I hired this company to do what was supposed to be a very basic ONE DAY job... install pre-finished hardwood flooring in my small hallway and staircase.
The craftsmanship was a JOKE... I would laugh out loud at how bad it looks but it's MY house that they messed up! Sarah and "Doc" litterally sat in my house for 3 days trying to teach themselves how to install the flooring!!! Honestly, after reading DIY sites, I could do the job better myself.
Words can not do this justice... You must see for yourself. Luckily, I took photo's and video every step of the way, so I can share their handy work with the world:
http://s90. Photobucket.com/albums/k271/n2flipn/Floor Problems/
Now, I should point out that when I started to question and complain about the poor craftsmanship, they actually had the nerve to tell me it was SUPPOSED to look like that. Yes, they acted like I was just a dumb homeowner who didn't know what she was talking about.
The stair treads that were cut 1/4 inch too small, leaving gaps on ALL sides... So Sarah kindly explained to me that those are "expansion gaps" and need to be there! (too bad the manufacturer saw the pictures and confirmed that it was done grossly wrong) They decided to try to fix the gaps with caulk... Now I don't know if the caulk exploded, or what, but I have globs and smears of caulk ALL OVER the place!!! When I asked them to at least try to cover the gaps with quarter round, they had the nerve to bring out USED quarter round that was a different color!!! Seriously, they brought me quarter round that had cut nails sticking out of it! What type of contractor brings USED materials to a job site???
Next problem, the stair treads MOVE up and down when you walk on them!!! When I complained about that I was told it was because my original stringers were loose. Again, I called the manufacturer who suggested I take one step off and CHECK my original stairs... Sure enough the problem was with THEIR INSTALL—NOT my original stairs! (I have all this on video for your viewing pleasure.)
Next problem, they tried installing my pre-finished solid 3/4 inch hardwood floor with LIQUID NAILS!!! The instructions clearly state that it is supposed to be NAILED down, and the Liquid Nails bottle states that it is NOT to be used on hardwood floors... But when I asked I was told "this is just an accepted practice in the flooring business". Again, they tried to act like I was in the wrong—not them for doing a poor job! So, I called the manufacturer and asked... I was told that it was NOT acceptable and actually VOIDS my warranty!!! ALL the flooring needed to be ripped up!
Our floors had gaps all over the place, boards were cut crooked, and the thresholds were installed differently at every doorway (none of which were correct). When I asked about the huge gaps in between my planks of floor, again I was told they were "expansion gaps" and were SUPPOSED to be there!!! Again, I called the manufacturer to ask... Guess what, I was right AGAIN... You are NOT supposed to have expansion gaps in the MIDDLE of the room and all over the place... That's just called a BAD JOB!!!
Now, I will give them this much, when I threatened not to pay my remaining balance, they did bring a sub-contractor out to rip up all the floors and re-do it. It took this guy about 4 hours and it was finally done right!!! BUT, my stairs still look awful. Big suprise, as soon as I paid off the balance they never fixed the rest of the issues as promised.
One last thing I should mention. Sarah Griffith had the NERVE to tell me she was going to put a "mechanics lein" on my house because she had to "do extra work". I tried explaining to this woman that if SHE had not messed up in the first place there would NOT have been extra work to do!!! WHY should I have to pay her to fix her OWN MISTAKES??? I must have made her mad because she then "warned me" that if you make a contractor mad they will come back and do damage to your house... Sorrry, but that sound like a threat to me.
Being that she has insisted every step of the way that she did a "good job", I figured she would want to use me and my photo's as a reference... Wouldn't she want the entire world to see the pictures of the "good job" she did at my house???
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