Hardwood Floor Repair

[OGStilts]

This little job here started out as a cabinet door panel for a long time customers new ice maker.

This customer seems to have the worst luck. We have done a couple of projects for him over the last couple of years due to some bad luck but his latest bit of bad luck came when he had a new icemaker installed in his wet bar. He was leaving town but asked if I would come by at my convience to measure for a cabinet panel for the front of the new icemaker to match his existing cabinets while he was out of town.

So I stop by and let myself into the house, and as I get to the ice maker I noticed a small puddle of water in front of the icemaker. I thought that was odd since they had been out of town for several days. As I got closer I noticed all the hardwood floors were cupped and then realized the rug was soaking wet. Son-of-a... His new ice maker was leaking all over the floor and ruined the hardwood floors.

So I disconnected the icemaker and called the owner. I told him what I had found and he told me to take care of it. So here's what we been up to for the past week.

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[OGStilts]

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About 2 1/2 years ago we had to refinish all the floors on 1st and 2nd floor due to another leak they had so luckily I have the best flooring guy in the world and he keeps records of all the custom floor stain mixures that we use on our jobs so it was relatively easy to match the color here and we aren't going to have to finish the entire first floor again.

We got the stain on yesterday (thats what you see in the picture) and put the first coat of poly on today (not pictured yet) and I think it's going to be a perfect match. The clients wife was almost in tears thinking that we were going to pack up all her belongs to finish the floors again so I was able to put up plastic curtains to contain the dust.

I hope to have everything put back together before they get home in a couple of weeks so they don't even know we were there or what the disaster even looked like.

[naptownCr]

Damm
You're floor guy is good.
I would have a pucker factor going refinishing part of the floor but it looks like it will be a dead match

Good Job

For a paper contractor Ne Tulsa

[Leo G]

Wait til they get the bill :censored:




Looks like you did a great job.

[OGStilts]

Ahhh, I met the appliance company out there to show them the problem and they agreed to send it to their claims department so no sweat off the owners back. Besides, I'm a fair guy no matter the circumstances.

[naptownCr]

Please post a pic after the finish goes on.
I want to see the magic.

[OGStilts]

No problem. Hope I don't let you down.

[Leo G]

So the ice machine was the actual problem and not the hookup? I find they luckily unusual.

[OGStilts]

Yep crack in the drain pump. Either way though appliance company would have to take responsibility....they installed it too.

[Leo G]

Good deal for the HO. Did you get the upper end flooring at the companies expense? :2thumbsup:

[Allrounder]

NICE!! Way to come to the rescue.

[OGStilts]

So here's what the finished floor looks like.

http://www.blankandbaker.com/images/posts/FloorRepair09.jpg

http://www.blankandbaker.com/images/posts/FloorRepair10.jpg

I'm just glad my flooring guy keeps records of all their jobs. I doubt many companies do. This color was a mixture of three different stains and we would of never been able to duplicate it without their great documentation.

[Bender]

Thats pretty impressive:)
Don't do to good of a job or they might think you made the whole thing up;)

[SLS-Construction]

Very nice job there - might I suggest you also start keeping track of paint colors & stains used, just in case your flooring guys looses a record, or...

[ChrWright]

Ice makers are of the devil.

[OGStilts]

Very nice job there - might I suggest you also start keeping track of paint colors & stains used, just in case your flooring guys looses a record, or...

I do keep records of customer paint selections and such but it's these custom floor colors we mix up for clients on the spot that I never kept track of before. To be honest, I didn't think the guys were keeping track of what they were mixing in there. We put samples on the floor and clients tell us darker, lighter, etc it's all mixed on the go. Never had a need to reproduce a color before. Just another thing I got to keep track of I guess. :rolleyes3:

[ChrWright]

Great job on the match. Bet they're a customer for life.

[scctrim]

What a great job your guys did, they pulled this one off in a big way. Impressive..

[Mike(VA)]

You feel comfortable that the sub floor is dry and any residual moisture is gone? No future cupping problems?

[OGStilts]

You feel comfortable that the sub floor is dry and any residual moisture is gone? No future cupping problems?

Yep, good point Mike. I took two of my dehumidifiers (see the blue things in the early pictures) over there right away and ran them for the weekend trying to save the floor. By Monday, I realized we weren't going to be able to save the floor so we took out the wet wood and left the dehumidifiers running for several more days to dry out the subfloor. We took moisture readings of the subfloor with two different meters to make sure we were getting accurate readings.

That's one of my big pet peeves with hardwood floors. So many contractors don't take the time to make sure subfloor and flooring are ready to be installed. I bought 3 of those dehumidifiers and my own moisture meter several years ago and use them on every house to make sure I get that subfloor dried out before installing any hardwood. My flooring guy also has a much more expensive digital moisture meter that he checks it with before he starts. I never get call backs about gaps in the flooring which was so common back when I worked for other builders.

[neolitic]

How cool is it that the HOs
are out of the house long enough
to be able to do it right, and
not have a major traffic headache.
Great work there.
Someone should kiss the floor guy
for the record keeping! :laugh4:

[OGStilts]

How cool is it that the HOs
are out of the house long enough
to be able to do it right, and
not have a major traffic headache.
Great work there.
Someone should kiss the floor guy
for the record keeping! :laugh4:

:laugh3: He's not my type but I told him he was getting mad props here. I think that made him feel better than a kiss.

These clients are snow birds so they come and go about a month at a time. The husband gets so upset because something is always breaking at one house or the other at all times. Good for me. I just hope he doesn't get frustrated to the point he sells the house. :grin:

[Blue]

The word crazy comes to mind when considering doing a portion with all that natural light.

Oustanding job.



.

[OGStilts]

The word crazy comes to mind when considering doing a portion with all that natural light.


:laugh3: I guess that's why I like this place so much.

[Mike(VA)]

You know, maybe they will like you so much they'll have you down to (Florida) or wherever to fix broken stuff there. :grin:

[Leo G]

Just make sure it isn't during the summer time.:laugh3: