Need pictures

What you’re describing does not sound good to me- it’s not what I would expect.. it sounds as you’re thinking it could be an installation issue rather than a material issue..?

I cannot figure out how to post more than one picture, so here is just a sampling.

Upstairs hardwood repair · More Info

Thank you very much!

1. Who PICKED the manufacturer/product of the floors - homeowner or installer?

Homeowner- Bruce Addison 2.25 solid hardwood flooring

2. Who PURCHASED the floors - homeowner or installer?

Homeowner

3. Who INSTALLED the floors - flooring store/retailer that sold the floor OR independent installer?

flooring store/retailer that sold the floor

4. Is this a solid hardwood or engineered?

Solid hardwood

5. How thick is the floor?

.75 thick

6. Is it 'factory finished' or site finished?

factory finished

7. What type of subfloor is this on - concrete or wooden subfloor?

wooden subfloor

8. What USED to be on the floor - carpet, hardwood, laminate, etc?

carpet

9. How much WORK was done ON THE SUBFLOOR - we call this prep?

Not a clue

10. How much did you PAY for the subfloor prep?

overall price we paid included removal of carpet, moving furniture and install of new floor. Is that subfloor prep? total labor for this job was $6300.00 (1200 sq ft)

11. How LONG was the wood allowed to acclimate IN THE HOME before install?

5 days. The wood was brought into the house and boxes were distributed around the house. (70 boxs)

12. Who was responsible for 'culling' any of the milling issues/damage issues?

I do not know.

13. How were the floors installed - glue, nail, staple, floating?

They were stapled and nailed.

14. Do you have humidity control in your home - if so what is the interior humidity ratings?

We have a nest which shows the humidity, 46%

I uploaded pic's to an idea book. hardwood floors

Again thank you for your thoughts!

How about all those questions? Any answers?

@SJ McCarthy The OP answered the questions in their post just about an hour ago. The answer is below each question.

Ah...sorry about that. I didn't look closely at the answers.

Good news is this is a "One Stop Shop" job.

You paid $5.25/sf for removal/disposal of carpet AND installation labour. You purchased both the hardwood and the installation from the same company. This makes it SOOOOO much easier. There can be no finger pointing.

Depending on where you live, the $5.25/sf is very high or very low for the service you received. Example: I'm in Vancouver Canada (the SECOND most expensive city in the World to live in = expensive labour costs, etc). The cost of removal AND disposal of carpet = $1.50/sf (labour, transportation and dumping fees at landfill included).

The cost to install a solid factory finished hardwood (nail/staple) = $3.50/sf. That means for an EXPENSIVE market such as mine, NY city, etc, the $5.25/sf is normal for the two services: removal of old + install of new.

Subfloor preparation would be extra. Carpets hide some of the WORST subfloors in the world (that's why builder's use them...they are cheap and VERY forgiving of workmanship errors). I tell my clients (in expensive markets such as mine) to expect to pay $2-$4/sf for subfloor prep once carpets are removed.

I'm going to guess, if you are in an expensive market, you did NOT receive any prep. If you are in a depressed labour market (2hours from the southern boarder with Mexico), you will have paid for $1/sf for subfloor prep = a little bit of sanding/leveling compound...nothing exciting or special.

A wonky subfloor can create the uneven floor finish (where edges are sitting higher than others). The 'culling' should have removed ALL of the bad planks (the splits the checks the chips etc). The poorly milled planks should have been culled as well = fewer gaps.

In my view, the Retailer's crew did not take the time to cull the 5% waste they were SUPPOSED to cull. They simply showed up, nailed things in place and left.

As I stated before, the GOOD NEWS is you have ONE PLACE to call = The Retailer. Get the manager out to view the floor. It is up to the GC/contractor to make this floor 'right'. You have enough issues to bring in the manager to have a look.

The split/cracked/poorly milled planks should never have been installed.

Thank you so very much for your time and responses. The quality manager is coming out to look at the job tomorrow. I am sure they will correct what they need to. We are in GA, so not sure what kind of market this is- but the installation did take them 2 days over what was estimated. Maybe by the end they were just rushed. I am relieved that some of these should/will be corrected. They looked wonky to me, but considering that I am not a flooring expert, I have really never paid that much attention to the details of anyone else's floor and I know that I have a tendency to over critique, best to ask for a professional opinion!

Thank you again!

"...installation did take them 2 days over what was estimated."

Yep. Tells me there were issues (whether with removal, disposal, not enough hands, subfloor issues, etc it is hard to tell) that NO ONE expected. A rushed job means the culling that *should have happened didn't.

They *probably had too many issues that could not have been foreseen (only a walk-through estimate AFTER the carpet was removed would have given an accurate labour/timeline estimate).

One of the things that help everyone understand the quality of the MATERIAL (ie. what the boots-on-the-ground had to work with) is the pile of extra product that should have been left on site (for future repairs).

Go ahead and look through the pile that was left for you. Pull out the good stuff. And then put the 'bad stuff' to the side. See how much of each you have acquired. In *theory you should ONLY have 5% in the 'bad' pile. In a lower quality product (such as Home Depot or Lumber Liquidator stuff) you can expect 10%.

The bad pile should have the cracks, splits, chips, etc. The planks that are not true (straight and flat). Basically the poorly milled product. The good pile should have all the usable planks that would look great in the middle of the living room floor.

Go ahead and cull your left over product (as the 'guys' should have done). Make sure you are looking at 90-95% GOOD and 5-10% bad. If you have a SMALL good pile and a BIG bad pile then the mill (Bruce) has some explaining to do.

The Retailer/seller/installer is responsible for CULLING the bad and INSTALLING the good. That's what you paid them for. The mill/manufacturer is responsible for sending product that is ONLY 5% bad. That 5% is "Industry Standard". That is one thing the Retailer is looking for - how much 'bad' arrived vs. good. It could mean the Retailer can get a refund from the mill if too much waste product arrived in your batch.

That's why culling your left over planks will help both of you get to the bottom of this.

Fill 1 & 8, replace 2, 3, 5 and 6, leave 4/5 and 7 alone. Note that replacing a board sandwiched between other boards entails that parts of the tongue and groove be removed. That's why I set a somewhat high bar for chopping out a bad board. 2, 3, 5 and 6 are all unacceptable so it's worth the risk of replacing them.