There should be no gaps side to side or end to end on newly installed floors. Could you be mistaking the eased edges for gaps? If they are truly gaps then it was installed improperly.

It is also possible that the tongue in groove profile was not milled correctly and it may have been impossible to install the product tightly. The face that the gaps are on the edges as well as the ends leads me to suspect poor milling as the cause. If that is so, then the installer should have noticed that when installing the product. Or it has nothing to do with milling.

Thanks for the replies. I went back over today and looked and I can easily slip a dime into some of the gaps. I will post a picture if I can later. My final walk through is on Tuesday night. Hopefully, they will fix this for me, but now will have to be after I move in. I close on Wednesday and movers coming Thursday morning.

"There should be no gaps side to side or end to end on newly installed floors. "

Only if the wood is measured and known to be above its final moisture content.

If the wood is slightly above it will shrink after installation and can be installed with minimal gaps.

If the wood is drier it will expand and must be installed with at least some gaps.

Without a wood moisture meter to check the floor and the sub-floor there is no real way to tell what is going to happen.

You still have some risk with what the final equilibrium moisture level will be.

I could have bored you to tears with moisture content and such but seeing how you saw the job a few days after being layed, no matter how acclimated the floor was to the room or the moisture content of the wood you should have no gaps anywhere that you could drop a dime into unless as glennsfc said, it was milled incorrectly, and then it was up to the installer to see that.

If it is brand new, it it installed incorrectly. For the record, inspectors normally will use a credit card for thickness as a gauge. I believe it is a shoddy job by an installer.

Thanks for all of the expert information. I feel "armed" with knowledge now. The flooring is Century Hardwood/Yardley Maple Collection, 5" , eased edge/eased end. Here is an attempt to share pics.

Here is a link that might be useful: wood floors

That is a BAD install job! It should be redone. Just wondering if they used a nail gun instead of a floor nailer. The boards would not tighten up without the force of a floor nailer behind them.

That's what I thought but wanted to be sure I wasn't being too picky. I have the walk through tonight. Suppposed to close tomorrow. My current home is sold. I have to move out Thursday, no choice. Hopefully, they will just agree with me and have it redone after I move in. Are there wood floor "expert inspectors" that I could insist be hired for an unbiased opinion if they don't agree with me? And have that as an amendment at closing.
Kate

The salesperson came to house today and saw the installed wood floor for the first time and thankfully agreed with me. They say they will make it right and will replace what is needed. One more question. Is it any more common to have improperly milled boards ( not straight) with the wider widths, in my case-5", than with narrow boards?

No! All boards should be milled correctly and by saying that we are not necessarily talking about the "straightness" of the board. Many boards are likely to have a curve in them that gets straightened out during installation with a floor nailer.The milling issues wood be in the planing and routing of the board and would include things like chattering of the surface and tongues and grooves inconsistently cut. There will always be some culled boards but any reputable manufacture will have consistent milling of all size boards

I just had red oak 5" boards installed and have the same problem. Gaps on the sides and edges and the ones on the edges are often at an angle. One end of the seam is fine and then the gap gets gradually larger by the other side of the seam.

Sounds like bad mill work.

Thanks!