One month and two hardwood flooring companies later and we still don't have hardwood floors installed in our home. Carpet is looking better and better by the day!
After finally getting in touch with the sales rep at the flooring company. The issue was escalated to the owner and a claim was submitted to the manufacturing distribution center in August ME. It took four days before a claims adjuster was assigned and a case opened. My husband and I were praying the claim report would substantiate our concerns, that the hardwood floor was defective and cupped prior to install.
As we waited for the claim report, I had multiple arguments with the owner of the hardwood flooring company, whose stance continued to be that the damage to the flooring was due to humidity levels in our sub floor (which were high at 10-12%). He accused us of not having a completed HVAC system and central air running prior to install. I may not be a builder, but even I know that's ridiculous. 80% of people in New England don't have central air. I guess these homes must not have hardwood flooring? Or maybe you can only install hardwood floors in New England between the months of October and December?
Not only did we order hardwood for our entire home through this company but were were also paying them to install it. I just couldn't wrap my head around why they would move forward with the install if they didn't believe the humidity levels in our sub floor were not ideal. They had messed up and were literally trying to nail this mistake on us!
Back in the day hardwood flooring used to be stored outside among the elements. When it was delivered for install it required 2 or more weeks to acclimate. Today hardwood flooring is stored in temperature controlled warehouses. When it leaves the warehouse the humidity level in the wood is at 0%. Upon delivery (most likely in a non temp controlled 18 wheeler) and storage (god knows where) the wood takes on humidity levels of up to 7%. When the wood arrives at your home the humidity levels in your sub floor and the hardwood itself should not be greater than 7% total for a successful installation. Ideally it should be less than 7%. I wish I never had to learn any of this!
72 hours after the inspection an "inconclusive report" was shared. This resulted in a nasty email from the hardwood flooring company giving us 2 options. Keep all the hardwood and let them walk away or have the hardwood company rip out and return all 100 boxes of hardwood and give us a full refund so we could part ways. Guess which option we took..immediately!!
As soon as I got out of work that very day I drove straight to the another flooring company, shared my story and choose a new hardwood floor. Unfortunately the fastest delivery of the new flooring was 12 days as the mills in Canada closed for 2 weeks. And so we waited and finally 12 days passed and 100 boxes of new hardwood flooring were delivered earlier this week. We felt so relieved. It felt like we could finally move forward and start to finish the inside of our home! Until the owner of the new hardwood flooring company came out to take humidity measurements this weekend. Guess what, our sub floor is now at 13% humidity! No Go on the install! Hey at least this company is taking ownership and precautions to get this done right.
My husband jumped into action. He called every rental company, Home Depot and Lowe's in the tri- state area and secured a rental of 2 commercial grade dehumidifiers and fans. These devices are basically used if your house floods. They have a hose that you pull out of a window and they pump out 18-20 gallons of water a day! He brought them to our home and put them in the basement and first floor. Then he also borrowed two personal dehumidifiers from family and added those as well. Today we have FOUR dehumidifiers running! We are keeping everything crossed that in a couple of days these crazy machines will bring the humidity levels down in our sub floor. If not we may be installing these floors in October. I really hope it doesn't come to that!
