Thank you for the feedback. I am fully aware that my GC has voided the warranty on the flooring. Not only did his laborers glue the floor down in some areas, but they also did not use a vapor barrier, (couldn't if the floor was glued down right?). There is no place in the house where any large amount of weight rests on the flooring. The cabs were all installed first and flooring installed up to the edges. Same with the fireplace peninsula and the island. The flooring was on the sight for weeks before the install, and stored for 3-4 months less than a mile from the house. We are waiting till it gets a bit colder to do the checks on the heat levels of the flooring. The problems have manifested over the colder months. The plan is to test for heat, make decisions regarding replacement of the flooring and then reinstall the flooring in the spring when we will be gone for two weeks. I am personally confident that the problems are due solely to the glue down of the floor. Every place that we have a crack or gap is at a transition of some kind where glue was used. Additionally the upstairs which was not glued anywhere, because a professional flooring crew did the job, is perfect. We do have some contraction around the walls, and because we have very thin baseboard we can see some of the gaps. These gaps are right near the walls and are mostly hidden. I feel that this type of gap is expected and is acceptable to me. I don't think cracks in the middle of kitchen floor and elsewhere are normal or expected. My husband an I installed the floating floor in our last home over radiant heat, it was Kahrs click and lock wood flooring. We had none of these problems and the systems are very similar. This is not the only problem we have had with our contractor. We are still holding back on final payment, although by the time we are issued credits the total amount isn't near enough to pay for the floor. Boxiebabe: Regarding credit card payment: even if we had paid with a credit card we are well beyond the 60 days a credit card company will allow you to dispute a charge. Did you manage to dispute the charge after 60 days? I was really curious to see if anyone thought that gluing down ALL of the flooring sounded like a solution. I do think that even if the floor was properly installed having the two peninsulas and the large connected square footage could be a problem. Perhaps the total glue down is some kind of solution. I realize that the GC is trying to cover himself by suggesting that we chose a poor material. He has stated that no one locally will work with cork and that the industry trend is away from this material because it is so problematic. Unfortunately we live in a pretty small resort community finding a "flooring expert" is not as easy as it sounds. The nearest city is 280 miles away.

Yes! I was really freaked out when I first noticed it! My heart just sunk. I had worked for weeks getting the bottom on this pool perfect, just perfect. I wanted those expensive ColorLogicLEDs to look perfect when reflecting across this glassy smooth pool bottom (OK, maybe it wasn't glassy smooth, but those lights were all I could think about when I was troweling it on!) This pool bottom was really really smooth. But unfortunately I couldn't drop the liner in immediately due to the irregular pool shape. The liner had to be custom measured (using point-to-point) and custom made. It was supposed to take 2 weeks to get here, but the manufacturer ended up taking nearly 2 months!! By then the weather had turned cold. We left standing water in the pool bottom and around the pool itself. The water was freezing and thawing (both on top of, and underneath the surface) which cracked the pool bottom. We never even realized it until it was too late. However just before we drop in the liner, we are going to COMPLETELY remove those "cracked" sections with a sledge hammer, and totally replace it with a new bottom in those places. Can anyone think of anything better to do? (short of demolishing the whole thing) What would you do if this was a liner replacement? My biggest concern with the moving sections was not just to repair them, but to determine what caused them in the first place. The "Good News" was that I'm fairly certain that it was the standing water/freeze/thaw conditions that created the problem. By knowing that, I can redirect the water, let the soil dry out, and then feel confident that repairing the section will work. I'm just a simple DIYer, so I may be missing something here. That's one of the reasons that I'm posting it. Can anyone think of a better way to handle it? Would it be helpful to add rebar in those sections? (I wouldn't think so, as the rest of the pool doesn't have it.) This pool bottom seems really fragile. The directions for the installation say to only walk on it with soft bottomed shoes, don't spray water from a hose directly on it, etc. When I work with the portland cement/sand mix, I feel like I'm building a giant sandcastle! It's not at all strong like cement or even mortar. My personal feeling is that the sooner the liner is on it the better. My mistake seems to be letting Old Man Winter get here in between finishing the bottom, and dropping in that liner! Please keep the suggestions comin'!! -Renee

You should not be charging anyone anything without a license. This is to protect not only the homeowner here, but you also. You are exposing yourself to HUGE liability issues if you are working off the books and off the radar as an unlicensed contractor. And frankly, if you cannot pass the contractor's test and spend $500 to incorporate and buy a business license, why should anyone hire you? Them's the requirements. And someone who isn't willing to do that minimal amount of effort might also be seen as someone who would cut corners on a reno and do a hack job. And, if that were the case, what's to protect the consumer? What if you unknowingly do a job incorrectly? Don't say that wouldn't happen, because it happens all the time. What if all of the profit on the job was eaten up by that mistake that you tried to make good on? Would you still feel compelled to show up and work even though you were essentially paying the homeowner to be there? What would protect you if you had a contract dispute with someone who hired you? You aren't legal, so legally enforcing anything becomes that much more difficult. You could easily get stiffed and have a client tell you to sue them. What leg would you have to stand on in court? You weren't licensed to do the job in the first place, so "of course" they fired you when they found that out and don't owe you anything.

The acclimation you've been recommended to use is generally how we've done floors forever EXCEPT when using wider planks. As was noted above, have the plywood and wood checked. If they're too far apart the area can be dehumidified to bring the plywood moisture down and/or the wood will add moisture if it's particularly dry. Make sure the contractor is putting a vapor/moisture barrier (not retarder) between the concrete and the plywood. I don't recommend any barrier between the wood and plywood. Some pros have been burned using (probably cheap) water based finishes and refuse to use anything other than oil based. Others think you should use only the newest technology finishes and exclusively use water based. We use both. With a stained, hand-scraped White Oak, I would choose oil based polyurethane. No water based finish compares to the durability of oil modified. Considering the cost, it's a no-brainer unless you have special circumstances. As to staples vs. nails, we've used both and seen little difference in the performance. My preference would be for nails but the industry seems to have moved more toward staples.