Mannington Blue Ridge Hickory Engineered Hardwood (premium, 25 year warranty) was installed in our new home. Within 18 months the flooring exhibited cracks at the end of the boards and within 24 months the boards began peeling and cracking. Within 36 months - the boards had severe cracks and splits; in fact - if you walked on the floor barefoot - you got splinters in your feets. Mannington agreed to send an inspector who verified that the condition was throughout the house; the inspector indicated that the boards may not have been kiln dried as all environmental conditions were within the Mannington specifications (i.e. humidity was within the specified range, there was no excessive moisture, floor cleaner used was approved). He stated that he would submit a report to Mannington within the week and we should request a copy of the assessment. When we spoke to Mannington, however, they refused to provide a copy of the report - stating they paid for it and it was confidential! And although Mannington reps confirmed that the report did NOT identify any environmental or installation conditions which could have caused the splintering - Mannington insisted that this did not mean that the product failure was due to a manufacturing defect. This made no sense of course...if the product failure was not caused by environmental conditions in the home or by improper care - the only other cause could be manufacturing issues. To appease us, Mannington agreed to have the installer take out three boards and return them to the factory for analysis; per Mannington the results of that analysis were "findings of severe cracks and splits of unknown cause"; since cause was unknown - the claim was denied. They said that although their warranty states that they warrant against buckling, warping, separate of plies (and all these were present in our flooring) - the warranty is only valid if the home owner can prove it was due to their manufacturing process...and since the consumer has no way to do that - they rarely have to stand behind their warranty (yes - the joke is on the consumer). In fact, today the supervisor suggested that maybe before we moved into our new home there was a flood that we were not aware of - or that someone tried to clean our wood floors with a carpet steam cleaner. Being a new home - this is highly unlikely. CONCLUSION- Mannington does not stand behind it's products. The 25 year warranty is worthless. Do NOT buy from Mannington. Retailer/installer confirmed this has been his experience with Mannington and he no longer recommends consumers the brand. CONTACTS at Mannington: Monica Miller and Rebecca Wiley (her Supervisor).

Did the retailer/installer perform a moisture gradient check of the flooring at time of installation?

Acclimation time and moisture check? Rh and temp at time of installation?

Ask what the moisture content at time of milling was?

The installer did acclimate the boards, and a moisture barrier was put down. Mannington refuses to provide any information regarding the moisture content at time of milling.

Mannington's refusal to cooperate is very telling.

Yes but installers need to check the moisture content of the wood with a professional meter. How did the installer know it was acclimated if he didn't check? Like Uncle Perry says, it's a moisture content thing, not a time thing.

LL and a number of other retailer/manufacturers will tell you simply two weeks or so. Not enough sometimes. Sometimes it can be a matter of days.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/FWNPDFfr ... -chart.pdf

Hickory is known to be a bit temperamental.
put that into a ply process(engineered) and you can have big problems.

the issue is expansion rates between the top layer( hickory) and the bottom plies..

the expansions rates of the top and bottom occurring at different rates will cause delamination and cracking..and you may even see some cupping as the top layer dries out too much.

this is absolutely a manufacturer defect.

the same things have happened in BR -111 and their Triangulo lines when they were the same company..Now triangulo is separate form Br 111.

Kiln drying can be an issue but I suspect more it is the underply materials and the top layer.

what may be working for other species may not be doing well for Hickory and others..

You need to get your own inspection done by a good inspection company who is certified with the nwfa. You can get a list from their web site, some are way more professional than others so I would be sure to check their references as well.

Relative Humidity controls Moisture Content, Moisture content affects dimension. As an NWFA Inspector in El Paso TX, one of the 4 driest i.e. low relative humidity, in the nation moisture content of the wood typically is the cause of face checking and delamination. It is rare for engineered wood to check or delaminate if the moisture content in the wood reads higher than 5% which translates to a relative humidity of 25%. Most mfg's require a minimum of 30% to 35% RH which translate to 6.2% MC 6.9%. Testing is the only definitive method to determine the real cause of your situation. For engineered wood veneer you will need a moisture meter that can be set to 1/4" in order to accurately read moisture content in the wood veneer itself. A 3/4" depth will pick up moisture in the concrete and deceive you with a higher MC than is the venner itself. Good luck!

in

I find it hard to believe that people to this day will not spend under a couple hundred bucks for a stand alone humidifier when they have thousands of dollars invested in a hardwood floor, rotary peeled or foreign made or what have you.

Everyone I see gets the humidifcation shpeel. And an Amazon link to the one I have in my house. So there's no denying the fact they were not told.

The way I explain it to clients is as follows:
When the oil Gage in your car turns red indicating your low on oil what do your do? They generally reply put oil in it.

So when the Hygrometer that you can buy from Walmart reads 25% or less then what do you do? Find a way, humidifiers preferably, to get it at least up to 25%. www.buildingscience.com Is an excellent website to educate oneself regarding humidity necessity.
Low moisture content readings, face checking, and edge lifting is characteristic of dry cupping. Testing will verify it.
I don't know who this inspector is but an NWFA Inspector can lose his license for discussing anything regarding the inspector. ONLY the commissioning party can get the report or discuss it.
Inspector Standard of Professional Conduct prohibit it.
Additionally only the concern you are sent there to test is allowed any discussion either.