Hello! I had Anderson Dellamano engineered flooring installed in my home in South Florida about 6 weeks ago (mid-May). It looked terrific after installation and still does look good - if you don't look closely. When cleaning a few days ago, I noticed that there are now many gaps in the end seams of the planks. Some would maybe fit a couple playing cards. Others fit a dime. A few might fight a nickel even. There are also a few places where the gap is along the sides of the wood as well. The wood was installed in my entire downstairs (with the exception of my laundry and bathroom), on the stairs, and in my upstairs hallway. These gaps can be found all over the house, including on the stair landing. I have also noticed that in other areas the glue seems to be coming up in pieces between the seems. If you roll it with your finger, it comes off. I am wondering if that indicates it will start gaping in those places too.

The wood was in my house maybe 24 hours before they started to install it. They told me engineered wood did not need to be acclimated. We were out of the house when they installed it, but I do not believe they had my a/c on, even though I told them they could run it. We live in South Florida, but I run my a/c ALL the time. Since it took them over a week to complete the job, one would think that at least the last room they did would not have the problem, but that actually seems to be the worst one!

I contacted the owner and he is coming with the installer tomorrow to look at it. Can anyone help me with verbage? I am assuming this could not be a milling problem, if it took 6 weeks to start moving. Could it be due to the glue they used? (Some kind of Mapei?) Or is this due to their not acclimating it properly? Would it take 6 weeks to start moving?

What will my options be now? What can I ask them to do to fix it? What would be reasonable - can they redo it? If it will not look as good doing that, would it be reasonable for me to ask for money back?

Thank you for any help you can offer. I would appreciate any insight or opinions.

Tracy

I never believe it when manufacturers say no acclimation needed even for engineered or laminates, some do some don't. Most say do. Check manufacturers website for the installation guidleines.

Out of curiousity I went and found it I think this is your floor manufacturer, Anderson?

http://www.andersonfloors.com/Files/Eng ... 10revB.pdf

I don't see anything about acclimation untill you get to "Wooden Subfloors" That might be a typo. It should be under the general pre-installation guidelines I think.

But I have to say they are the only ones I've seen so far that quote HPVA on their literature! Thats a very positive detail that I would like to see all manufacturers state in their literature.

"Material is manufactured to exceed industry standards (ANSI/HPVA EF 2009)."

Many problems occur to me regarding this install. Anderson requires the home have the temperature between 65 to 80 degrees at the time of install and forever after. Humidity levels must be no less than 35% or more than 55%. The wood as stated in the installation instructions should not have a moisture content between 6% and 9%. The subfloor and the hardwood cannot have a difference of more than 4%, if the hardwood has a moisture content of 10% the subfloor cannot be less than 6% or more than 12%, this can be determined using a moisture meter and it is the only way this can be determined. If the hardwood had a moisture content over 12% it should not have been installed also the subfloor cannot be more than 12% clearly stated in mfg guidelines. IF the hardwood had a high moisture content and installed without checking the wood would have expanded. As soon as the AC was turned on it would shrink and gaps will occur. My suggestion would to go to www.NWFACP.com and find an inspector in your area and hire him to determine the cause of your gaps. Anderson clearly states their cannot be a difference of more than 4% moisture content between the subfloor and hardwood.
Example if the wood is mfg at 6% to 9% in most cases and say it is at 15% the wood will expand installing it in this condition and then turning on the air conditioning which will remove moisture the wood will shrink and gaps will occur. This results when manufacturer's guidelines are not followed.

Thank you for the opinions gentlemen. Stephen, that is the manufacturer of the floor. It appears that they did not do what was required to the wood beforehand. Although I do keep my air between 65-80, it was not delivered only the day before installation began and I think they probably had it warmer than that in the house since they weren't running the a/c during installation or when finishing floor preparation.

Jim, I do know that they did moisture tests (or at least they told me they did), but I was not present when they were done and cannot be sure what the readings were.

I am going to go ahead and contact an inspector. Can you tell me though, what can I expect? What should I ask for if it is determined that they screwed up - which it sounds like they did?

1. Is this something that can be "fixed" with new planks? Or would the floor need to be torn up and replaced?

2. How will wood filler really look? Does it solve the problem or is it more of a temporary fix? (I have two kids and a dog.)

Thanks!
Tracy

I also wanted to mention - our stairs are VERY creaky. Could the acclimation/possible moisture issue contribute to that as well? Our subfloor is concrete, but the stairs are wood.

It sounds like you have a floating /engineered floor. I recently looked at a bamboo engineered floor where the but joints (end joints) pull away from each other and then have to be kicked back together . In the case of the bamboo floor, the manufacturing is at fault. The click together floor doesn't lock very well. If your floor is a click together , then perhaps the manufacturer is at fault.

But you mentioned glue so can you tell us if you know for sure that the floor is glued down or not ? Or is this a floating floor that requires glue to be applied to the tongue and groove ?

Hi Paul! It is definitely glued down. They were VERY good at taking up the tile we had down - and that floor was super clean and flat before they applied the wood. I saw that (they did keep a very clean shop) and I saw them putting the glue down as they layed it. I just wasn't at the house the whole time they were doing it.

I guess I'm just confused why it took so long to move. (6 weeks) If they had "acclimated" it with turning on the air, even for a few weeks before installation, if it took so long to move after, would 5 days before have made that much of a difference? Does that make sense?

Also, we are in the most humid weather in Florida right now. It was definitely more humid when they installed it since they didn't have the a/c on, but I'm worried it will shrink even further now during Florida's "winter."

Finally, does anybody know if I can get it to expand back if I put humidifiers around the house to add more moisture?

Tracy, it's pretty easy to track down the rh at time of install in your area though the weather service or almanac. Then compare to rh in house now. If the wood was installed at same rh that was in house without ac on then it would be good. Just because it was not in the house does not mean it was not the same temp and rh where it came from. But ac is a dehumifier and I really doubt it is the same rh in there now. But still it is industry standard to acclimate inside the house, not the warehouse or garage.

You can get a portable humidifier, I have one but it's not going to run much in the humid times of the summer but it will help some. Also the moisture measurements may have been concrete meter tests and not moisture content of wood since this is glued to a slab usually guys don't bother with moisture content of the flooring.

If you call for an inspection make certain you ask that the guy/person has a lengthy hardwood installation background. Yes even if they are NWFACP.