn't find a straight wall even though the entire installation area was less about 500 sq feet. Believe me that there is no expansion space anywhere.

Troy

Troy;

The reversed dimpling as you call it sounds like "mushrooms" caused by hitting the flooring with the steel portion of the mallet during install to seat the boards. The face nailing do you mean they started in the center of the room and face nailed down the center or is it the 1st two rows on one wall?

Phil