I need opinions, I am a homeowner who had new floors installed. Seems to me there are way to many short boards in a run. These are all over my floors, some have 4 short pieces next to each other..
Any advice, comments will be appreciated.

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Select and #1 common grades need to have an average length over two feet long to be within the requirements of Hardwood Floor Associations.Depending on the manufacturer, they can grade it however they like if they are not a member. You may not have known what to expect from this manufacturer, but the installation does not look bad. We try to use shorter boards for the starting and finishing of the rows. Sometimes a closet will get slammed with shorter boards to use them up. There is no requirement that the boards be spaced out evenly, it is up to the installer to make a pleasing looking floor with the material on hand. If there was a lot of all short boards next to the ending wall just to use them up, this would be a problem.

Its a price point thing - if you pay more money, you will usually get longer boards. Depends on the manufacturer.

Aside from aesthetics, the biggest issue with having lots of shorter planks is that it increases the number of joints across your floor. In a floating install, this can lead to excessive noise when walking if the RH in the space is out by +/- 10% of the recommended for that material. The short planks perform better when glued down, but since that's more costly than floating, you almost never see it.

And yes, a more diligent installer could have spaced those out better. Depends on how much extra material he had to work with (did you buy the recommended 6-10% extra for cutting allowance for example)

Considering what the guy may have had to work with I think it's okay. I can see possible frustration with the three shorts in one row.

Pete mentions closets. Yep, that's a good place, but perhaps there was an overwhelming number of shorts. May we ask the price paid for the material?

Sorry for the delay. He paid $2100 for the wood, there are way more than 3 shorts. I paid for an inspection and need advice if it is common to give installation opinions on fixing them. Inspector told me the inspection was in my favor because he mentioned the gaps. My attorney looked at his inspection and said it was useless for our case.


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From the picture of the upper hallway, my peeve is that he didn't use a full plank at the nosing to start the hall, but ripped boards on both sides, like it was tile.

what was the total sqft installed? Are the gaps throughout the whole house or in patches in some areas?

Upstairs is 750 sq foot, gaps are at least every 4th run.

He did the ripped boards on both sides of every run, the flooring in the bedrooms etc look like a picture frame...

It does seem like a low cost material (2.80/sqft - I'm assuming USD?) which would explain all the shorts.

I don't know why he would rip both sides in the bedrooms, unless he started in the middle and backfilled one side of the room? It's starting to sound like the guy was a bit of an amateur hardwood guy. The only thing I can think of is that he measured wall to wall and didn't want to leave a small piece at the end; so he ripped the starter line to leave him a few inches on the other side. The real pros will hide the small piece by shaving an 1/8th off a few rows, to give you that wider final row without any single row losing a noticeable amount. It depends on the size of the room and material. The majority of installs we do, we just install the smaller board on the one side - after the base and shoe is on, it's seldom a concern.

Good Luck with your conciliation!

An amateur is putting it lightly...
You should see the damage he did to my walls etc.
He told me his Wood Flooring person was going to do it, then installed it himself...
Sooo I had to hire an Attorney.
Hopefully, this will be over soon and I can have it replaced by a hardwood floor professional.
If it wasn’t for this forum and its members I would have been at a larger disadvantage.

Thanks all!

Beth

I kinda prefer a balanced hallway than a sliver on one side as a hallway is always the most open area. Just saying.

I hear you! On the main floor, I would also be inclined to balance the field just to keep it symmetrical on both sides. The picture from the original post is of the upper hallway, so there is a fixed nosing that runs parallel to the hardwood on one side of the hall only. I was taught to always use a full board at the nosing in this case, since it looks best next to the railing and staircase, which is always more visible than the wall side. Especially if the nosing is stained on site to match prefinished hardwood, the difference in shade looks better against a full piece IMO. That said, we don't install the nosings or railings, just the hardwood - nosings are in place by the time we show up. If you are putting them on yourself you may have the option of cutting back the nosing to allow for the full board.