"what needs to be done to make the floors even?"

Without seeing the situation and what was agreed upon it's hard to tell. I think I know what even means in your mind; a smooth uninterrupted flow throughout?

Lot's of floor preparation, period. Maybe even structural improvements which is not their scope of work. Even though Empire came in and slapped down what they thought worked, it's not their responsibility to get everything in tandem unless it was requested. Now if there are separate rooms where it's obvious corrections were not performed it is up to them to make it right, but you may incur extra costs providing you were informed ahead of time.

Example: "Shell. We don't know the condition of the sub floor under this carpet. If it requires extra work to correct it additional costs will be incurred." Costs are typically material and labor.

That's my take from the info provided.

Thank you for your reply. Since I wasn't here when the decision was made to have them do the installation, I only have my wife's word as to what was said during their conversation. She told the sales rep that we wanted to have hardwood floors installed, and according to my her, he told her that hardwood or laminate flooring was not possible because it would buckle or separate. The sales rep told my wife that they could put it down, but there would be no guarantees on the flooring or the installation.

I can only assume that since we had to have the flooring installed before the movers delivered our household goods in mid-December, my wife settled for the LVP installation since she was told it wouldn't show the imperfections.

My major concern is not the money that we spent to have something installed I wasn't happy with (well it is, sort of), it's the fact that he didn't recommend to her that if we wanted the flooring we requested, she should look into having the floors leveled and then they would revisit our flooring options. Personally, I think he took advantage of her in the fact that he knew we were in a hurry to have this done and it was money in his pocket!

Besides the humps in the floor where it's uneven, the flooring they installed is very noticeable where the seams come together, especially when the sun shines.

I guess I'll have to chalk it up as a $11,000.00 lesson learned, and make sure I'm present when these type of decisions are discussed. I hope karma does exist!

"The previous owners installed new carpet throughout the house ... to hide the floors imperfections, they had the carpet installers install extra padding so floors imperfections weren't noticeable."

"This is all about resale value ... I guess we could do like the previous owners and hide the imperfections in the flooring"

Are there no disclosure laws in your state? Brand new carpet, extra padding ... it's not like the previous owners weren't aware.

"Now if there are separate rooms where it's obvious corrections were not performed it is up to them to make it right, but you may incur extra costs providing you were informed ahead of time."

Why perform corrections when you can just have the customer agree to no guarantee on the installation? No guarantees on the installation of $11,000 worth of flooring? I guess it's easy for Empire to stay in business and be profitable if they can get away with that. However, if everything was explained to the customer and put in writing, I don't know how they can be faulted. There are people who would elect to install flooring without the proper prep work in order to save money.

Well, we have no photos or anything at all really to go on. Empire, I suppose. I know their phone number! (That's actually a bad sign...)

It's not unusual for 100 year old homes to have some floor issues. Especially if a recent addition is sinking. (Bad sign #2.)

Give your wife a break. I'm sure she feels terrible. Without seeing the house, we don't know if a traditional site finished white oak floor would have been even possible. If you really can't stand it another minute, get a real pro in there and have it redone.

Best of luck.

I may have misunderstood about the guarantee ... they wouldn't guarantee the hardwood or the laminate if you chose to go that route? Did they guarantee the LVP installation? What exactly does that provide?

What was wrong with the original floors? Refinishing the original wood by an actual Pro who could talk to you with that goal in mind would seem to be the best option.

It's water over the dam.... But advice to others: if you buy a 100 year old home you may be for a lot of problems - unless the windows / doors / heating system, plumbing / electrical / etc has all been replaced. Further have the kitchen and baths been updated?

40 years ago, my wife and I bought our first home - 75 years old. We learned. As they say: "They don't make them like that anymore". Most engineers would say "Thank God".

We did this when we were 27. I wouldn't want to be doing this at 67.

I would get the floors refinished and be done with it.

Good evening everyone - I appreciate all the comments and feedback. There was no flooring underneath the carpet when they removed it to install the LVP. Supposedly, the LVP has a lifetime limited warranty, under normal wear and tear. Seems I've heard that catch phase somewhere before....lol!

In short, "happy wife, happy life". She fell in love with the property and likes the house, so we're here until I can convince her it's time to downsize, which we should have done this time around. We have to decide what things we can live with, and those we can't.

Geoffrey-b: from what I can ascertain, the previous owner was retired air force and did some renovations the 2 years they lived here. Problem is, he did them himself and obviously cut corners where he could. He did pay to have a new HVAC system installed in the cellar, along with a new hot water heater, well pump and water softener system. If it were me, I would have added on to the guest bathroom and have everything placed in the add-on. Going down narrow cellar steps with no head clearance is no fun. He also paid to have someone dig out enough of the crawlspace to run the duct work to the family room he added. The family room he added and it's design is a mystery to me. He used the concrete slab that used to be the carport for the floor and installed carpet over concrete. When coming in the side door, if you turn to your immediate right, you walk down into the family room. If you go straight, you will walk up 3 levels to the main floor. Those 3 levels used to be the steps leading to original side entrance. I do not like the way you have to go 20 feet up 3 levels to get to the main level of the house. Mind boggling to say the least!

The kitchen has been updated with new stainless steel appliances, but that's about it. The cabinets are a lower grade quality and the countertops are Formica. The kitchen is something we can wait on, especially given the money already paid out for flooring and exterior siding installation.

The guest bathroom, which is also the laundry room, has a 4' x 4' x 4' walk-in shower that the contractor is almost finished tiling. This was a project that my wife's uncle started on or around July 20th. He ripped out the old fiberglass shower walls and tub and finally realized that he had gotten in over his head and couldn't/didn't finish the project. I called the contractor doing the work now, he came out to a look and told me to rip out what he had installed and he would start over. Three months without a guest shower until this contractor could fit us into his schedule. We survived, but I do not like the master bath in our bedroom.

The master bedroom is very large and has been remodeled by the previous owner, and again, his remodel of this room could have been designed better to make better use of the space. The bathroom is too small (4' x 8') for one person, let alone two. There are two large walk-in closets opposite of each other across the room from the master bathroom. We were wanting to tear out the bathroom and use that space for a large closet that would be big enough for both of us. We wanted to convert the walk-in closets and all the empty space in between into a large master bathroom. The master bath could have been 12' x 20' and provided us with more than enough space to move around. We had a plumber come out and take a look to see if what we were wanting to do was possible. His assistant surveyed the area under the crawlspace and stated there wasn't enough room to run the pipes without digging out the crawlspace, which would be very expensive. I plan to get a second opinion from another plumber.

Lastly, I purchased this home using a VA loan and the house was appraised by an independent appraiser on behalf of the VA. From experience, I know they look everything over thoroughly. I wish they had home inspectors that were just as thorough. The home inspector I hired really let me down, but in Indiana, there are no rules, regulations or guidelines they have to meet, to the best of my knowledge.

That's it ladies and gentlemen. I thank you for your feedback and allowing me to vent my frustrations. I guess I should have figured my luck would run out eventually, given the number of houses I've purchased and sold over the years, This is actually the first "lemon" in which I have the pleasure of owning! :)

Here's a link that will take you to Zillow and shows pictures of the house as it was before we purchased it. As you can see from the pics, looks are very deceiving when looking at properties online, and this house was no exception. Yeah, cosmetically it looked okay, but the real trouble lies beneath!

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1054-E-Base-Rd-Greensburg-IN-47240/85174001_zpid/

Good day!

Well leveling floors wouldn't be an issue. First what you do is knock all the high points, and install underlayment plywood to make floors even. LVP if surface isn't leveled won't cover any warranty claims, in fact it voids warranty I believe. So 11 thousand dollars sounds awful for that. You could have easily installed actual hardwood for that price with a little bit of shoping around. Good luck to you. You live you learn