A couple months ago (04/15/08) we replaced the carpet in our family
room with hardwood. The product was engineered wood made by
Capella Hardwood - pecan, if that makes any difference. It is
tongue and groove and glued directly to the concrete slab.

When it was installed, it looked great. Since then, several boards
have edges that are higher than the boards next to it. This
certainly was not that way when it was first installed. The height
of the raised boards varies from .005 to .017 inch, measured with a
feeler gauge.

I called the dealer, who is local and been in business for 30 years,
and who I have known for about 12 years. Fact is, after I retired
in 1990, I went into part time contracting and whenever I had a
customer inquire about flooring, I sent them to him. Probably only
once or twice a year, but I am sure that some of those I referred to
him bought from him.

Anyway, he came out and seemed to be spoiling for an argument from
the time he walked it. He had a brand new feeler gauge, which I
suspect he stopped and bought on the way over. He said that a
variation tolerance of one board over the next was .012, and that
most of the boards were within that tolerance. I said that this was
not explained to me when I bought to floor. Since, I have gone to
the web site of Capella Hardwood, and they make no mention of this
variation.

He asked me what I wanted him to do. I said I wanted it fixed and
he asked me how. I said I wasn't in the floor business and couldn't
tell him how to fix it.

He said I could get another floor company to tear out the floor and
install a new one, and if it wasn't the same way, that he would give
me my money back. I thought this was a ridiculous solution for
obvious reasons, mainly it would cost more just to have the old
floor removed. Then he said he would call an independent floor
inspector to come out and give an opinion. I didn't buy this either
because if he hires an independent inspector, that inspector is
going to obviously lean toward the dealer's position since he will
be thinking of future business. At this point, the dealer (my
friend) said I called him a liar, and went off on a tangent.

I said I wanted a company representative to look at this and get
their input. This will happen next week. Of course, I don't know
what the rep will say, and if they tell me this is normal, what path
options I have or which to take.

If there is anyone in this group that has knowledge and experience
with hardwood floors, I would sure appreciate your comments and
suggestions.

Thanks in advance, Bob-tx (Georgetown)