Lumber Liquidators - Flooring Installation

Posted by ok4now on 2012-04-26:

Your first clue should have been "Liquidators." At least Home Depot an Lowe's stand behind their work. Good luck with these people.

Posted by dan gordon on 2012-04-26:

sorry to tell you but filling gaps especially in prefinished flooring with putty is common and standard practice. No wood is perfectly milled so there will be gaps etc. If it were site finished then gaps would be filled prior to finish being applied.

Posted by lexophiliac on 2012-04-27:

As a DIY'er I use wood fillers frequently. If you are dissatisfied with the installation, do contact the manager and discuss it. House settling, walls and floors not being 'square' or 'plumb' are some issues that can and will affect aesthetic installation, but can be cleverly concealed with a little cleverness and cosmetic cover up.

Posted by 2cent-er on 2012-04-27:

With flooring the milling is critical. that's one of the reasons for $ difference' on floors. who wants to see filler throughout their house! respectfully disagree with Lex/; regardless of how far off the floor or walls are; that's the responsibility of the installer=bring everything to level and square.

Posted by face it on 2012-05-19:

Having done installation of hardwood for around 24 years now I can tell you that filler putty is not uncommon. However if the milling of the wood is sub standard That is a manufacture issue. Lumber Liquidators sells this type of material, usually without telling a customer about possible issues. As you say thee is filler in almost every seam sounds excessive . A common type of milling for pre-finished hardwood flooring is an edge treatment called micro beveling. Where the edges of each board has a somewhat rounded edge to it to disguise the difference in height from one board to the next due to either sub floor condition or the actual milling of the wood. If the edges where square you would feel the difference between each individual board. A less experienced installer might try to fill these voids with a putty, not knowing any better. Without a picture of the issue you are having it is hard to know what the actual problem is by the description given in this review.
Lumber Liquidators uses a service company called The home service store to offer installation services to there customers. Without going into a long drawn out explanation of what that means, it basically means that the money you pay for the installation goes to feed yet another 1-800 company that serves no actual purpose but to take installation liability away from lumber liquidators. Quit simply put if you are not satisfied with your installation refuse payment. If payment was made with a credit card dispute the charges. Also contacting the BBB will do nothing to help your situation (as lumber liquidators is an accredited member of the BBB and they simply pay there way to a higher rating than they deserve) If you can not get satisfactory results from contacting the installer to fix the issue I am afraid the only option at that point is to seek legal help.

Posted by trmn8r on 2012-05-19:

Excellent comments, face_it. I certainly hope that someone didn't fiil the bevels in over 1200 sq ft! You are correct, without a picture or a very detailed explanation it is hard to know exactly what the issue is. Your advice on what to do fills in the gaps. For this problem, BBB is a waste of time. A complaint would leave their rating at A+, since they bought it.