Oh the horrors….One of my power partners called me up and had a wood repair for me to do. It seems while installing a mirrored door the glass exploded and damaged the floor. Can RNB repair it?
First, though, a wood primer.
There are three ways to purchase wood flooring.
1) Go online and hope you get the same grade and color that is advertised. Oh, and don’t forget the shipping charges and the fact that you have to pick it up as soon as it gets to the trucking company to avoid storage fees.
2) Go to a deep discount house and hope you get the same grade and color as advertised. Oh, and you have to get your own installer. Get the cheapest one you can, it will not matter. Why? Because if you are paying retail less than I pay wholesale, what quality do you think you will get? It will not be the correct moisture level (it takes time to dry); it will not be flat or even square. Even the best installer cannot make it look good, so save your money for the inevitable repairs. But it will be cheap.
3) Go to a reputable flooring dealer and pay a fair amount for your flooring. (You knew that was coming didn’t you). Really, do you think that you can pay less than my costs and get a quality floor? It costs time and money to make a quality floor. Warranties do not cover shrinkage and gapping, they will blame that on the installer. Who is not at fault. And will not repair your discount floor. Really.
Back to my story. The original floor was red oak common purchased from a liquidation company. Red oak common is a variable colored floor ranging from red to beige. People purchase it for its variety and rustic look. When I entered the home I noticed that the flooring was gapped throughout and was spongy. This means that the moisture level in the wood was too high and the floor dried in the clients home, not good. The damaged area was gouged, not nicked. I asked the glass guy if they had a battle with the mirror and he said that it basically fell. The damage was not repairable and needed replacement. This is where the problems started. The wood purchased was on clearance so there was no local stock. The price now included shipping ($100) and no guarantees. When we got the new wood, the color was red. Just red. And now the patch was going to be VERY noticeable. The salesman opened other boxes (In Texas) and said they were all the same color. We ended up removing 300 Sq.Ft. for an 80 Sq.Ft. repair that should have required a broom to sweep up the glass.
People. Saving money is important. Nobody wants to overpay. You are not going to be a better shopper than those of us that do this for a living. Find a flooring contractor that does this for a living, not until he becomes the next rap star and you will have a beautiful and long lasting floor.
