Hello, my client (I'm a kitchen designer) had her 4" wide planks white oak floor installed (NOT nailed from the top). The wood was mistakenly purchased by her as straight strips, 4" wide x random lengths, without having tongue and grooved parts to each piece. They are straight, square cut planks.

The flooring installer said that he would make the tongue and groove in each plank, and install it as a tongue/groove floor, but he didn't do that. I don't know how he nailed the planks/installed the floor, but right now, it looks very tight and near perfect, if not perfect. It was installed about 3 weeks ago. It was installed over a plywood subfloor.

But, I'm concerned about the future. What will happen with this type of installation? Also, my client paid for this increased labor to tongue/groove the planks and that cost was not separated out, so I feel she should get some sort of refund from the general contractor, as this work was not done.

There are four seasons where the client lives, going from cold to hot and in between.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Several things come to mind with this.
When you purchase pre-done flooing with the t&g already done, you will find on the back of the boards some planed out material that sort of cups or groves the board in three or four lines from end to end. This planed out material is done to relive and help prevent any future cupping of the wood once its installed. I assume that this contractor did not do this.

Also typically four inch wide solid boards if not groved from behind will most likely cup simply because of the width. Most common fastening of this width of board is done by face fastening with screws into the joist below, not just into the plywood floor. The plywood does not offer enough structural strength to hold the boards down should moisture occur. Counter sink the holes fasten and plug with wood plugs. Sand and finish to match. If they use plugs cut from the same boards and they pay attention to the grain pattern you almost may not even see the fasteners. Its a LOT of work to do properly.

They either glued it, which I do not think they did, or nailed it like a t&g floor. Which would explain the tightness of the boards.

Why would or should the owner get a refund or discount? How do you know if he did or did not t&g the flooring? If you saw no face nails and if he did not use glue, He had to t&g it otherwise one side would be lifting up. If you know he did not t&g the floor why do you not know how he fastened it? Does he offer a warranty on his labor or on any performance of the floor?

That was a great answer, thank you very much.

Again, the boards are flat boards, without a tongue and groove part. I'm not sure about the small lines on the other side of the board, grooves I mean, I'll have to check that. This wood did not come prefinished. It's 4" wide x radom length white oak.

The arrangement was that this floor mechanic was going to make tongue/groove parts to each piece and the job was priced for that. She saw, and he admitted, that he chose not to do this, and "not to worry, I'll be here if something happens."

I did not look for face nails/plugs, although I'll take a look. I don't know about glue. I was not there, so I don't know how he fastened the floor, and I'm trying to avoid getting the customer involved again (she first brought this up to me and I didn't say much, but it's bothering me a lot) until I have all the facts. I referred the contractor to her, and she's paying him directly.

But, if the job was priced for him to install tongues/grooves on these flat boards, and it was not done, I think she is entitled to a rebate.

Re a warranty, that IS something that I want to have documented. What would go in a warranty?

There should be no glue at all on the floor. It will cause tearing of the wood as it shrinks and swells from natural humidity.

As far as the warranty. Its only as good as the company is in business. We typically provide two years on all labor and materials supplied by us. But have been back at some clients after five years and did not charge them for the fix.

It kinda goes with the client. If they have been fair to us we return the favor. But you should get at least one year on install from them. If anything is going to happen, it will by then.

AS far as the rebate on the cost not doing the t&g. Did they install by face nail and plugs. That is much more work then the traditional method of install. So if you pust the issue for money back. You may find yourself paying for the more expensive method of install.
Sometimes its better to let a sleeping dog sleep. As it may come to bite you later.

Thanks for your opinion, it's very helpful. Also, helpful to hear that anything should happen within one year.

I don't know if it was face nailed with plugs. It didn't appear so, but I will take a closer look. Understood re the method of installation/costs.

What is the purpose of the tongue and the groove? To keep the wood stable or to provide a nailing surface?

The T&G provides both a nail surface and a way for the other side of the board to be secured to the floor as its mating surface is fastend down. Then the process repetes itself. The last boards are face nailed and counter sunk into the face.

If the face nailed the boards they will eventually pull up. As the wood shrinks and grows it pull the nails side to side thus the lossening effect. They would need to screw the floor down thus the reason for the plugs to cover up the larger holes in the wood.

Thank you for that information, that just makes sense. My own common sense tells me that flooring is t&g'd for a reason, an important reason, which is why I first asked this question.

And the distinction between nails and screws on the face makes perfect sense, which I didn't catch at all before. I really appreciate this information. In that case, there surely, absolutely, are not plugs in the floor. I thought I'd have to look for tiny plugs, but screw size plugs are not there, even somewhat small ones. Tiny ones? I don't know yet.

I still haven't heard back from the contractor on the method of installation and may not till Wednesday (hopefully.)

So far, I'm thinking that these 4" planks were installed in some sort of "toenail" (angled) method on one side.

But, beyond that, then how does the other side get screwed/nailed in?? It HAD to be attached in some way. I can't imagine it wasn't. Maybe it was face nailed with small nails on one side and toenailed (angled) on the other. Just speculating.