# Biggest flooring nightmare in your career?



## hawaii (Feb 13, 2009)

I would like to know what is the worst , or most unpredicted problem you have had in your entire flooring career.
I understand that a lot of people tend to just say " Never had a problem with my installation" I call them liars ;-)

I would like to just know for statistics what is the most common problem out there.


Only problems I had was on grade concrete, engineered flooring.
One was a floating installation that have lifted just in the hallway but it was hard to deal with because of the location and the entire flor had to be pulled out, another one was a glue down of strand bamboo, after applying MVP by bostic and glueing down the bamboo started to cup. The biggest surprise there because that was a remodel and there use to be horizontal bamboo installed and it worked very well.


If you do not feel comfortable to write about your own experiences maybe you have had a friend that had a problem...

Thanks guys and keep up the good work.


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## cleveman (Dec 28, 2007)

I was just laying some tile in a bedroom. Had the tile ready to go and started laying. I soon noticed I had more than one calibre of tile and had to make due with some joints approaching 1/2".

It was for my own property, so I went with it. Never had any complaints. Ever since, I've been stacking the tile on edge against a wall first and making sure it is all the same size.


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## [email protected] (Aug 9, 2011)

I layed a whole bathroom floor with 6 in. Glazed white tile. When I was grouting I noticed some grey edges showing against the white tile and grout. Turns out that one box of tile wasn't fully glazed to the edge. Luckily the homeowner is the one who bought the tile. Got it from Lowes.


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## nymasterfloors (Jan 28, 2011)

I did a 2000sq install refin stain n poly job well the 1st floor which was 1000sq cupped after 2 weeks I asked the HO if he had any moisture probs in the basement. HO said he thinks so. I did a moisture test with a meter in the basement and got a reading OF 45% WHICH IS WAYYYYYYYYYY over the norm. Moral of the story we ripped out the entire first floor got paid twice and HO fixed moisture prob


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## Mike- (Aug 20, 2011)

Did a main floor of pre finished maple hardwood floor apart of a decent size renovation here in Vancouver. I get a call back recently from the HO and they state that some of the boards are beginning to cup. So I go a grab a moisture meter and check the moisture to be quite high. I find it quite odd because when I did the install, everything was done properly and to manufacturers specs. I ask how they clean the floor and to no avail, I see one of these. ...........

http://www.rubbermaidcommercial.com...tegoryCode=cleaning_wavebrake_mopping_systems


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## astor (Dec 19, 2008)

I was contracted to do a stage like restaurant section in Toronto. Custom made 24" x 24" finger joint parquet look ash squares with ipe frames-total about 200 sq.ft. GC was running late for grand opening date.
Had major spec problems with this GC. Had to replace dozen squares because he did not want to see rift boards-even there was no spec in contract or drawings. the job was looking like a million $$.
Then concrete counter guys dust the first coat of the fresh poly,spend hours to get it off, then when we start to apply second coat night time, the finish started to boil as we apply. We had to wipe of all finish on our knees with rags, explained to GC next day asking additional day, he fumed..*so am I,  him and his job,*just walked away from that job with over 4K loss.
Later I found out he hired my comp to recoat-for max $500. 
This was over 20 years ago and I never figured out how that poly start to look like boiling just within minutes or never experienced or heard something like that....GC was a total jerk, maybe he applied something just to get it free??
*Nightmare in my career: never work for a jerk or someone you are not in the same page..*


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## KnottyWoodwork (May 23, 2010)

Radiant heat tubes getting punctured is always a fun time...


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## ohiohomedoctor (Dec 26, 2010)

KnottyWoodwork said:


> Radiant heat tubes getting punctured is always a fun time...


I saw that done on a spec home 5 days before open house. Never seen so many mexicans as I did that day.


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## Tile King (Dec 12, 2011)

No problems that I have ever had that I didn't fix before the tile dried. Or grout was sucked in where the wall tile had little tits for spacing........ The one big problem I HAVE had,,, and boy was it a duzzey!
It was around 1995 and I was a tile helper.
We just received a delivery of brown onyx slabs sitting on the A-frame in the shop. I was loading the truck with skids of tile we needed for the next day with the forklift. As
I was young and cocky I thought I could hit the pedal to the floor with every move. Well needless to say I backed up with the wheel turned, thinking I had plenty of room and it happened....... 3 slabs worth about 60 grand broken in half. I worked it off little by little but never heard the end of it! Fun times. I am careful beyond careful now because of that little debacle. being older and wiser I look before I leap!
Wait! I do construction! How wise am I really!


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## ohiohomedoctor (Dec 26, 2010)

Tile King said:


> No problems that I have ever had that I didn't fix before the tile dried. Or grout was sucked in where the wall tile had little tits for spacing........ The one big problem I HAVE had,,, and boy was it a duzzey!
> It was around 1995 and I was a tile helper.
> We just received a delivery of brown onyx slabs sitting on the A-frame in the shop. I was loading the truck with skids of tile we needed for the next day with the forklift. As
> I was young and cocky I thought I could hit the pedal to the floor with every move. Well needless to say I backed up with the wheel turned, thinking I had plenty of room and it happened....... 3 slabs worth about 60 grand broken in half. I worked it off little by little but never heard the end of it! Fun times. I am careful beyond careful now because of that little debacle. being older and wiser I look before I leap!
> Wait! I do construction! How wise am I really!


And that puts you in the running to win this thread for sure. Wow!


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## Metro M & L (Jun 3, 2009)

I was doing 300 sq foot apartments in this tenement that was being refurbished about 5 a week. Started on the wrong one that was scheduled to have flooring installed. Move ins were stacked precisely so everything had to be right on schedule. Started sanding the right apartment that day at 6 pm after doing another floor that day. 14 hours of hardwood floor sanding in 95 degrees; that was fun.


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## charimon (Nov 24, 2008)

Dec 23,2009 just finishing up laying a bathroom for a couple and we noticed that 7 tile didnt match the rest, this was about 45 min before the supplier closed for x mas. Well the 7 mismatched tile were from the NEW shipment and the rest of the set were orphans. My supplier just loaded me up with twice as much as i needed of the new stuff and said sorry. 
Did I mention they had company coming in from out of town for the holiday's. 

This has nothing to do with the commercial job where the subcontractor in charge of foundation waterproofing failed and ruined 13,ooo sf of gypcrete SLC that we had laid tile on


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## mrghm (Nov 19, 2006)

6500sqft of bamboo in appartment building, cupped few weeks after install, the GC made us rip out and replace plus cost of hotels for H/O's plus repaint interiors,

supplier ran back to china, 

cost to us over 150k


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## jamestrd (Oct 26, 2008)

I would never have paid that hotel bill or anything else..

I would only honor the work we did..

no manufacturer or the like takes any other responsibility other than replacement of their products..they wont even pay the labor to get that replacement.

things can go wrong on a job and it is your responsibility to fix it only.

the rest is not your problem.


that said..over 15 years in biz, about 20 in the biz, having employees and working for guys..i have seen too many abortions and nightmares to talk about..

coatings are the number 1 complaint in this biz..its all the end user really has a gauge to judge by.


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## ohiohomedoctor (Dec 26, 2010)

mrghm said:


> 6500sqft of bamboo in appartment building, cupped few weeks after install, the GC made us rip out and replace plus cost of hotels for H/O's plus repaint interiors,
> 
> supplier ran back to china,
> 
> cost to us over 150k


What was the suppliers name?


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## tom wentzwood (Dec 12, 2011)

About 12 years ago i did job on the east coast 4200 sq ft 4 inch santose mahogany and and excited as anything !! custom install sand and finish, located materials placed order, got materials to job site and let wood acculamate preped floor 15 lb tar paper job was going like clock work, material looked absulety beautiful, and saved about 1.00 sf thinking Yea Baby!!! racked good portion of job out about 80 %. NOW Time to nail, this is where my nightmare started , started nailing and Milling of wood is off blood was boiling to say the least!! got on phone to distrubitor nothing they could due bundels of flooring wer cut, so after settling down, it was twice as much work for install and spent days cutting slivers of wood in gaps , I finished job and looked awesome .( Its all about experience right) I learned two things on that job, If it looks good,smells good,and taste good its probilityl to good to be true. AND You Get What YOU PAY FOR.( thank you Hawaii great question!! ) tom www.wentzwood.com


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## mrghm (Nov 19, 2006)

jamestrd said:


> I would never have paid that hotel bill or anything else..
> 
> I would only honor the work we did..
> 
> ...


GC owed us over 600k at the time it happened as we doing a large contract on the project which included stairs & decking, lobby joinery. we were on a 30 day payments.

GC was underpressure from developer with devloper going to push for damages & delayed handover on the entire project 125million, liquiated damages would have run into 50k per day so maybe we got out of it cheap.

we removed bamboo & have been able to sell a fair bit of it as it uncupped about a month later. makes it worse knowing that they should have let it settle down for a few weeks.


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## jpincombe (Nov 28, 2011)

The one that comes to mind is, the company I worked for got a call to install a clients carpet in a triple wide manufactured home which, we don't normally install what we don't sell, but times are slow you know. It was the winter in the pacific north west in the fortys the place had no power so no heat they ran a powercord from the house next door, left three small heaters overnight. Well it got up to 52 degrees I told the boss it wasn't warm enough and he said we had to do it and just stretch harder. I did try to power strech even using a 6'x4'x4' agaisnst the wall. Long story short we were back 2yrs later and in a triple wide it was a pain in my a**. Acclimate Acclimate Acclimate.
CLN
John


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## BKM Resilient (May 2, 2009)

Disneyland cove linoleum job at night with no lights, no heat and a hundred zillion guys in the way. At the time I wasn't all the sharp on cove work. I had done mostly VCT, glue down carpet and base......you know the type. Anyway there were three of us. The boss' son who was a PURE crapet layer and an apprentice who used to be an iron worker. 


Man did we BUTCHER that job in. And that was before the days when everything got welded. I have no idea how the shop got paid but we never got a call back. 

Such is life.


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## jmorton (Dec 11, 2008)

I had traveled to a base to help another installer with demo and installation of carpet squares in a barracks building. 3 stories installation was done in hallways approx 8' wide by 300' long, as well as the stairwells. I began to notice a slight color difference, so I brought it up to the other installer, who happens to be gods gift to flooring. You all know the kind. Im kinda thinking "Hey, we have a dye lot issue." But everything had been opened and "staged" prior to arriving, so I had no way to check. We install the product.

2 days later, Im installing carpet in an ADA home on another military base. It was a last notice deal, I hadn't scheduled anything that day as I had set up a VCT job for a local grocery store for the evening hours after they had closed.

I finish the ADA home by 5pm, get home and tell the help to rest until 9pm then meet at grocery store for a long night.

I just get to laying down to get some rest, my phone rings. Its the GC from the other military base. He states he cannot get ahold of the orginal installer and there is a small punch list, and the tile that I had thought seemed odd, was not going to pass. Half a hallway, 8'x150' had to be pulled and re-installed. I had to be there by 9am the next morning.

This particular base is 2 1/2 hrs away from me.

What do you do? The grocery store had obviously moved some things for me to do my work. So to cancel, to me, was just not an option. This is how my schedule worked out:

7:30am-5:00pm Install 180yds carpet in ADA home.
6:00pm-9:00pm Eat/kids/life/rest.
9:00pm-7:00am Demo and install VCT in grocery store.
7:00am-9:00am Haul A** to Military base for demo and punchlist.
9:00am-5:00pm Punchlist/walk floor X3. Demo and reinstall hallway.
5:00pm-7:30pm Drive home.
7:31pm Body decides to find second wind.
10:30 pm to 10:am DEAD SLEEP

Sometimes I love this  business


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