That's horrible! I have no idea where anyone would turn to in this situation. Maybe the county health department? I hope someone can help.

OK, well I got a bit more info - the original owner was an employee of the builder's, which is why the builder agreed to provide financing. The lot was owned by the builder himself, and he agreed to let his employee build a house at cost himself as long as he did all the work. I guess the "cash" involved was a very small amount (maybe $10k) that the builder got as a "down payment" preconstruction. So he built the house himself using the builder (his employer) as the contractor, and agreed to let him have it at cost plus $10,000 (wouldn't there be tax ramifications? I don't know)...so the plot thickens... That said, as long as title is clear I'd presume that my friend is good to go.

Hi Mollie, I'm a little bit concerned by your questions because it sounds like you didn't know a lot about the "behavior" of soapstone before you chose it, and I don't want you to be surprised by, or disappointed by your wonderful new counters. Soapstone is unique in that it combines the following 4 characteristics: 1. It is chemically INERT. That means it won't react with any acids. No worries about tomatoes or lemon juice. 2. It is incredibly heat resistant. It won't suffer thermal cracks. Fireplaces are built out of soapstone. Frozen meat?? My goodness no! Traditional soapstone is praised for its ability to thaw frozen food quicker than other stone materials. I haven't ever been able to find out the scientific reason for this. 3. It is incredibly dense. Thus, it will not stain. Some substances will "mark" it (some stone experts refer to this as "soiling" vs staining. For example, a Sharpie marker will "soil" the surface. It might not wash off with soap and water, but it will not be able to penetrate the stone to stain in. It will sit on the surface, and can be removed in various ways (e.g. sandpaper). For everyday purposes, foods like grape juice left on the counter will have no soiling effect. 4. It is SOFT and it SCRATCHES. This is the area where I am worried that your stone supplier didn't fully educate you. Those of us who love soapstone love the patina (a nice way of referring to scuffs and scraches--tho patina encompasses more than just that). If you have soapstone on a writing desk area, you may very well get marks on the stone from, say, pressing firmly on paper with a ball point pen. This will depend on your stone. Some are harder than others. I'm not sure which scratchy pads will scratch your stone. I use 400 grit sandpaper to refinish the surface of mine. Sliding a ceramic plate across the surface of many soapstones will scratch them. I hope this helps a bit (and is clearly written--I don't have time to proofread b/c my 4 year old wants me to read to him now), and I do hope you will continue to love your stone as it ages and changes! I recall one stone supplier on the stoneadvice website saying that he believed a "good" countertop is one that looks the same 10 years from the date of installation (therefore he dislikes soapstone!). Soapstone might look different 1 month from installation! And that is what so many of us love about it! :-) francy

Here's my 'cost analysis' on this one. Ask yourself, "How much did I pay for the floors?" They look expensive so I'm going with about $10/sf for the material + $3-$4/sf for installation. If we say $15/sf all-in, is that *close? Add another $3/sf for subfloor prep and we are sitting around $18/sf. OK. Now let's imagine you have 1000sf of it. Right. We are sitting at $18K for 1000sf of wood. Now...let's look at what it would cost to RIP IT OUT and DO IT AGAIN. I know. I'm using scare tactics....because the reality of what is happening is SCARY. OK...To remove the wood you just added = $2-$4/sf (depends on if it is JUST nailed or if it is nail+glue). OK...if you add $18K to $3K = $21,000 just to have NOTHING. Hmmmm. Not a nice thought. Now add in $18,000 for ANOTHER floor....so far we are at $39,000 and TWO flooring jobs later. Wow. Not nice. Great. What to do? Add in the humidity. That's what you need to do. You can work with room humidifiers (one for EACH ROOM in the house...nope...not kidding) OR you can bring in an HVAC company to see if they can bring in a humidifying system into your home (yep...there will be holes cut in floors/walls,etc) and find out what the cost is. You will ADD the cost of the humidifier to the COST of the wood floors. If it is LESS than $39,000 (again...this is assuming 1000sf of wood flooring) then GO FOR IT. It is CHEAPER than doing this again. I know. It is disheartening. I'm sorry you were not told about your home's inability to handle wood floors. I'm sorry there was no one to tell you to with NARROW hardwood planks. There is a HUGE REASON why the 'pre-war' bungalows (for me pre-war = 1913) used 2.75" narrow strip hardwood. The narrow planks find it EASIER to 'live' in a home with NO humidity control. I'm sorry this has happened to you. Your installer is CORRECT. It is the HOME'S inability to ADD humidity. He is also correct in saying 'wait 3 years'. He already knew this would happen. So....sit tight and wait it out (you don't seem very happy with this option...not to this point anyway) OR you can correct it. Correction costs money...but it SAVES money (and floors) in the LONG RUN.