Here's how much choosing the wrong flooring contractor can cost you

Yesterday, I went to a home in where we were brought in to fix a botched up tile job.

Unfortunately, a lot of people try to save money on hiring contractors and either hire friends, relatives or handymen who clearly do not specialize in tile or flooring.

In this case, my customer had bought the tile in Home Depot and the contractor told them he would level out the floor.  This job was done while they were away and they came back from vacation extremely disappointed.  I wish I had pictures.

The tile flooring is a mess.  It's very uneven - no self leveling mix was used.  No spacers were used, so the tile is not completely even.  The grout lines are thick - which is very out of style and will cause the grout to crack more and the grout is all over the place - including all over the tile.  It looks sloppy and it feels sloppy when you walk on it.

The homeowner knew their floor was uneven and had conversations with the handyman to even out the floor, but either this wasn't done or not done correctly - hard to tell - it's a mess.

Unfortunately, fixing up a botched tile job costs way more than doing it right the first time, and most especially when this is installed on top of concrete slab.  So, at this point, you would typically rip and haul away the tile (which can cost close to the installation cost) and then, you have to level and smooth out the floor with self leveling mix which is very expensive.  At this point, you may already be paying twice as much as the original installation would have cost...and all you've done is rip up and prep the floor.  (and, then of course, you need to pay for new tile + installation)

In this case, though, ripping up is not even a good option....because...yes, believe it or not, there is radiant heat underneath floor...and a system that is over 40 yrs old...so ripping up the tile is not a good option as it could break their whole radiant heat system which I'm sure would be extremely expensive to repair (or in this case replace).  So, we will have to install on top to the tile.  We have to pour enough self leveling mix on top of the tile as barrier and to level things out.  We will probably add at least an inch...and of course the tile will be on top of that...so now they will be an 1 1/4 to 1 1/2" higher than originally planned.  Thankfully, their exterior metal door is raised, so there is actually enough height to be able to do this, but that is extremely rare.

So now my customer needs to go out and buy replacement tiles...and this is the least of their cost...and then pay someone (maybe us?) to encapsulate and even out the floor, and of course pay the original amount to install the tile.

Sound like a costly mistake...and it could have been avoided if they had done their homework on choosing the right installer.

What is ironic (and sad) is that they also recently had an engineered hardwood floor installed and they are also having issues with that.  Seems there were some similar issues in terms of hiring the right person.  Apparently some of the boards are popping up.  As soon as I walked up the steps I could see an issue...they installed it from the wrong side of the room.  They should have started with the stairnose and worked their way back.  That way, they would have avoided the extra filler piece that is about 1.5 centimeters that goes all the way across the front wide step.  It's the first thing you see when you enter the main area of the home and it looks really stupid.

Then, the homeowner proceeds to tell me that they have radiant heat underneath.  I gasp because I know that this engineered oak is NOT approved for radiant heat.  The homeowner says "not to worry, I got it at Home Depot and it's Bruce and they told me it will be fine.  I even called the manufacturer."  I kind of laughed since it was so sad.  I said, yes, I'm familiar with this brand and it's not approved for radiant heat and I have the sample and if it was approved for radiant heat, the sample would say it and my rep would be broadcasting that info to me.  This was just installed in the last 2 months, and of course it hasn't survived a winter, so we will see.  But, they are already having other issues with it, so I'm a bit skeptical.

I understand that everyone is trying to save money, but when you are shopping for contractors, it's best to really do a bit of homework and it's also good to ask the contractor what they think about the product.  Sometimes, they can save you some costly mistakes.  I could have saved this customer 2 costly mistakes.

If you live in Westchester and would like to with an honest flooring contractor and someone who can give you some guidance, please give The Flooring Girl a call at 914-937-2950.

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Here's how much choosing the wrong flooring contractor can cost you