I purchased the Pinnacle Americana 5" from a local flooring company for $7.50 a foot for total of ~$6300 It was installed after acclimating only overnight on floated (self-leveler) concrete on new construction. The heating had been on for weeks.

During the course of the first few weeks, large gaps began to appear both on the ends and between the boards. Almost every other board has a significant gap from the width of one dime to up to three quarters. No moisture test was done pre-installation. I suspect the moisture content of the wood was much higher than that of my concrete and thus the boards separated.

I contacted the flooring company and they first accused me (and subsequent subs) of walking on the floors in the first 24-hours...which doesn't make sense anyway since the gaps are distributed evenly across the entire floor. I finally raised enough cain that they called the manufacturer and had a rep come and look at it. The rep stated that it was indeed "out of tolerance".

It has now been 4-months since the original installation and the manufacturer has said that they would RE-SUPPLY the wood. They will not pay to have the old floor ripped up or for the new installation...only deliver the same wood to us again at no cost and call it good -- or pay us $400 cash for final settlement. The installer and local flooring company say they "don't feel responsible" despite a "one year guarantee" on installation.

What do I do...sue the local dealer for the $7.50 per square foot plus the ~$2.00 per foot to rip up the old flooring???

Yes, you get your own independent inspection done, by a NWFA certified inspector, like myself. Then send a copy of the report, to the rip-off flooring store, along with a well worded legal letter of intent. Describing, what you paid for from them, what you got from them, and what is fixing to go down, if they don't fix the problem or respond to you within 10 working days.


It is clearly the installers fault you didn't get what you paid for. This installer was a representative of the flooring store where the flooring was purchased. To fulfill your contract, they must replace the floor!!! Or pay the costs to have it replaced, if they refuse.

This is the normal dance ALL flooring stores go through when there is a problem, with their lowball uneducated laborers, they call installers, HACKED in installations. These guys were clueless!!! They took your money and can't afford to loose the profit they made by lowballing your builder, to get his account!!!! Seen it a thousand times!!!

Thanks for the info! I knew about the letter of intent but didn't think to get my own inspection done. I searched NWFA.org and found an inspector in my area. I'll call to make an appointment.

Sounds like the floor was not acclimated to "in use conditions" and shrank after installation. You said this is a "glued floating floor?". In this case, maybe the floor was not glued together properly as well as not acclimated.
Should you wish to hire an inspector, you can also ask us for names of local inspectors in your area. The participants of this forum know many inspectors and which are good..
Ray Darrah

Ray,

The above should read that it's a wood floor glued to the concrete slab. The concrete was "floated" with self-leveling underlayment two days before the floor was installed.

I found the number of a local inspector on the NWFA site. I'll call that number first...if it doesn't pan out, I'd appreciate a contact as it was the only one in my area.

I'll post back when I know something.

Thanks!

Pumpkin,
If you were offered replacement wood, it may be financially wise to accept and pay a good installer to remove and replace. The cost of a lawsuit, other than small claims, is more than the cost of labor to remove and replace. Lawsuits are about money..... unfortunately, not ethics.
Maybe accept the wood, then sue in small claims for labor and installation?
Ray

I took your advice Ray. I talked to a lawyer friend of mine and he said the same thing too.

The local company washed their hands of the whole thing even though I believe they were the ones at fault. The manufacturer, on the other hand, resupplied new wood which I accepted.

Rather than put the new wood back in our high-traffic living room, I think I'll use it in an upstairs game room that I'm finishing instead. I have two small kids who, along with two cats are really good at trashing the house. I decided to caulk the floor gaps for now and live with it for a year or two as they grow up a little...and then replace the wood with a better (more durable) product or maybe a stone tile. I may regret this by the end of the start of winter when the gaps reach their maximum though.

I'm glad I found this forum because now I've got lots of questions on installation, etc. I've done lots of tile laying before but have never installed wood. I figure I'll staple it down over the plywood subfloor, scratch up the surface with a fine-grit screen and then polyurethane. I have stairs leading up to the gameroom so I may use the flooring on the treads too. I've got lots of research to do