Wood floor bubble - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Christopher · 12-16-2007, 12:52 PM

I have a wood floor that had water damage from the frig. they had the floor pulled up and reinstalled. (not by me cost $4500) now it has bubbles in it where it looks like they did not get it glued down. They want $4500 more to fix it again. So the owner called me. he has a patch kit for color and I am looking at drilling a hole in it and injecting a adhesive under the floor.

has anyone tried this and if so what adhesive did you use.

it is a wood with laminate top glue down floor..

please respond soon i have to go out there tomorrow at 1 to do it.. Would have posted sooner but i live in oklahoma and power has been out for 6 days from ice storm.

Tom R · 12-16-2007, 01:06 PM

Sorry, read post wrong . . .

Jerry T · 12-16-2007, 01:20 PM

You need to try and explain the problem better. Sounds like they put new flooring over top an already wet subfloor.

Is this an engineered type wood?

neolitic · 12-16-2007, 01:24 PM

Like Jerry says, not enough info.
I feel for you though...
got family and friends in OK still sharing generators and still looking at another 7 days with no juice.
Hang tough

Floordude · 12-16-2007, 02:04 PM

I don't know why the contractor wants another $4500 unless there was another leak???

I'm with Jerry. It sounds like the concrete was not tested and varified to be within specs. The flooring contractor accepted the concrete to be withing spec, and now you have the effects rearing their ugly head!!

Hmmm??? Some finger pointing and the dance will begin!!

The injection my work, but I bet it only moves the problem.

Christopher · 12-16-2007, 06:38 PM

OK what happened is the frig leaked so they took up the wood flooring in the house for 4500. (Took up all the wood flooring in the house not just the kitchen) The is about 1000sqft of wood flooring that gos from living to dinning to kitchen to entryway. Then after a few weeks it had 5 places that let go. the installers told him they would need to pull up all the flooring again to fix the prob at a cost of $4500 again. Now what i am going to try to do (owner knows this is a trial thing and may not work) is drill a hole in the floor and inject adhesive and then push the floor back down to the concrete and let it set up for 24-36hrs. It has been the same person that installed it in the 1st place then came back pulled it up and reinstalled. What it looks like to me is he did not put glue down in a few spots. Spots that have let go are not all by where water damage happened some are in the next room on the other side of kitchen.

If anyone has tried this before or knows of a good adhesive to use please let me know. I am going off what a flooring guy told me but it am not so sure about his info.

If this dose not explain it clearly ask me a Q...

I'll post how it works out..

Christopher · 12-16-2007, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neolitic

Like Jerry says, not enough info.
I feel for you though...
got family and friends in OK still sharing generators and still looking at another 7 days with no juice.
Hang tough

POWERS BACK.

What part of OK are they in?

If there are a lot of the in there neighborhood that dont have power if you turn in a list of every one with out power it moves you up on there list to fix.. I dont know why, but a friend of my knows the guy who picks who gets fixed said if you do that they will move you up on the list. After 6 days of no power i found this out and power was back on in under 1day.

Floordude · 12-16-2007, 07:11 PM

LOL!!!

If you lay a straight edge on top of the floor is it going to lay flat and just a hollow spot under the floor?? Or does the straight edge teeter-totter on the bubble/ buckled floor??

If the floor is buckled, regluing is not going to fix the floor that was reinstalled too dry, and now has gained some moisture back. They must have dried the wood too much, while running a dehumidifier.. Installed the wood tight, removed the dehumidifiers, and the wood flooring has/is gaining back the moisture it lost. swelling each board to take up more space then was left between boards, with no place to go, but upwards(bubble/buckle)

neolitic · 12-16-2007, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Christopher

POWERS BACK.

What part of OK are they in?
If there are a lot of the in there neighborhood that dont have power if you turn in a list of every one with out power it moves you up on there list to fix.. I dont know why, but a friend of my knows the guy who picks who gets fixed said if you do that they will move you up on the list. After 6 days of no power i found this out and power was back on in under 1day.

My BIL's two brothers.
One got power just a couple of hours ago.
Other one some where east of OKC in the tulies.
Two houses and lots of nothing.

Christopher · 12-16-2007, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Floordude

LOL!!!

If you lay a straight edge on top of the floor is it going to lay flat and just a hollow spot under the floor?? Or does the straight edge teeter-totter on the bubble/ buckled floor??

If the floor is buckled, regluing is not going to fix the floor that was reinstalled too dry, and now has gained some moisture back. They must have dried the wood too much, while running a dehumidifier.. Installed the wood tight, removed the dehumidifiers, and the wood flooring has/is gaining back the moisture it lost. swelling each board to take up more space then was left between boards, with no place to go, but upwards(bubble/buckle)

Ahhh you know i did not think about the dehumidifier. It could just be a drop in the concrete. there is not much of a drop in the floor when you step on it and the owner wants to give this a try. I told him it might not work. So we are going to try it in one of the spots and he is only going to pay my minimal fee. Plus i am working 3 mils away from his house. No real loss in drive time.

How long do you think it would take for it to pop back up if it is a acclamation problem. I don't want to charge this guy for something that will only work for a short time. All I have is my Name and if I lose that its over for me..

Mike Costello · 12-16-2007, 09:11 PM

If there is a drop in the concrete your installer should not have done the job without levelling the floor.

He is liable

Jerry T · 12-17-2007, 03:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Costello

If there is a drop in the concrete your installer should not have done the job without levelling the floor.

He is liable

Took the words right out of my mouth Mike.

Christpher... there is a golden rule in play here...

Quote:

whomever touches something last, just bought it.

At the very least take a picture using the most current newspaper's front page showing in the photo. Do this before you drill any holes. The other guy "could" claim you are in some way liable for a part or all of the cost.

Glad your power is back on...

Christopher · 12-17-2007, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry T

Took the words right out of my mouth Mike.

Christpher... there is a golden rule in play here...
At the very least take a picture using the most current newspaper's front page showing in the photo. Do this before you drill any holes. The other guy "could" claim you are in some way liable for a part or all of the cost.

Glad your power is back on...

Good thought i photo almost all my jobs but i never put a paper front in it. That is a great thought thanks....

Ya i know what your talking about.. last to touch buys.... Thats why i am on here asking Q's.

I am going to go over there today and look it over again and find out more about it and if there is concrete dip or not.....

Thanks..

Floordude · 12-17-2007, 11:08 AM

Get a very specific contract on this!!! Don't do this for free, regardless how much your worth, charge for it.

Christopher · 12-17-2007, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Floordude

Get a very specific contract on this!!! Don't do this for free, regardless how much your worth, charge for it.

I charged him $125 for a trial and it took me 30mins and cost me $10.10 in stuff.

After looking at it again and talking to him some more today it looks like he got ripped off. I would not be shocked at all if the installer did not buy all new wood and reinstalled some of the old stuff and charged him for new. Also some of the tung's are missing on the tung and grove and the floor is not 100% flat. looks like he did not glue down part of it fully as well. it has also let go more now then when i 1st stopped by 3 weeks ago.... total mess and the installer he can not get a hold of and the place he got the wood at that sent the installer out went out of biz... Any one want to guess why the went out of biz???

O well. Hey what would you charge per hr to do this? thanks a ton....

Mike Costello · 12-17-2007, 06:10 PM

Cant see how that job can be repaired. If you have tongues missing and spots not glued as well as low spots in the slab,the job needs to be demo'd and the floor issues addressed before installing any new flooring.

At this point any attempt at repairing this abortion would be throwing good money after bad

I hate to hear about jobs like this. It gives us reputable guys a bad name.

Floordude · 12-17-2007, 07:46 PM

I agree. At this point, it sounds like total removal and reinstallation of new wood over a properly preparred substrate.

Christopher · 12-17-2007, 09:10 PM

Ya i know i felt kinda bad telling him with out coming right out and saying it that he got ripped off.

he wanted to try the repair i told him i did not think it was going to work but he wanted to any way so i did one spot and am going to go back tomorrow. On a lighter side one of my customer's said today that he was going to put me on his auto pay with his back.. he needs to one of his jobs is going to be about 160hrs of work.