I have a problem and really, really need some expert advice. I bought a NEW house and moved in on New Year's Eve, 2003. The builder finished all the work inside my house within one month so I could settle by the end of the year, this included my hardfloor flooring. The entire month of December, prior to my move-in, the weather was snow/ice/sleet. After I moved in on 12/31/03, within six months, I started seeing cracking or what looked like "strings of celery" or raised lines in my hardwood floor. The builder was notified, and they had the company who installed the floor come out, who then replaced the involved boards that had these "raised cracks". This was an engineered wood floor by Mohawk. They never told me what caused this, and actually just threw my boards away without sending them back to Mohawk to find out the culprit. . Within another 6-8 months, my entire floor had now become involved with these imperfections -- it was "growing". I would say it involved at least 85% of my floor. This was in the living room, foyer, hallway and powder room, and underneath this flooring was a finished, heated basement. The builder denied this second claim since my house was over one year, and the company who put the floor in also refused to fix my floor. Two inspectors were hired, and one said low humidity, and another said high moisture, totally contradicting each other, but called it "checking". No wetness or moisture was ever found. I was never given any instructions from either the builder or flooring company about humidity levels in a house. I received no warnings from anyone. My floor is getting worse, and I am getting ready to file suit about this floor. Is there a chance that the weather in which the floor was installed in, as well as the time of year could have been the culprit as well as being in a cold truck on delivery?
What about acclimation? The builder rushed this job. I live in Maryland, so in the summer I run the AC and in the winter the heat. Extra boards that were stored in my AC/heated basement on an upper shelf in a closed box, also had the exact breaks in them as my existing foyer/dining room, etc., does. These boards were never used, and the installed had opened the box, taped it shut, and it was never opened again. These boards broke down in the exact way as my used flooring did. Can anyone explain this? I very rarely open the windows because of living in farm country and our humidity in Md. I thought I was doing my floor a favor by running the AC and not opening windows in 100 degree heat and 105 degree humidity. I do not have a humidifier or dehumidifier on my furnace. What is your opinion on my floor? How could I be responsible for what is happening to my floor when I was never told about high or low humidity levels affecting wood flooring if this is the case? I think there was something wrong with the wood from the start. One report said: "engineered wood flooring, constructed from layers of wood that were glued together. The surface wood layer was removed from its original log by a process called pealing. This process made the surface layer more susceptible to checking. What do you all think. There were never any wet shoes on this floor, and no windows were ever left open in the rain. Each board on my floor looks like a "stalk of celery" with raised lines. CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME -- it's me against Mohawk and the floor company. Give me some tips on what I need to ask to prove my case.

What a conundrum! Two different inspectors finding to seperate causes. Have you filed a claim with Mohawk? In CA. we have what is called a latent defect law, which still holds contractors liable for faulty construction. Maybe you do in your state. It is nearly impossible to determine if the problem happened before, during or after the installation. But by your description, I would venture to guess the flooring was exposed to excessive humidity during installation and swelled. Then dried out after the home was completed. Typically, engineered floors can withstand this better than solid wood floors but all floors need to be handled properly and it sounds like your's wasn't. Owners are not allowed to claim ignorance when it comes to proper maintenence of their homes. As a home owner, the responsibility to know how to take care of your home falls on you, the homeowner. Builders are not required to tell you how to do this but most good ones do. Consider talking to your attorney about how to motivate those contractors who installed that floor to fix it. I cannot rule out a manufactoring flaw either. That is always a possibility. Good Luck.

Dang Gary, You should direct your abilities to writing. That was very well put. I see a high paying consulting business in your future.

"I see a high paying consulting business in your future."

That would be great! If I could get paid to consult only. But I'd need to be independant. No big corporations for me! Are there any people out there that actually make a living consulting only?

First who inspected the floor a Certified Hard Wood flooring inspector from NWFA. 2nd your problem may have come about from 1 builder pushing a contractor to do the floors before the machanicals where in operation. Contractor did not aclinate flooring to the house. Also is not common that the house was open to the elements for to long, sub floor held to much moisture and no one ever checked. Beleive me it is not uncommon in Maryland and Northern Virginia.

Mitchell

I dont mean to sound rude, but claiming ignorance on care and maintenance does not make the installer responsible for humidity and moisture levels more than a year after the install. And although IMO your Builder or Project manager should have gone over the proper maintenance required on the day of the close. He may have. Sometimes those little details get lost in the memory,,,, especially in the excitement of a closing.





This statement tells me it is the conditions inside of your home, if the wood that has been doing nothing but acclimating for a long time has developed problems,,,then your moisture and or humidity levels are outside of the required range for your product. Obviously they were never installed so it is not an Installation issue.

Just for kicks, what is the rH level inside your home, now?


Problems that are installation or manufacturing, appear within the first 2 months of a floors life(Really within the first month, but may go unnoticed)

A claim filed after a year is more then likely consumer related.

Guys, she stated she noticed the problems within a year. Actually, less than a year. And she did notify the builder. Typically, builders must warranty a home for a year and often do so for longer. Since the flooring company and builder corrected some of the floors during the first year, IMO, that says they admitted fault/blame. However, they didn't correct the CAUSE so the problem continued. So after that 1st year, the entire floor was affected. The problem here lies with determining the cause. Once the cause is determined, then fault/blame can be assigned.

It would be good to see the pictures, cause this sounds very similar to the issue I posted with my "cracks" in the BC wood floor. Many places looked like the way she is discribing as celery. It started immediately after installation and the mfg sent an inspector that validated a problem existed with the wood before it arrived at my home. The wood in the box developed similar cracks as well and a piece of the wood that went with the inspector developed "celery type cracks" in the wood when it was at his home!!

Still waiting on the proposal as to what the mfg will do to fix the problem , but seems we are starting to move forward after my many phone calls and persistence.

It doesn't sound to me like you did anything out of the ordinary in your home maintenance. Running A/C is standard in high heat as is heating in the winter.

Can you place a claim with your homeowners? They are probably better at finding where the fault is and subrogating to the appropriate party.

Good luck!

sounds like the same thing that happened to my BC enginered floor, too low humidity and it checked like the devil. Try to keep at least 45% RH, mine got down to 30% before I figured it out (with the help of the guys on this board)

Well guys, I finally have pictures, and I will be sending them for everybody to look at and to give me their diagnosis. Please help!

wood is wood.
Furniture is wood
Cutting boards is wood.

It all does the same thing under the same conditions because it is wood. So what is the problem?

It happened and it is wood.
Ya don't wipe wood furniture with water and water, or lack of moisture, causes checking.
Wood does that.