Finished And The Floor Looks Fantastic

CW Floors has finished our floor and it looks fantastic! Damien came by yesterday to complete a few pieces of trim and we can finally say done. The floor is solid and glued down. I can't say enough about CW Floors agreeing to fix the original installation. We've already told quite a few folks about how happy we are with the installation and that it is rare that a company will go to the lengths that CW Floors did to get it right. We'd be happy to show our floor to anyone considering having CW Floors do the same.

It does look like the manufacturers picture in the header above.

The hallway looks really nice.

Here's Damien's card. He was the subcontractor from San Antonio that did the second installation.

New Wood Floor Laid

Here are some pictures of the new wood floor. Just like before, it looks great. It's a little lighter in color but I prefer it lighter plus it will darken as it ages. The installers called last night and said they would be back today to finish the trim and even said they'd repaint the baseboards because they got some of the floor leveling material on them.

We stayed off the floors as much as possible because the glue was still soft. This morning, I touched some of the glue that was exposed around the edges and it felt like marshmellow so I knew it wasn't dry yet.



Floor Prep Done

It looks like the floor prep is finished and it's time to put the wood down. The crew (Damien?) worked really hard getting the floor flat to prevent problems like we had on the first install. You can also see the care they took in covering pictures and mirrors with plastic. The true test will be if the floor is solidly glued down with no hollow spots.

I have to say I am really impressed so far with how much CW Floors has put into making this floor right. It's rare that a company will come right out and say that a job is not right and that they're going to redo it at their expense. And I know the expense was considerable as Pat said they were putting their best subcontractors from San Antonio on the job.

It's hard living with remodeling and even harder the second time. We're basically living in our bedroom as the furniture from the new floor parts of the house is stuffed in all the other rooms and the wood is stacked in the kitchen making it hard to get around. We really did not want to have to redo the floors and were not trying to complain on some technicality about the flatness of the floor. It was just with so much movement of the wood, there was no way the wood would last for the 25 year warranty and it seemed obvious that the cause was the floor not being flat to the manufactures specs. We didn't want perfection, just what was contracted for and paid for and that it meet the minimim specifications as required by the manufacturer. I'm looking forward to a much better experience the second time around. If it looks as good as before and is solid, we'll happily tell everyone we know (along with our blog followers) about how hard CW Floors worked to make it right!

Removing Old Floor

CW Floors started removing the floor on Monday. Sad to see it go as everyone that saw it mentioned how nice it looked. Here are some pictures of the removal. I didn't see them removing it but I'm sure it wasn't easy. I'm happy that CW Floors is making it right but it's still a lot of trouble to live through another floor replacement. All of our stuff is crammed in the kid's bedrooms and we're living and eating out of our bedroom. Hopefully, this time will go better and quicker.

Here's the new glue they're using. Different than the first one they used. This must be better.

Replacing The Floor!

Wow! Paula and I met with Pat and Chad and Pat said, "Yes, it's a bad installation and we'll replace the entire floor". Pat also said they would have the floor leveling product representative AND the floor glue rep there to ensure it went correctly. Chad said he'd already reserved the new wood. I'm thrilled that CW Floors is standing behind their product and installation that strongly. You can imagine my worry that there would be great difficulty. I feel badly that CW Floors is having to replace the floor. That's a lot of trouble and expense but I definitely have to commend them for making it right.

Contacting the Manufacturer

I'm contacting the manufacturer to see if the floors as installed by CW Floors of New Braunfels will be covered by their 25 year warranty. I'll update their reply here. Then I'll contact CW Floors.

I just spoke to Vicky from Swiff-Train, which is the company that distributes Scandian wood floor products for Texas. They are located in Corpus Christi. She said someone from their claims inspection department would contact me in a day or two about inspecting our floor installation.

Vicky called and we're scheduled for a meeting on Wednesday morning with Chad from Swiff-Train and Pat from CW Floors.

Hollow Spots in Living Room

These are all the hollow spots I found in the living room. It sounds terrible and feels like I'm walking on a springboard. The other areas are the same but I didn't outline them as the furniture from the living room was in the way plus I ran out of tape.



This is a picture of the non-flatness of the floor. It shows 1/4" above the floor on the end of my 8' straight-edge.

The lack of flatness isn't just a cosmetic issue. You can see in the pictures above how many hollow spots there are plus it makes our couch rock which can't be good for it's frame.