We recently had pre finished red oak installed in 4 areas. It is #1 common 3/4" nailed. The company subbed out the work. We asked owner of store to come out because we have many areas with end to end not being even (overwood) and spaces between boards over much of the floor. Owner said we didn't understand per finished hardwood and that the only way to have even floors was to sand and refinish. He was the one who talked us into prefinished in the first place saying prefinished could be installed in 2 days, was harder and would last much longer. the 2 days ran into 10days and it is not finished after a month. He said as long as a credit card could slide on the floor it was,ok and that cracks were normal as long as a quarter didn't fit into it. This is July and what will happen to these cracks come a cold winter. We don't want to have to sand and refinish a brand new floor. Should we have these problems? The cracks or spaces are not consistant, but spread across the areas. Our neighbor and friend, who has a business sanding and refinishing floors, came over and said it was a very poor job of installation all over and should be replaced. I was going to contact an inspector just to discover that the inspector in our area is the store owner himself and the one telling us to live with it. Should we have to "live with it". $5000 is a lot to waste.

Well, I would have to ask why didnt you have your neighbor/friend do the install? Anyone can shoot down someones work especially when they are the cut throat competition . Anyway the store owner is partially right. Some gaps and unevenness is acceptable in prefinished floors. The use of color putty is normally used to repair such areas. The better the material and the better the mechanic the less of that you will have. You can get an independent inspection, those inspectors travel often. I fear that you got a sub par floor with a sub par install and are probably stuck between whats "technically acceptable" and what you thought you were getting.

Who is the flooring manufacturer?

While the store owner is partially correct, these are things that are really subjective. I have a few questions for you, with regard to the installation and your current situation.

1. Did the store owner come out, or send anyone out, to actually physically see your floor?

2. Prior to the installation of the new floor, did you keep the wood in your house (in the rooms it was being installed) for around 3 days to let it acclimate?

3. Did the installers do any sub-floor work, or did they just lay the wood over your existing sub-floor?

Also, if you feel comfortable with it, are you able to tell me how many square feet the job was? You said $5000 is a lot to waste, but depending on the size of the 4 areas you had done, this could be a real budget job.

It's not uncommon to see extremely inexperienced installers working as sub-contractors for flooring companies, accepting far less pay due to their inexperience, so that you can get a better deal. IMO in this industry, "you get what you pay for" really seems to apply.

With that being said, the company you are dealing with should take responsibility for the craftsmanship of its installers. At the very least, they should send someone out to look at your installation and see if it truly was a poor job or if it's within the realm of normal.

With pre-finished wood, there will be some gaps and uneven parts. That's one disadvantage of pre-finished. It's a give and take. The fact that it is stronger and a faster/more hassle free installation are some positive aspects.

The bottom line is that if this store owner didn't come out to look at your floors to see what you are talking about, then he is a bad businessman. Even if it's just to come out and tell you that this is within the normal expectations of a pre-finished wood floor. I hope they at least had the sense to let the wood acclimate, and that they checked your sub-floor or did sub-floor work prior to the installation. Unfortunately, there are a lot of businesses out there willing to do these jobs for cheap and who deliver poor craftsmanship and no warranties. I sincerely hope you don't get stuck fighting with this company to fix your install, because that can be a real headache.