In need of some advice.

I have hired a contractor who was recomended by a friend to do a renovation on a house I had purchased. We chose 3/8" bella brazilian chestnut from LL glue to concrete for most of the house. The installation initially looked good but over the course of a couple weeks the floor is progressively warping, cracking, bubbling and folding in one section of the house. Half of the floor looks fine minus a couple of flaws (that I could live with). The floor contractor has already replaced some wd flooring in the hallway that was not right. I have kept track of the dates of the install and I have verified that the wood was not acclimated at all. It was installed the day after it showed up on the job and I think the section of floor that is warping etc was layed the same day it was purchased (I checked with LL on purchase dates and have dated pictures from my blackberry). We have had alot of rain and humitity the past couple of days so in addition to the HVAC I purchased a dehumitifier but seems to have no effect.

I think I have aswered my own question but would like to hear from some experts on my situation.

Thanks in advance.

We need more info on the install over concrete? No subfloor? what kind of glue? How new was slab?

The house is 1971 1 story in Houston Tx. The flooring contractor did some spot leveling with thin set but not very much. I believe they should have leveled more as the section of the house that has no problems was much more level. They glued to the concrete slab usung the moisture barrior glue from LL.

Every time I showed up on the job the back door was open letting in humid outside air and the granite that was installed was wet when they brought it in. I thought I might have a bad window but the floor was cupping a couple of feet away from the window and the floor directly under the window is fine. I stop by every enening to make sure the air is on but the outside temp has been about 65-75 deg. They said they did a moister test but the short amount of time in wich the floor was installed makes me wonder.

Will post pictures.

They obviously were not hardwood guys. I doubt it is the adhesive, it's the fact that the wood was not acclimated in a controlled environment.

This is very sad and we see this happening quite often. The economy stinks and every joe blow handyman thinks he can install hardwood. But without the knowledge and instruments it more often than not fails in some manner.

From what I have learned from reading about wood floors it will continue to have problems and all will have to be replaced(they even installed a different brand of wood in the hallway that emediatley cupped). I am meeting with the GC and the flooring contractor tommaro. I spoke with the GC on the phone after researching and he said the temp was the same outside as in the house therefore it did not need to acclimate (wich I now know is incorrect). When they first started on the floor I had asked what seemed to be the lead guy on the job if he had installed this type of wood before and he said he had but that was all he would say(language barrier). The van they were driving even had a wood floring company magnet sign on it but I guess the sign doesn't matter since there is no licencing for anyone but MEP's in Texas. It looks like this situation might get messy, it's to bad because I like the GC and we have a mutual freind. The rest of the job is done well and is on scheduel.

It looks like we will have to bring in a 3rd party to inspect the flooring and go from there.

Thanks for the reply's

Yea, well they probably did not bring the hardwood in from outside anyway. It comes from a cold warehouse.

Some of these contractors refuse to listen, and then cry when they get sued out of a business.
I just did a job, with no heat, the wood was literally icy during the install! Despite my best efforts, nothing was done to help acclimate the floor properly.
Luckily the floor was quartersawn. It shrunk in a huge way! Dark stain too. Now you can see white stripes running up and down each board.
All you can do is try to advise these guys. If they dont listen, dont lose sleep over it.

Well if things couldn't get worse.

Waited at the house for an hour this morning cleaning, emptying dehumidifyer and no one showed. We curently live about a mile from the house so my wife stoped by the house every couple of hours to check on things and no one showed. Her last visit was 2:00 pm so when I got home at about 4:30 we went by to check on things and turn on outside lights. Well some one was there and cut a sample out of the floor. At the same time I noticed this I also noticed the CG's vacume was not by the water heater in the laundry room. Holy $#%T water heater is leaking, and the leak is from the bump valve that is conveniently not positioned above pan(WH was removed and reinstalled by GC with no shut off valves). The utility room is located close to where the worst problems are. I cought it just in time and dried up the small puddle on the tile floor, shut off water main, drained WH and called a locksmith to change the locks. While the LS was doing his rekeying I noticed a window was pushed in and damaged ever so slightly and also noticed a carpet strip nail jamming another winow open. There is no problems with the wood floor directly next to these areas. I think the GC is trying to sabatage my floor to claim water dammage. I called our mutual friend who is a master plumber and he said the GC told him I installed the WH. Bull $#!t why would I do it when your already working on the job I asked. ???

I'm glad I have been taking pictures with my Black Berry with good resolution and dates and times attached to the pics. They clearly show the problems the day after installation was finished. Looks like thers gunna be a fight. Bank has been notified of situation this morning and certified wood floor inspector is scheduled for Wendsday.

What a mess.

Will try to figure out how to post pics

Tell Claudia, I said hello!

If half the floor is jacked up thats not a good sign for the other 50%. It needs to be demo'd. Having an inspector there to tell you the obvious is a waste of money IMO. Find someone who can demo it and install it correctly.

It has been verified that it was a bad install.

We had to do the inspection report for the lender and to protect ourselves.

GC said he is going to make things right and I think that he will, but it is going to be costly.

I don't know what to think about the water heater leak but has been relaced to be on the safe side. Even if the leak made it to the floor I don't think it would have been an issue.

Are they handling it, or still dragging their feet?