Q: My floors are popping after nearly 5 years. Here I am again with a follow up on the same subject. I called the inspector back to my house, and since he could never produce the pictures where the moisture is supposed to be.
I wanted him to show me. I don’t believe there was ever any pictures since he said he can’t find them, and the installer couldn’t find them either. Upon his inspection, his meter showed no moisture anywhere except in the laundry room, it made a soft sound.
Since the installer had told me to get an inspector of my own, and he would tell me whatever I wanted him to say, I passed this info on to this inspector who was hired by the installer. He tried to assure me that he was honest.
I had to let it go for awhile since I was exhausted from all this.
I know you are far away, but do you know how I can find an honest inspector? I’m not finished with this yet. I had one guy inject some glue in one area. The popping stopped, but the floor feel a bit squishy when walked on. I prefer this to having the popping. This is a very nice condo, and I will be putting it up for sale in the next 10 years, due to my age. I work hard to keep it in excellent condition so I will be proud to offer it for sale. Any help you can give me regarding finding a competent installer will be extremely appreciated.
A: The only suggestion I can think of is to contact the National Wood Flooring Association who have a list of inspectors approved by them. If they don’t have anyone in your area perhaps the next best thing would be to contact someone who does home inspections regarding home purchases. They generally have a good working knowledge of all facets of a building. So, a guy like this would be able to check moisture and if there is a leak some where, may be able to find it or pinpoint exactly why your floors are reacting as if they have elevated moisture. It sounds like your floor is under pressure, and this is why it is ‘squishy’.
Follow-up: Thank you so much for being my sounding board. I will contact an inspector, and thank you for that advice. The info I’m getting from a reputable contractor is since my floors originally had carpet, the cement was not prepared to take on a glued down engineered wood floor. It seems that my installer did not prepare my floor properly, and my only option is to have another person come in, and make small holes in the boards that are popping, and add more glue. I’ve tried it in one place and it stopped the popping. The holes are not visible unless you know where they are.
I’ve had the installer out several times, and nothing he says makes any sense.. just a lot of double talk. He thinks the popping is no big deal. I’ve been taken for $10,000 and the installer sees no problem with that. He said I should have gotten floating floors, but when questioned why he didn’t tell me before the present installation.. more double-talk and lies. When I’m ready to sell the house, it could be that I just have to replace the floors then.