I am asking for honest third party opinions. I will be sharing this with my customer, who happens to be my mother in law. I am a licensed contractor, with a carpentry background. I install around 4 floors a years.

Last fall I entered into a time and material contract with my mother in law, Terri. Terri purchased the material from Lumber Liquidators. It was a solid 3/4 pre-finished clear maple. I originally ordered it under my companies name, but LL would not let my customer use her own credit card if the order wasn't in her name.

The flooring sat in the customers home for about a month and a half. We waited because there was some storm damage to a window in a near by area, which was to being replaced by others. Installation went as expected. It was about two months after install things went downhill. The flooring developed large gaps (up to 1/4") all over the 600sf of flooring. When I looked over the floor, it appeared that the boards where noticeably different sizes in some of the gapped areas. Fortunately my customer is in agreement that the floor was nice and tight during and after the install. There are also a few ends that have started splitting through out the floor. We called Lumber Liquidator to ask about possible warranty issues. They sent out an independent third party from the National wood flooring association. He asked his questions and took his measurements. He also made it a point to let me know that he just reports and has nothing to do with weather or not the claim is approved. My customer received a copy of the report and we were blown away. The report was very slanderous towards the home owner and also pointed the figure at me. It stated poor installation saying that I did not leave enough gap around the perimeter. I did in fact leave space but I am bothered by this because I have the trim and shoe up already, there is no way they could tell if I had or had not. The report also stated the the customer has only swept the floor but has never cleaned it. Again, not accurate but they make that assumption as well as the assumption that the house has constant temperature fluctuations.

Here are the stats:

Installed on 3/4 OSB
15# asphalt paper over lapped
3/4 by 3 1/4 prefinished Maple clear
2" bostich staples
Air compressor set to approx 100psi
Had no problems with tounges splitting or cracking.
Nailing pattern approx every 9"
Flooring is perpendicular to Floor Joist.
Flooring installed on first floor (above basement)
Area has very little direct sunlight
Flooring and Sub floor tested before install at 6-8%

Questions:

What probably is responsible?
Even know LL dismissed them selves, is defect flooring likely?

Also,
A friend of my customer/mother in law said that I should not have nailed(stapled) this floor down. I should have glued all the seams together and laid a free floating floor over a pad. Please give your opinions on this. My Mother in law said that she has heard this from more than one person. At this point I can't blame her, but she has no trust in my application because of the gluing suggestions.

Thanks for your opinions--

Josh Joyce







So hereis my questions

NOFMA states that most (all) solid flooring is to be nailed, especially over wood subfloors. If the flooring and subfloors were at equilibrium (RH and MC) at the time of installation, I find it odd that now, there are major gaps occurring. All that can be assumed is that the flooring was higher in MC than now and it has shrunk, due to lower RH conditions. I'd retest the MC and check on the RH. Your MIL may need a humidifier. Also, maple is known to be less stable than many hardwoods. You air pressure was a little high. I typically run my M111 FS at 80 psi. Why did you need to run your's at 100? I'm sure LL would say that is a nail down floor, not a gluedown. Furthermore, expansion gaps at the perimeter have nothing to do with gapping that I can see. All that can be assumed at this point is that the floor has lost MC , if gapping and splitting are the complaints. BTW, the nailing should have been every 8" and within 2" of every end butt. But I do not think that would contribute to gaps. How the floor was cleaned could have contributed to the flaws if it was wet mopped during installation, expanded, then shrank again afterwards. It does not factor that she hasn't kept it very clean as that doesn't effect the size of the boards. Consider reading these NOFMA articles:
http://www.nofma.org/Portals/0/Publicat ... isture.pdf
http://www.nofma.org/Portals/0/Publicat ... rmance.pdf
http://www.nofma.org/Portals/0/Publicat ... 005_04.pdf

Just going by what you have posted so far the floor has obviously lost some moisture and shrank to make it gap open. I don't see any RH readings to go by either.

My gut tells me the floor was acclimated to a wetter environment than it should have been. The flooring should not have been brought in to adjust until all the repairs were made and the house had time to adjust and equalize itself. Then you would bring the Maple in and equalize it. Since the house had some water damage there should have been two acclimations going on.... the inside environment first, then the wood flooring second.

To get a true moisture reading you need to know the temp. and RH, then factor in the species (maple and OSB) and use a conversion chart to know what all that means.

All it takes to see if there is or is not an expansion gap with trim or under doorjambs, is a very expensive tool. A bent paperclip!!!!!!!


I see lack of a moisture meter, or you would have known the wood was too wet to lay. Was the wood 6% or 8%

Acclimation, or should I say proper acclimation, which isn't possible without a moisture meter or you have months of time, to wait it out when guessing. The floor lost moisture, period! With those numbers you stated, the humidity would now have to be around 30% or less, now.

The floor has lost moisture since it was installed. Maple moves. It doesn't take much to get it to shrink, or swell.

Now the different size boards.... That is a manufacturing defect. Or for Bellawood, it is a normal characteristic of the product, where they make their own standards. LL buyers beware!!!


You cannot glue the T&G on a solid wood floor, and float it!!! Solids move too much to try that, especially a Maple.

Thank you for all the post above. The information provided has been very helpful. Gary you asked why I had my compressor set to 100. I don't know that it was at 100, I just know that it was near 100. I do know that I turned it up a little. I was running 100' of hose out of a PC pancake. I turned it up a little because the heads were a little proud.


Thanks again everyone!

Josh

You said in your first post that the compressor was set to approx. 100 PSI. The M111 FS works fine in the 80 to 85 range. So a couple of things would contribute to your needing to set the air higher. One, the air pressure gauge was giving faulty readings. Quite probable. Two, the nailer wasn't performing to it's peak ability due two worn out o-rings or seals/gaskets. I've run long hose lengths. That should not effect the pressure needed UNLESS the couplings were leaking air. It could have been all these combined. As long as the tongues of the flooring were not breaking or cracking and the staple heads was seated properly, the pressure # doesn't matter.

What is the compressor CFM rating @ 90 psi? Were you running 1 or 2 guns?