I had a new hardwood floor installed through LL Flooring yesterday.
My wife and I anticipated the same type of experience that we had with 2 projects that we did through Lumber Liquidators several years ago. Both the product and the installation in those 2 projects was excellent and we were very happy with the result.
While the end result of the installation that was done yesterday is mostly satisfactory, there were numerous problems throughout the course of the installation, most of them having to do with the fact that the installers did not understand English.
Additionally, we had instructed LL Flooring that we did not want to use t molding but it was sent anyway - just in case we ended up needing it for some reason. We made it plain to LL flooring that we had one existing threshold in place and another threshold of our own fabrication that we were going to install. The first thing the installers did was to tear out the existing wooden threshold that we wanted to remain. Although damaged, it was able to be cut down to a narrower width and still be utilized, although the aesthetics were certainly compromised.
The red oak flooring that we used before was Builders Pride. we were advised at LL Flooring that the quality was not as good as it was previously and if we wanted consistency and no knots that we should go with the Bellawood, that was more expensive but would be consistent quality.
while installing the wood we saw them put down a piece that was a very dark grayish brown and it didn't look like any of the other pieces of wood in any of the boxes that we utilized. We told the installer that was not acceptable and should not be used. Additionally, there was another one with a large knot that we said was not acceptable. They called their boss who asked to talk to me and he told me that his installers were going to install the wood just as it came out of the box. I told him that if that was the case, that he should tell the installers to pack up their tools and leave because that is not acceptable to me. He then said that they would take an extra step to deal with my request. I told him that that is the only way we could proceed. He agreed to it and the installers continued to do their work and they laid out the pieces of the flooring that were going to be installed and we pointed out 5 boards that had large knots or very strange coloration and the boards were set aside and work proceeded well.
I told them how I wanted them to handle the trim at the doorways. Since the flooring was going to be elevated by 3/4 of an inch above the subfloor where the old carpet was installed, I told them to cut the trim around the doorways, so that the plinth blocks could be installed there. When I came back a few minutes later to look at progress, I saw that the plinth block itself had been cut down 3/4 of an inch to fit underneath the door trim. This, of course, looked ridiculous to have a 5 inch baseboard adjacent to a 4 1/4 inch plinth block. I again showed them what they should do and this time they understood. However, they ruined two plinth blocks that I will have to have re-made and painted and installed.
I do want to note that the installers were very polite, did a reasonably good installation and cleaned up after themselves very well. I have no doubt the installation could have gone very smoothly if not for the language barrier. It is extremely unfortunate that the installers had to work under conditions where they could not communicate effectively, and it certainly made their job much more difficult. The process was very stressful for my wife and me to have to monitor what they were doing every 15 minutes and try to figure out a way to communicate and have them correct their work when there was a misunderstanding.
Additionally, the installers opened every box of wood, although it wasn't necessary as there is well more than a box full of wood left over in my house and they took additional wood away at our request. The unused T molding that LL Flooring sent to the job is here as well.
I provide this information to you so that you can provide better future to others in the future since our problems should have been easy to avoid. I am also requesting reimbursement for the extra box of wood that was not necessary, and for the T moldings that were not used.
My calculations are $137.88 for product and installation of the T moldings and 1 carton of wood at $103.15. read more