I represent the owner of a large institution. We recently completed a basketball practice facility comprised of two gyms 10000+ SF each with maple hardwood flooring. recently i has come to light that the linstaller used a putty to fill cracks between boards. These cracks are not the normal cracks or penny rows used for expansion control but voids between the 16 rows of boards between penny rows. That material is failing and breaking up and out onto the floor.

1) is this a mnormal installation practice?
2) the installer wants to cleano ut the filler material and then route and top laminate wider boards to the exisitng floor, but i contend that will severely shorten the life of the floor if it works at all.

The floor is still under warranty for both material and installation. What do you suggest I do?

Always give the installer the benefit of the doubt and let him try and fix it. Whats to lose?

What's to lose is the life of the floor and the expiration of the warranty on the install.

Filler is an acceptable industry practice on hardwood floors. That being said...I've really never seen a set guidline, that's the gospel, of what is "acceptable for filler", and what is not. IMO...it's a matter of opinion. Not sure when you state "void', what the gap size we're talking about.
Of coarse if a particular filler is not performing... Most of the time an alternate can be applied in it's place.

I don't understand this coarse of action, "route and top laminate wider boards to the existing floor". Can you expound on this ? What I'm getting out of it...They want to install "dutchmans"?

I also believe the Installer should have an opportunity to make it right. I also understand where your coming from, protecting your long term interests, and want to avoid a subpar repair.

A couple of pictures would help a lot. It sounds like the floor is experiencing shrinkage and may not have been acclimated properly . Hard to say as I wasn't there to test anything.

I don't think we can determine the best approach to dealing with your issues without some images of what you have first.

If the floor is not performing and is dangerous to people using it you have to fix it anyway. Plus hows the warranty going to be if it's not installed right in the first place?

summer humidity is swelling up the floor and pushing the filler out. in my opinion a new floor should have a minimal amount of cracks and thus a minimal amount of filler. filler is well suited for broken edges and cracks in the butt joints. filling the side joints is a risky maneuver when dealing with a floor thats going to move. Sounds like the floor sat for while after it was installed before it was sanded. the floor opened up a little post install the installer made a poor choice to fill the seams while the humidity and moisture were low, now its cracking and looks 10 times worse than a crack would have just left alone.

the repair he is suggesting if done properly will not comprimise the life of the floor. he is basically taking the top 1/4" of board off and putting a new top filet thats wider in place with the help of a little epoxy.

Thank you all for your comments .
Here in AZ the humidity has been about 2%. Swelling is not the issue. Voids in the flooring approach 1/4" in some places -- far in excess of the flooring installation guidelines.
Having the installer who did this initial installation may be fair to him, but what about my expectation of a floor that is not patched?
Any other way to repair the floor by relaying from penny row to penny row where the use of filler was excessive?

whats under the floor? what type of subfloor and base?...any vapor barriers?
routing out the top of the boards seems like a helluve lotta work...and this is a first for me..never heard or seen it done..
he'd have to make some form of jig or templates...which would compromise more i think when fastend to the floor..

dutchman and slivers...or pull out full boards and rip in larger boards to fit......

but like others mentioned...pics would be helpful..

bottomline is hes offering solutions..at this time.

This installation is a Connor ResillChannel with vapor barrier below.

Ain't no such thing as humidity here in Tucson or anywhere in AZ right now. lol