The Flooring Callback and Claim Inspection SOP

Purpose

Find the real cause of a flooring complaint and keep the maker's claim path open while you do it. A callback inspection fails in one of two ways. The tech "fixes" it on the first visit, pulling a board or filling a gap, and destroys the evidence the maker's inspector needed, which can end the claim before it starts. Or the tech writes "customer unhappy, gaps" and nothing else, and six weeks later nobody can tell whether the floor was ever dry, what lot it came from or what the room's humidity was. Both leave the shop paying for a problem it may not have caused. This visit records first, measures second, and touches nothing.

Scope

Covers the first inspection of any complaint about an installed or refinished floor: gaps, cupping, crowning, peaking, buckling, cracks, lifting, finish failure, seams, ripples and stains, through to the written report and the claim submission. It does not cover the repair, which follows whatever the maker or the owner decides, or the diagnosis of specific failure patterns, which the troubleshooting cases on this shelf walk through, such as The Hardwood That Cupped the First Summer. An active leak or a wet floor at the time of the visit is handled first, as step 2 describes.

Roles and the handoffs

The claim inspection record

CLAIM INSPECTION        JOB: 24-0177   DATE: 01/22
Complaint: gaps between boards, living rm
Installed: 06/10   Product: eng oak 7in nail-down
Lot (delivery slip): A   Cartons: 31
Room: 68 F / 24% RH   HVAC: heat, no humidifier
Outdoor: 21 F, clear
Photos: 1-14 wide/mid/close, scale in close
Floor MC, oak setting:
  affected   5.3 / 5.5 / 5.4   avg 5.4
  unaffected 5.6 / 5.7 / 5.5   avg 5.6
  install log  floor avg 7.8   subfloor avg 9.0
Subfloor from basement: 7.1 / 7.3 / 7.2  avg 7.2
Gaps: up to 1/32 in, field-wide, widest at
  south windows
Altered before visit: YES, filler in 2 areas
Evidence removed: none   Samples taken: none

The procedure

1. Office takes the complaint and protects the evidence by phone. Record what the customer sees, where, and when it started; pull the job file with the assessment sheet, delivery slip, acclimation and install readings; and ask whether there is water on the floor now. Tell the customer, in those words, not to repair, fill, clean with anything new, pull up, or discard anything until the inspection. Acceptance: complaint recorded, job file attached, customer told and noted. Wrong looks like the customer saying a relative "already fixed some of it." Stop rule: a report of standing water or an active leak books the visit for the same day and goes to step 2 first. Hazard: tell the customer to shut off the water at the main if water is still flowing, and to stay out of water near receptacles or appliances.

2. Make the site safe before inspecting anything wet. If water is present, do not walk in it near energized receptacles, appliances or cords; have the customer turn off the breakers serving the wet area, or call an electrician if the panel is in the wet area, and confirm the water source is stopped. Acceptance: no active water and no energized equipment in the wet area. Wrong looks like a dehumidifier running on an extension cord across a wet floor. Stop rule: if the area cannot be de-energized, leave the room and call for the electrician and the water mitigation trade. Hazard: once the source is fixed and the area dry, the breakers are turned back on by the customer or the electrician who isolated them, and each restored circuit is checked to work before the crew leaves. Water shut off at the main goes back on only after the leak is repaired, with the repair watched dry under pressure. On a dry complaint, this step is a one-line "no water present."

3. Record before you touch. Photograph the whole room from each doorway, then mid-range, then close with a ruler or coin in frame, and take a short video walk. Record room temperature and relative humidity with a thermo-hygrometer, the HVAC mode and setting, whether a humidifier or dehumidifier exists and is running, outdoor conditions, and anything that changes the room: an exterior door, a sunny window, a supply register, a sink. Acceptance: photos taken before anything is moved, and every field above filled. Wrong looks like the first photo taken after a rug was rolled back and furniture moved. Stop rule: if the floor has been altered before you arrived, photograph and describe exactly what was done and where, and note it; do not undo it. Hazard: none.

4. Take moisture readings with the right setting, in a pattern. Read the floor with a pin or pinless meter on the species setting at the affected area and at an unaffected area in the same room, at least three readings each, and average them. Read the subfloor from below in a basement or crawlspace, or at a register; on a slab, record the slab's history and whether an ASTM F2170 in-situ RH test is needed, which is its own visit. Acceptance: two sets of floor readings and a subfloor or slab entry, each with its average. Wrong looks like one reading on the worst board. Stop rule: no holes drilled, no boards lifted to read underneath. Hazard: in a crawlspace, look for standing water and exposed wiring together before entering.

5. Measure the symptom itself. Gap widths with feeler gauges, cup or crown depth across a board with a short straightedge and feeler, peak height at a seam, crack location and direction, carpet ripple length. Map where the symptom is worst relative to walls, windows, doors, registers and plumbing. Acceptance: at least three measurements and a sketch or marked photo showing where they were taken. Wrong looks like "gaps, some." Stop rule: none. Hazard: none.

6. Compare against the install record. Set today's readings beside the assessment-day, acclimation and install readings, and confirm the lot from the delivery slip. Acceptance: the comparison written on the record. Wrong looks like a report that never mentions what the floor read when it went down, which is half the evidence. Stop rule: a missing install log is recorded as missing, not reconstructed. Hazard: none.

7. Leave the evidence in place. Do not cut, pull, sand, fill, refasten or replace anything, and do not take samples, until the maker or its inspector says in writing what they want. Acceptance: "Evidence removed: none, samples taken: none" on the record. Wrong looks like a tech pulling one board "to see." Stop rule: if the customer insists on an immediate repair, the owner explains in writing that it may affect the claim, and the decision and who made it is recorded. Hazard: none.

8. Report in plain terms and submit. Write what you saw and measured, and what the readings are consistent with (NWFA problems, causes and cures guidance gives the common patterns), without assigning blame on site. Send the record, photos and install file to the maker or distributor within its claim window. Acceptance: report and claim submitted, customer given a copy and the next step. Wrong looks like the inspector telling the customer at the door that it is "the product" or "your humidity." Stop rule: none. Hazard: none.

The record this produces

The claim inspection record above, the photo and video set, the install-file comparison, the plain report, and the maker's reference number and decision when it arrives. It lives with the job. It is read by the maker's inspector, by the owner deciding what to offer, and by the next person who sees this floor, who will want to know what it read in January.

Worked pass: gaps in an engineered oak floor in January

Seven months after install, the customer called about gaps between boards in the living room. Step 1: the office pulled the file and told the customer not to repair anything; there was no water. Step 2: dry complaint, recorded as no water present.

Step 3 triggered its stop rule. On arrival, two areas near the south windows had already been filled with colored wood filler by a relative. Both areas were photographed close with a scale, described on the record, and left as found. The office told the maker in the claim, rather than letting its inspector discover it.

The room read 68 F and 24 percent relative humidity with the heat running and no humidifier, outdoor air at 21 F.

Step 4: the affected area averaged 5.4 percent and the unaffected area 5.6, with the oak setting. The install log showed the floor at 7.8 and the subfloor at 9.0 when the floor went down. The subfloor from the basement now read 7.2.

Step 5: gaps up to 1/32 inch, field-wide, widest at the south windows. Step 6: the floor has given up about 2.4 points since install, from an average of 7.8 to 5.4 in the affected area, in a room well below the humidity range the maker's care sheet asks for. Step 7: nothing removed, no samples.

Step 8: the report said the gaps are field-wide, widest at the sunniest wall, and consistent with seasonal shrinkage in a room at 24 percent humidity, below the maker's stated range, against an install at readings the log shows were within the maker's limits. The claim went to the maker with that record. The customer was told plainly what the readings show, given the care sheet's humidity range again, and told that the shop would measure the same boards in summer and send both sets to the maker.

References

• The flooring maker's warranty, claim procedure and care sheet, including its stated humidity range and claim window
• National Wood Flooring Association problems, causes and cures guidance and inspection practices
• ASTM F2170, in-situ relative humidity testing of concrete slabs, where a slab is involved
• See related: The Flooring Final Walkthrough and Care SOP; How to Take and Log Wood Moisture Readings Before Hardwood; The Hardwood That Cupped the First Summer