The representative for Mr. Sandless (Nick) initially estimated the entire project at my house would take 2 days; one day to demo the damaged floor boards in the kitchen and family room (appx. 80 sq. Feet), and another day to apply the refinish. He also stated that the minor amount of sanding that he would have to do would not be a problem as he would cover surfaces in the affected areas with plastic.
On Monday, Nick showed up late the first day (and all but 2 days thereafter when he bothered to show up at all). Nick completed about ninety percent (90%) of the installation of the new floor boards in the kitchen the first day. Upon returning home from work, my husband and I noticed that the new floor boards installed in the kitchen were significantly higher than the existing floor. I called and left a voice message on the Company's answering machine expressing my concern that night. I called the Company again first thing Tuesday morning and I was told to speak to Nick about my concerns.
On Tuesday, I did tell Nick that I was concerned about the level of the new floor boards being so much higher that the existing floor. He told me that he was not finished with the work, and by the time he was finished I would hardly be able to tell the floor had been patched. When I asked how he was going to make the floor level, he told me he would sand and feather in the new floor boards to make them level with the existing floor.
During the course of the week, Nick had one crisis after another which caused him to be late or not show up at all and the job continued to run long.By Friday, I told them that the job had to be finished no later than the next Monday. Nick promised to complete the board installation on Saturday so that the job could be done by Monday.
On Saturday, I was informed by text message from Nick's wife, Amanda that Nick had been arrested and would be in jail the rest of the day. Amanda sent me another text message saying that they would both be at my house around noon Sunday, after church, to finish installing the new floor boards in front of the back door.
Sunday, October 7, Nick and his wife were again a no show and I had to make another of my many calls to the owner of the Company, Kevin Sprouse, to track him down. Nick and his wife finally showed up at 2 P.M. To finish installing the new floor boards in front of the back door. Nick did not put any weight on the new floor boards in front of one of the back doors so that we could let the dogs out the door into the back yard. We questioned Nick as to why no weight would be necessary and he explained that our occasional walking on the area to let the dogs out would be sufficient to set the glue.
When Nick showed up to complete the job on Monday, my husband and I both expressed concern to Nick regarding the fact that the new floor boards were still sitting significantly higher than the existing floor and made it clear that it would not be acceptable for them to remain that way. He said he would sand them and the floor would be even.
I went to inspect Nick's progress around 4:30 P.M., I discovered that Nick did not use any plastic or make any attempt to contain the dust from his vigorous sanding and dust covered that entire back of my home where the work was being done. When I looked at his work, I saw that some of the ends of the wood used to patch the floor had been sanded down to the plywood making the ends dark brown, contrasting with the light oak floor.in addition to the discoloration, some of the wood used to patch the floor was still noticeably higher than the existing floor, making the floor patches look like a relief sculpture projecting from the existing wood floor.
When I discussed this issue with Nick, he told me there were two reasons for this unfortunate outcome: 1) the existing floor had been walked on for years making it sit lower, and 2) the subfloor was not level. He said to make the floor patch the same level as the existing floor (installed on the same concrete slab), he would have to dig into the concrete slab.
In addition to the fact that the new floor boards protruded up from the existing floor in a relief like fashion, I noticed there was a big jagged gash in the floor board he installed up against on of the back doors. Nick also tracked wood glue all over the rest of the existing floor.
After all was said and done, Nick blamed his shoddy workmanship on the condition of the subfloor even though the existing floor was laying nice and contiguously even.
The job that was estimated to take 2 days to complete stretched out 7 days and was never completed. Kevin Sprouse offered to pay for the wood flooring needed to repair the work that Nick did and refinish my floor for the bargain basement price of $300.
I have talked to 5 wood floor companies who have all stated that the entire floor must be replaced b/c it is an engineered wood floor and the wear layer may not be sufficient to withstand another sanding which would be required to fix the damage. No one I spoke with will take on the liability of trying to fix Mr. Sandless' work.
I offered to let the owner of the franchise, Mr. Sprouse, to locate an individual or company to make the needed repairs without having to replace the whole floor but he could not.
I spoke with Mr. Sprouse again on Monday, and he too cited the condition of the subfloor as the reason the attempt at repair failed. He has suggested that a reasonable settlement would be for him to pay the cost of material to replace the wood floor in the area his company damaged.
In the meantime, I have a $4,700 bill staring me in the face to replace this entire floor, which will also require me to vacate our home with our 2-yr. Old twins, 2 dogs, a husband and three cats for a one week period incurring additional cost related thereto. Mr. Sprouse, has insinuated that I have not been harmed by his employee coming in an ruining my entire floor b/c after all, part of the existing floor had water damage and the purpose of engaging his Company was to repair that damage. What he fails to realize is that the damage was slight, and not enough for me to consider replacing the entire floor. Now the floor is an ugly eye sore.
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