More wood floor issues - Immediate help needed

[John Hain]

A couple weeks ago, I started a thread about our new wood floor and excessive wood separation. They noted that the wood in this area had a high moisture content. They offered to resand, fill, then restain and finish the floor. Our response was - as long as it looks good in the end, we're happy. Here's the result:


woodcolor.jpg



As you can see, the color tone isn't a great match. In fact, it stands out to my eye. The blue tape is about 3 boards wide from where they sanded and refinished/restained. There are a couple spots, maybe 7, at the interface of the endgrain between boards, where the moisture literally appears to have wicked up stain more than normal.


wick2.jpg



The crack filler actually looks very good, but I'm not happy about the color. Remember, this floor is in a house less than a year old. The endgrain interface sites make it look like the floor sustained water damage, which would be an issue we'd have to explain if/when we sell the house.

What would you do?

EDIT: By the way, the flooring guy told my wife the floor color will lighten over time. That goes against what I know about wood. Is this some floor phenomenon that I don't know about?

[Paul Girouard]

The question is why is that area wetter / higher in MC ? Whats going on under that area , that isn't under the rest?

As far as color , your right it will darken as UV light and traffic / life happens to it. I 40 years , yes it might be ligher as the finish gets to total break down , he didn't really say "how long " did he That kind of a joke John although your more than likely not in a very joking mood about this

Couple of questions , just to be clear ,

Same company ?

Same crew?

Did they maybe do a wash coat / sanding sealer type deal the first time which would lessen stain penetration?

[John Hain]

The question is why is that area wetter / higher in MC ? Whats going on under that area , that isn't under the rest?

As far as color , your right it will darken as UV light and traffic / life happens to it. I 40 years , yes it might be ligher as the finish gets to total break down , he didn't really say "how long " did he That kind of a joke John although your more than likely not in a very joking mood about this

Couple of questions , just to be clear ,

Same company ?

Same crew?

Did they maybe do a wash coat / sanding sealer type deal the first time which would lessen stain penetration?

Found a piece of weatherproofing was missed on the wall during construction which they believe is the cause of the moisture difference. That problem was fixed and the wood allowed to dry out to match the existing floor.

Same company and same crew, yes. I'd have to ask about a sealer/washcoat, but I would assume they do it exactly the way they did it 7 months ago. I assume too much.

[Paul Girouard]

Humm yes never assume , if it can go wrong it will , IF you allow it. At least thats been my findings / results in this business.

Thats what it looks like to me , or they are using some "wierd" stain / top coat that I've never seen.

[John Hain]

Just talked to the flooring guys.

Everything is the same for the restain/refinish.

They want to know if we want to restain/refinish again by diluting the stain. Of course, he wants to know immediately what we want to do. Again, he stated his thinks the floor color will lighten over time. Apparently, he's really trying to rush our decision. There's no way, with my experience, I can give him an educated/experienced answer.

Anybody/Everybody.......what do you all think?

[Eddie Watkins]

We had a leak that caused part of our floor to warp a few years ago. They only replaced the damaged area but they stripped the entire floor and refinished it so it would match. If you can get the guy to do it that would be my recommendation.

Eddie

[J. Z. Guest]

We had a leak that caused part of our floor to warp a few years ago. They only replaced the damaged area but they stripped the entire floor and refinished it so it would match. If you can get the guy to do it that would be my recommendation.

Eddie

I agree with Eddie. They didn't bother to match the stain color, and now it looks bad.

Yes, the floor will darken over time, but don't bother arguing it with this guy. Make them refinish the whole thing at once so there is no doubt.

If they hadn't rushed it to begin with, they wouldn't have to be redoing it now.

"If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"

-Jeremy

[Josiah Bartlett]

Also note that crack filler almost never holds up for more than a season or two because of seasonal movement of wood. I would ask for either a long guarantee (5-10 years) or replacement of the affected area with new wood.

[Ryan Eldridge]

As Josiah said ask them for a long guarantee. I have always found that the crack filler comes out in about two years, depending on the seasons and amount of deflection in the floor (joist spacing and sizing)

[Geoff Potter]

I supervise Project Managers that build homes and I have built some myself in the 32 years I have been doing this. I deal with these kind of complaints regularly. The " it will lighten in time" is BS. The whole floor is going to lighten so that one spot will always be darker. Remember, you did nothing to cause this so you can make them do it right. Have them refinish the whole room and any connectors.

[John Hain]

Well, the builder and flooring guys are pretty good-minded. They came by again today and looked it over and did some more work. The builder thought we'll give it a couple months and reevaluate whether or not the whole floor will need to be redone.

I thought that was fair. It'll have to look darn good for me to consider not resanding the whole floor.

I'm still waiting for someone to refuse to pay for this debacle. It hasn't been an issue yet....but this is definitely one of those times when I'd have no problem bringing in a lawyer, even if it costs more than the floor is worth. I think I'd do that on principle alone.

[Peter Quinn]

I missed your original thread, but if you are saying that a contractor failed to weather proof a wall which compromised your wood floors in that area and led to repair/refinishing, I am saying that contractor needs to use his insurance, cut the BS and sand and refinish every part of the floor that is contigious. Might even consider having that part of the floor that was compromised torn up and replaced as that filler is generally for the birds and the rest of your floor looks great.

On the down side you'ld have to put your furniture in storage and stay somewhere else for a week while they do this, which they might also compensate you for. It sounds like they are compounding one mistake with another and hoping you will accept that as a solution.

As far as the color it probably wont match in your lifetime, oak is not one of those woods that 'lightens' over time. That transition is in an unfortunate location and is probably difficult to disguise with rugs or furniture. The only real question is would you rather live with their mistakes or suffer the inconvience of having them repared correctly?

[Matt Ocel]

Mr Quinn is absolutely correct! As a job sup for over 15 years I have worked for three of the top ten national builders, all of which value customer satisfacion. At Centex we would have appologized to the Homeownerr for the mistake, corrected the mistake, moved the furniture out, re-worked the entire floor, re-place the floor if nessesary, put the furniture back, and bought them a gift certificate, and then appologized for the inconveinence one last time, then have the Homeownerr sign off saying that they were satisfied with the results.


P.S. If a Homeowner Did Not sign off I would get docked my production bonus.

[Paul Girouard]

Boy Matt your hard on yourself , you'd dock your own bonus Holy molly!

John back to the floor , on the color issue , do you or can you move a piece of furinture thats been in place since you moved in and look at THAT color , to guage what this guy is saying . I doubt ot would even get lighter in the short term like I said yesterday but a clean area under a couch thats been covering the older floor from traffic and day/ sun light , MIGHT give you a better feel for that color change thing.

It is a $itch to match color no doubt , feathering in etc is all darned near impossible IMO / experience.

[Dick Strauss]

John,
I'm with you...the only wood I know of off hand that will lighten over time is black walnut.

If I were you, I'd want to get the problem fixed now. If you wait, you run the risk of the builder and/or flooring folks not being in business regardless of what guarantee they give you today.

I think you know they need to refinsh the whole floor and correct any suspect boards as others have mentioned. Because of lot to lot manufacturing variations and on-site mixing variations, you'll never get an exact match to the existing floors (even with the same brand and color of stain)....DAMHINT!!!

Hopefully they step up and do the right by you!


Good luck,
Dick