Terrible experience. Will not use company again and will advise those looking for a reference to steer clear. Those being solicited for business at big box stores, such as Floor & Decor (where we were) and Lumber Liquidators to proceed with caution. Read on for our lessons learned and lengthy review:
We had 3 floors on our townhome installed by Braz Flooring. On every floor, they tried to have us pay extra to have the subfloors leveled, which raises the cost substantially over the tempting $1.99/sq ft installation on paper. Simply don't expect to only walk out the door with that fee. That said, I like the idea of the concrete thin set as to me that instills some confidence that a) floors would be level, b) floors would be solid and not shift, c) add some level of sound installation. Note the cost will multiply your final bill. We ultimately paid to have 2 of the 3 floors leveled with thin set, but this is where we become dissatisfied.
We are most upset between the 1st and 2nd floor installations. We paid a $1,825 premium to the standard install fee and materials to level about ~550 sq ft on our 2nd floor where we were undergoing a $30k+ kitchen remodel with a separate kitchen contractor (that we very much like). There would be no complaint of the high cost if we ended up with a good product, however, this floor is not level and prompted my review. There are huge bows and dips, further accentuate by brand new level cabinets installed in our kitchen remodel. It feels soft and spongy in spots. The baseboards and shoe molding around the kitchen and living room further accentuates how terrible it looks. When we walk on this floor, it sags, flexes and creeks (not from the subfloor). Flooring should be solid and our 1st and 3rd floors are, but this 2nd floor feels like it is going to sink through.
Taking a level to the floor, it is apparent that they don't even fall within the thresholds for flooring. We addressed this twice with the owner, Bruno, and were only given insufficient patches, such as pieces of cardboard slid under the planks that could be easily accessed, otherwise just excuses. Our kitchen contractors at one point showed us that the flooring was not properly leveled and when they went to install the appliances, had to use two additional floor boards on top of each other (that's 16mm of add'l height) just to level our fridge and had to shim the others appliances due to dips in concrete pour, all beyond the limits to level the appliances with the rotating legs. We brought this up with Bruno, and he played it off; "it's easy for other contractors to be critical and dishonest". We have received other winded excuses for why the flooring is not level. We regret to have not just had our flooring installed by our kitchen remodelers, which would have saved us over $2k long term and all of this hassle.
For the 1st floor, our townhome is on concrete slab at ground and we confirmed to be level within margin. They had the nerve to try and get us to do thin set on this floor in the same trip that they would not address our second floor being properly level. In fact, the installer that came out refused to work that day because we would not pay to pour thin set on the first floor all at the same time didn't want to fix the massive dip on the second floor where the flooring sunk more than 1/3 inch when stepped on. We had to get the owner involved and the installer eventually worked and filled in the dip. We smartly opted out of any thin set on the first floor and are completely satisfied we did so.
I've had to go back and caulk, fill in nail holes, and paint where we had paid for Braz to do so. I even ran my own shoe molding where they didn't finish. All stuff I am capable of doing but wanted to pay for someone else to do (Braz) due to time, which is frustrating.
Bruno has stated that the floor just needs time to "settle" to the subflooring and may take up to one year (mind you that our subflooring, which we paid to have leveled, is not level, so settling planks will not be level by any reasonable logic). So, I asked for Braz to put in writing their commitment to the 1 year warranty, which Bruno even said would extend because the how bad the leveling is. My request appears to have prompted the company to terminate any communication with us. Don't count on any guarentees or satisfaction. And if we could go back in time, which I would plead to those looking for a flooring company, find a reputable company that guarentees their work, have your floor assessed for any prework to laying flooring and pay what may appear a premium for quality worksmanship elsewhere; you will likely save a bunch of money by the end when you receive your final bill. Just after a few months, we are already debating how we can get resolution outside of directly dealing with Braz, since they seem unwilling, and if we need to bring someone new in to fix the floors. As a consumer, we are completely dissatisfied. read more