We have four large rooms of random length 5" plank flooring laid with a floating installation. One room has more than 4 times the number of shorter planks and the planks are clustered in three prominent strips. The floor looks chopped and damaged. We are being told that this is the correct installation but do not want to pay for the floor as is. We have asked that a section of this floor be replaced. Would like some suggestions/opinions/help.

Most manufacturer's installation instructions say to distribute the varying lengths evenly throughout the floor. It can be a challenge, especially if the cartons containing the flooring do not evenly mix up the wood. While it is not "damaged" per se, a floor with many shorts grouped together may look odd or uneven in appearence. It sounds as if you had the floor professionally laid. If so, withold the final payment until the issue is resolved to your satisfaction. If you've already paid for the work, then your only recourse is to continue to bug the contractor until he fixes it. You may need to file a complaint with a consumer agency like the BBB or state license board. But if you do, plan on it taking a very long time to resolve. Small claims will be faster but you will need expert witnesses to testify on your behalf. Good luck.

you are in the right. Installers are to shuffle between boxes, layout the floor to minimize use of shorts in one area. Sometimes it is hard to do because the lower cost products have too darn many of them.

Ray you have 10 cartons to work from, You open 5 to get started with a variety. You go grab a couple of more as the work progesses, to get them into the mix. You grab the last 3 and open them and the entire contents of the last 3 boxes is all shorts. I've had this happen on more then one occasion, with a certain"B" manufacturer.

Yup, what Perry said. Always get the boxes with all the short stuff, when you get to the last 2 or 3.

Happens every time!

We supposedly bought the "gold" level floor and had a preinstallation warranty which we didn't know about because neither the dealer nor the installer let us know. The warranty is printed on a sheet that is packed in every 4th carton of wood. Since we did not install the floor, we did not see the paper. If the installer did end up with a glut of small boards, they could have been boxed and returned, "no questions asked." Instead of stopping the job which would have been inconvenient for them, they just laid what they had left. We are pretty certain that qualified installers would never have laid the floor this way. These guys laid one plank that had a knot hole that showed the wood backing under the laminate. They laid two delaiminating planks. They laid multiple planks where the laminate was split into two distinctly different colors. What is equally disturbing though is how this many small planks and this many substandard planks ended up in cartons of premium product. We keep hearing that they are within industry standards, but the standards are obviously only there to protect the manufacturer, not the consumer. I am curious as to how many qualified wood floor installers would lay three 12 inch planks in close proximity to each other in the middle of a very large room when there are not other such lengths scattered around the installation. 12 inch planks are really not planks at all; they are scraps.

Does anyone in Texas know whether there is such a thing as a state license board for this? We tried the BBB, but the dealer threatened to sue us in his BBB response. We consulted an attorney, and he said not to say anything else about the situation in that forum due to possible litigation.

"I am curious as to how many qualified wood floor installers would lay three 12 inch planks in close proximity to each other in the middle of a very large room when there are not other such lengths scattered around the installation. 12 inch planks are really not planks at all; they are scraps".

Having three short boards in on large room even if they are close together is fairly common. The shortest length allowed In a NOFMA grade floor is only 9". A prime grade floor only has to have an average of 2.75 if I remember right. If you did not want these boards in your floor than you should have made it clear prior to install.

If you want to take this to the end, then contact the State ASttorney generals office and file a consumer complaint. Actually yuou can contact the Texas residential Construction Commission, trcc.state.tx.us and file a complaint there. They are supposed to have a home improvement license as a minimum.

If there was a written warranty provided by the manufacturer, and you did not get a copy, then the seller has defrauded you.

It looks like my floor has patches. We had this same floor installed in May 2005, and there were no 12" or 15" pieces in the field of the floor. In fact, there were only fifteen short planks (18") in the entire room. Our living room has 65 of them. We were not expecting this. Do homeowners need to stand and watch every plank being laid when they are paying for professional installation? Everyone we know who has wood floors has checked their floors, and no one has a short plank under 24" out in their floor. This includes one relative who bought a lower end floor. This may be acceptable as an "industry standard," but it sure results in a choppy, ugly floor for the consumer. It's a cosmetic defect rather than the upgrade we expected to get for our money. We wouldn't buy this house if we walked in and saw this floor, and I suspect some other people in our price range will have the same reaction.

Good luck, Call basically any flooring manufacture in the country and ask if 12" are acceptable and they are going to tell you yes. Honestly I think you are being slightly overcritical but with out some photos it's hard to say. you said there are 65 in your living room how big of a room are we talking? 200 sf, 600 sf? "Do homeowners need to stand and watch every plank being laid when they are paying for professional installation" No but wood flooring is a product of nature and will have varing lengths and colors,its part of it's character no two floors are the same.

My situation has been going on since the end of September. Many people have looked at the floor, and only one person who has walked into the house thought the floor looked acceptable (still hated the 12 inch pieces) and that includes neighbors, friends, realtors, building inspectors, engineers, decorators, a retired floor dealer, a builder, and a CWFI (said it was below average). Not only is the number of short boards greater (in about 300 sq. ft.) than in other areas, but also the boards are clumped in strips and sections. Had the shorts been dispersed, throughout the installation, we wouldn't be fussing with the dealer. As to being fussy...we chose a rustic floor with simulated dings and splotches. We like the distressed look. It takes a pretty big mess to make us say ugh! Also, this is a replacement due to a water leak. We had this same style of floor before, and it did not look like this. If you sell/install floors, doing this kind of work is likely to bring a dispute with your customer. Wouldn't it make sense to discuss these issues with your customer before starting the job if, indeed, these shorts are often poorly distributed in the cartons or appear in high numbers?

What is 2.75? Is it a percentage? Is it the number of boards per carton?

It's an overall average length. Please dont think I am discounting your situation but you have to understand I see tons of flooring day in and out have for all my life. It's a common complaint to have an abundance of shorts especially in rustic grade products. Now that you have told me the size of the rooms and how they are grouped together in rows makes your complaint easier to give an honest opinion. I wouldnt have done it personally but there is lots of things that I see in construction that pass for aceptable that I would never put my name on. Have you contacted the manufacturer of the product? I assume they hid behind the good ol "your installer accepted the material as usable goods once he put it in the floor". Most dealers are not going to tell you about the preinstall warrenty because of the nightmare associatde with getting their credit back for the additional material. Been there.