Flooring Fiasco.. not sure what to do now

Flooring Fiasco.. not sure what to do now

Rental Property Investor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2017 · 295 posts · 229 votes

I closed on my first rental property last month and I have one issue that everyone said would be an easy repair but I am having an issue finding a contractor/company to fix this hardwood floor issue. I am locating in a county north of Richmond, Virginia. The house has hardwood flooring through the whole home, besides the kitchen and bathroom. The living room hardwood floor has buckled a substantial amount in one area. We were told by the inspector that it was a moisture issue but we put in insulation and moisture barrier and a dehumidifier after closing and still the hump remains. We have repaired and replaced subfloors in other areas of the house (kitchen and bathroom) but I am afraid to try this myself seeing as it's hardwood. I don't want to cost myself more money by making the situation worse at this point. 

I received many recommendations from friends and colleagues and every company I have reached out to say they only repair floors that they installed. I've reached out to over 8 companies at this point. I'd rather not just reach out to a handyman company for the risk of them ruining the flooring. 

Does anyone have a recommendation for a flooring company that can fix this buckling in Richmond, VA or the surrounding area. I am trying to attach photos to show how large the buckling is but I am having issues attaching the photos.

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Rental Property Investor · Concord, NC · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 3k+ votes
7y

@Amy H. I've had the same problem with a couple of wood laminate floors that were not installed with expansion room around the perimeter.  My guess is the perimeter to the right/left of your first pic has no room for expansion.  Once you select a repair person, have them remove the quarter round or baseboard to check.  An easy fix if that is in fact the issue.  I wish you the best. 

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  • Rental Property Investor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2017 · 295 posts · 229 votes
    7y

    @Jim K. I mean from my non-flooring professional eye it looks real to me (I have never owned a home with real hardwood so obviously I am no expert by any means). The home inspector and my realtor (who is a local builder here in Richmond) also stated it was real. That's not to say that they could be wrong! They could've assumed just because the MLS listing also stated it was real hardwood.

    I put insulation and a moisture barrier in the crawl space, not directly under the flooring. I had to replace a section of the subfloor in the kitchen due to a leaking water line to the ice maker that rotten the wood in a certain area. I had to replace the subfloor in the bathroom in a small area due to a water damage near the shower and toilet. I replaced both subfloors with the same thickness plywood that was there previously. It was two separate sheets of plywood, but I can't remember off the top of my head what the thicknesses were. 

    I don't think I have a photo of the flooring issue from further away from the same angle. Does this one help at all? Thank you so much everyone for all your help!

  • Asheville, NC · Member since 2017 · 385 posts · 274 votes
    7y

    I don't understand why you would be worried about a handyman doing the work, after all that is exactly the type of work that they should be doing. It is under $35k and that falls into a handyman category. I find it strange that the floor buckled so easily when it should be blind nailed fairly closely about 10" apart. I have only seen that kind of damage from a major leak in the ceiling. One thought would be to steal some of the flooring from a closet to patch it. Then put a different flooring in the closet to replace it. I agree that most flooring refinishers would be able to repair it for you. Have you gone to a local tool rental company that rents flooring sanders? They may know of someone who can do it. They usually have business cards somewhere for referrals.

  • Rental Property Investor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2017 · 295 posts · 229 votes
    7y

    @Jon A. I don't think this should be a job for a handyman because of the skill set needed to sand and refinish flooring. 

    Great idea about the closet! I definitely will look into pulling from one of the many closets to see if that could work. 

  • Garland, TX · Member since 2017 · 57 posts · 28 votes
    7y

    getting some pieces from the closet would be perfect...dont think its a big job...simply remove the damaged pieces with couple more on each side and replace them...would be easy to cut and remove...a handy man would be happy to have it done for 1 day pay in my area.

    Seen this kind of problem happening from a direct water spill and stay for some time not wipped out...or spacing around the walls or installing the hardwood right away without leaving it in the room temp to get accumilated for 3 to 4 days that way it gets the room temp, expand a bit if it was warm then installed.

    My advice is to watch couple of videos on youtube on how to replace hardwood planks...you gana see its an easy thing to do.

    Good luck

  • Rental Property Investor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2017 · 295 posts · 229 votes
    7y

    @Baraa Yassin Yeah I definitely like the closet idea! I am going to head over there later this week and see if any of the closets have long enough pieces that could replace the damaged one.

    It definitely could of been a direct water leak from the baseboard heating, or the roof for that matter. I'll look on youtube tonight to see what videos I can find. Thanks!

  • Asheville, NC · Member since 2017 · 385 posts · 274 votes
    7y

    @Amy H., if they pull it from the closet they shouldn't need to do any sanding or staining. At least, not in my opinion.

  • Rental Property Investor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2017 · 295 posts · 229 votes
    7y

    @Jon A. I had someone come give me a quote today (thanks to awesome company suggestions from everyone on here) and he said he couldn't pull from the closet. I am going to get a couple more estimates this weekend from other companies because I hadn't budgeted over $3k to sand and re-stain less than 900 sq ft of hardwood flooring. Hopefully someone will be willing to try to pull from the closet!

    Costly lesson but it'll all work out!

  • Contractor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2018 · 36 posts · 11 votes
    7y
    @Richard Sherman That’s my guy that I referred to her. He does great work. Used him on several projects.
  • Rental Property Investor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2017 · 295 posts · 229 votes
    7y

    @Jason Etheredge @Jonathan Smith @Terrell Garren @Shawn Mcenteer @Richard Sherman @Bob B. @Jim K.

    Just an update for everyone -  it is real hardwood and it was a moisture issue that led to mold that caused the large amount of cupping

  • Handyman · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2018 · 5k+ posts · 13k+ votes
    7y

    @Amy H.

    Thanks for the information -- yes, that is blind-nailed tongue-and-groove! That was an extreme amount of cupping. I'm glad it's getting sorted out, and I hope it's not costing you an arm and a leg, that you dud find a guy to pull pieces from a closet and are replacing them there.

  • Rental Property Investor · Salem, OR · Member since 2017 · 696 posts · 660 votes
    7y

    @Amy H. Ahhhh interesting!  Thanks for the follow up..house was vacant and unheated for a while correct?

  • Rental Property Investor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2017 · 295 posts · 229 votes
    7y

    @Jim K. We can't pull from the closets because they aren't wide enough to cover the area that is damaged unfortunately. I am scared to see the final bill after all this mold remediation and replacement of the boards. The estimate for the contractor I chose wasn't reasonable after some negotiating. Hopefully the contractor recognizes that there will be future jobs in the future with me if he doesn't screw me over :) 

  • Rental Property Investor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2017 · 295 posts · 229 votes
    7y

    @Richard Sherman I am not sure how long the house was vacant for, but I had the heat turned on ever since I closed on the property back in the beginning of November. One of the contractors said the heat should be set to 69+ degrees when there is hardwood floors in the house (not sure how accurate that is though or if he was being dramatic).. I definitely had it set to 62-63 a majority of the time. Lessons learned! 

  • Shawn McenteerBusiness Member
    Realtor · Boonton Township, NJ · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7y

    @Amy

    @Amy H. 65-70 degrees, low humidity is ideal for most hardwood. Once flooring has gone through the cycle of the seasons a few times expansion/contraction really comes down to the extremes, water or  extremely dry air to see fluctuations in wood. In yours case a floor likely from the 60's came in contact with one of the extremes, water. When a floor is newly installed the first 2 years you really should pay attention to climate of house during season period, in your case 62 degrees played very little role in effecting floor.

    What is contractor doing for you; replace, sand, stain, finish? and how many sq ft is being worked on?

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  • Contractor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2018 · 36 posts · 11 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Amy H.:

    @Jason Etheredge @Jonathan Smith @Terrell Garren @Shawn Mcenteer @Richard Sherman @Bob B. @Jim K.

    Just an update for everyone -  it is real hardwood and it was a moisture issue that led to mold that caused the large amount of cupping

     Did you end up with my guy or someone else? Either way I hope it wraps up quickly! Thanks for the update. 

  • Handyman · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2018 · 5k+ posts · 13k+ votes
    7y

    @Amy H.

    Your choices now are to learn how to do it yourself or put up with being screwed by a contractor. It's pretty much that straightforward.

  • Rental Property Investor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2017 · 295 posts · 229 votes
    7y

    @Shawn Mcenteer I'll keep the 2 year idea in mind if we ever get new hardwood flooring again.

    The contractor is replacing some of the hardwood and the subfloor under it (I supplied the new hardwood and plywood for the subfloor). They are also sanding and finishing, but no stain. I am trying to keep costs low, so we are just keeping it the natural oak color and hopefully it turns out beautiful! It's about 780 sq ft of hardwood in the house that will be sanded and finished total. About 100 of the 780 is being replaced.

  • Rental Property Investor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2017 · 295 posts · 229 votes
    7y

    @Jason Etheredge I ended up going with your suggestion! I definitely will let you know how his team does when it's all said and done. 

  • Rental Property Investor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2017 · 295 posts · 229 votes
    7y

    @Jim K. Between my full time job and my graduate school classes, I am going to splurge a little and let a flooring company correct the damage :) My time (and patience) needs to be used elsewhere rather than struggle to make subfloor level again (that's my least favorite real estate project thus far...)

  • Shawn McenteerBusiness Member
    Realtor · Boonton Township, NJ · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7y

    @Amy

    @Amy H. no stain should bring price down a lot, smart decision.  I will stain floors in my rentals but that is because I will do work myself.

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  • Rental Property Investor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2017 · 295 posts · 229 votes
    7y

    @Jason Etheredge @Jonathan Smith @Terrell Garren @Shawn M. @Richard Sherman @Bob B.@Jim K.

    Thank you all for all your guidance on this one! 

    The cost went way over what I originally budgeted but the floors are done and look great. Total price came in about $3,500 to pull up a large section of the cupping in the living room (about 100 sq ft worth), repair that subfloor, staining the whole house (around 800 sq ft), and 2 coats of poly. I supplied the red oak to replace the section they pulled up (that was including in my total price I listed). I hope I didn't overpay too much. It took about 2 weeks (there was some miscommunication with the owner and his team so they ended up having to come back a redo a section that I wasn't happy with). But it is done!

    But I am very happy with the final product!

    Shout out to @Jason Etheredge for the reference! I think Evan might've wanted to strangle me a few times but we all survived :)  

  • Contractor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2018 · 36 posts · 11 votes
    7y

    So glad it's all done! Looks great.

  • Shawn McenteerBusiness Member
    Realtor · Boonton Township, NJ · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7y

    Looks good, all the best moving forward for you.

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