Wood floor advice

bob skunkhouse

Hi,

We're getting wooden floors put into a new build - oak and walnut, semi solid, floating floor.
The timber has been placed in the house for several weeks and moisture tests are coming up all ok.

When the boards were delivered, we noticed that the boards themselves were warped along the length of the board, i.e if you were to place the boards on the level, both ends would rise from the floor creating a 'kinda' hollow in the middle. Originally the joiners were asked to perform the job of laying the floors but when they saw the boards they said that they were the worst they'd ever seen and said they wouldn't lay them due to the warping(wouldn't guarantee them).

The suppliers of the boards came on site with their regular fitters and said that there was no problem with the boards and warping like this is normal and that once the timber is down, the natural weight would level things out. They offered to lay the floors and upped there normal guarantee of 2 years to 5 years as a vote of confidence in the quality of the boards(need to still get this guarantee in writing!)

Herein lie my queries...
Are warped floor boards normal?

There's no skirting in the house at the moment and about 80% of the floors are laid already. I've noticed that the floors are extremely springy. the floor fitters say that when the skirts go on, they will 'tie' everything down and make things nore solid. The joiners disagree and say that the skirts jobs isn't to hold wooden floors down and only offer minimal support.
Is this springiness normal(now i mean a spring up to 1.5") and will the skirts hold them down?

The joiners have said that the job done so far is crap and i can see gaps(mabye 2mm) were the boards meet, but I'm also thinking that there's a little anamosity between the floor fitters and the joiners and each trade is bagging the other!

Any advice is most welcome.

ninjaBob

I think I am in a similar boat, I noticed 3 or 4 boards in the center of my floors which have split in half. Carpenter and Supplier are meeting next week. I sent back the first batch of boards which were warped, but the batch which went down on the floor wasn't warped. Underfloor has not been on nor has there been any heavy traffic over them the floor.

Mellor

Get the guarantee in writing.
Ignore what the two trades say about each other, make your own opinion on the quality.
Does it look and feel ok to you?
If not take action