That's ridiculous! One day you'll put a chair leg or table leg through that hole.

Somebody should have patched those holes before any floor was laid. Those holes could have been fixed permanently from above if there was no access below.

Any advice on how? I may need to give these guys suggestions or do it myself

You don't put flooring down on unsuitable substrate. I don't care if they have to relay a thousand square feet, that is completely unprofessional. You can tell them I said so.

Was subfloor prep part of your install are was that to be completed separately?

Even if sub floor prep was supposed to be done by the home owner, any professional (or person with common sense), should not have laid flooring over a hole- that's ridiculous!

My point in asking was that if the installer was tonprep it gives the OP much more leverage in getting it torn out and replaced.

We were not expected to do any prepwork to the floor ourselves. They came in and spread some light concrete over some areas that needed to be evened out and did a "feather finish" to the floor to make everything even and smooth. But there was no mention of these 4 holes in the game room in front of the floor plugs. They laid the glue down floor over it and told me about it afterwards. Like I said, as I am not the professional and I thought "surely this wouldn't be a problem or else they would've told me before the job was completed upstairs", I didn't question it until minutes after they left when I basically fell into the floor. We have pets and they would easily have their whole arm fall into these subfloor holes if they stepped over that part of the floor. I will absolutely be calling them right when they open to figure out what we need to do. I'm seeing tutorials on youtube where people repair holes in subfloors, so I see that it's possible.

My biggest concern w/ patching up the holes like I'm seeing on youtube is the possibility that these holes cannot be covered for safety reasons, because the installer mentioned something about how those holes are made in front of floor plugs in order to have access to the wiring underneath the plugs. I can't really trust that they'll tell me what is the right/safe thing to do anymore.

Perhaps call a building inspector or another company to get a second opinion on what can be done.

Flooring installers aren't carpenters, or electricians. The issue belongs square at the feet of the GC on the job. Which, if you are hiring the trades individually, is you. Junction boxes can NOT be concealed. They must be left exposed. Their support, and the readiness of the substrate for installation, belongs to the GC on the job. Basic floor leveling, and interfacing with the existing floor grates and floor outlets is on the flooring installers. But you didn't give them an adequately constructed subfloor to do their job with.

My flooring guys aren't carpenters but we know how to patch the subfloor. Why these guys didn't is beyond me. Considering there is no subfloor under that particular area would suggest that your floor is not warrantied now. They need to fix it and install correctly.

Yep. Sounds like a change in location that was NEVER dealt with by the original installers of the carpet. The new installers, not knowing that, didn't have any product on hand (ahem...plywood sheets) to do the floor prep properly. The reason they didn't have it on hand? Not in their contract.

A DECENT professional would have halted the install and picked up the phone to tell you the problem. If you purchased "floor + install" from a flooring STORE (not a big box store), they crew chief SHOULD HAVE called his employer (the store) and told THEM to tell YOU. That's the level of communication you should have had.

The install would have been delayed (by a day at least) or even rescheduled because of the demolition revealed an inappropriate substrate. If this is a busy shop, then rescheduling would be more likely.

If this was a big box store (who hires the worst guys possible...the guys who aren't good enough to win jobs on their own) then this is another reason to avoid these types of store-fronts.

I'm sorry this has happened. The vinyl needs to come up. The subfloor FULLY repaired (new layer put down where the hole is) and then the job done again (in those rooms). This is an unanticipated event....but one that could have been/should have been dealt with (you would have had to have paid for that little bit of extra work once they discovered it) but nothing "exciting".

But the problem now rests on the shoulders of the person who decided to "give it a try". They knowingly allowed an improper install to occur. They now have to pay the piper for it. Had they stopped to tell you about it, they could have come away with a little bit more money for the extra repair and been done. But now they have to eat the repair/reinstall.

This is a good lesson for this crew to learn. Don't let them get away with anything less than a proper install.

It was not our job to give them "adequately constructed subfloor". We had no idea what was under that carpet nor would we have known if there were issues as we are not flooring professionals. We did not withhold knowledge of the holes nor did we know of the issue and insist that they lay the floor anyway. The people we hired are an actual flooring company and we did all business with them from measurements to ordering all materials to installation. Just wanted to make that clear.

We are having the inspector who did our home inspection to come out and give us his opinion on it and let us know if there is any hazard or code violation involved with getting those holes patched up. He has contractors he works with that he says are carpentry professionals that can come out and repair these holes in the subfloor.

I called the flooring company and the owner seemed horrified. He says they'll make this right and can cover the areas. He's upset they didn't bother to bring this up to him before the floor was laid. I (we all) agree. I know he doesn't want to eat the cost of pulling up all the flooring, laying down a new subfloor, and reinstalling, and we're not about to eat the cost for that either due to poor work. And I don't honestly trust them to do a good job of patching up the hole at this point anyway. I am eager to see what our inspector and his contractors have to say. Hopefully patching those 4 holes isn't too expensive but we can't just leave it like that.

The subfloor should have been cut out and replaced wherever there were sections missing. There is no other real solution. Get the installers back out immediately to replace the sections of subfloor.

Here is the most important thing in this entire event:

"I called the flooring company and the owner seemed horrified."

That is a GOOD THING!!!! The owner is an upstanding guy! Awesome! No problem! Excellent! He came back saying the SAME THING that I (and a few other pros) have said: This should have been communicated immediately!

Excellent! Stick with them! I will guarantee the "best" crew will get the repair job. The "first guys" won't be back on your floor. If they are, they will be there to LEARN from the senior guys how much work they have created for themselves. Excellent! Let them!

In building law throughout the USA, the original "professional" (that includes shops or subcontractors) have to be allowed ONE opportunity to fix it. ONE. At no extra charge. They must be given the first opportunity to make it right.

If they get it done = EXCELLENT! No more worries! Done.

If they muck up AGAIN then you can move on to the next guy...at the original installer's expense. If you skip the "one chance to make it right" then, by law, the first guy does NOT have to offer financial compensation. In other words, it doesn't pay to jump the gun on something like this.

The owner of the shop is upset! He IMMEDIATELY stated that this should NOT have happened! Excellent! He IMMEDIATELY stated he would make it right! EVEN BETTER! Please let him get this job done properly! I bet my left lung he will make sure this is done properly for you.

If he doesn't, then you know you have done what was required by law...and you can move on. I would save my money on an inspector (home inspector isn't someone who will know a whole lot about flooring) until AFTER the fix has been attempted. If things aren't right after the fix...NOW you go find a professional flooring inspector and get to work documenting this so that you CAN get money out of the original store.

Don't jump the line. Do things in order. It keeps things legal and simple. Good luck. With the owner's reaction, I would have no problem letting his crew try the fix on my floors.

Does anyone know: If they did have to pull up all the floor and lay down underlayment/just repair the subfloor, can they use the same vinyl planks and reglue them down or does new flooring need to be ordered? The game room is huge, that's a lot of flooring.

To Cancork Floor Inc: I am hoping they'll make it right, but I'm a little skeptical as we've had some communication issues even before all this. But let's see.

Well, I think this is the first time the word "plank" was used in this thread, even though I could see that it was when you pushed down with your finger. The fact that it is planks makes a huge difference over sheet vinyl. (Edit, I do see "plank" down lower in your original post)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-0X_75Nptug

Recessing a steel plate (1/8" thick is enough for a 2" x 4" hole) into the subfloor is relatively easy too. It would be flush with the rest of the subfloor, and covered up with the vinyl flooring, never to be seen again. It can also be patched with a rabbeted piece of 3/4 plywood, or by gluing and screwing some 3/4 backer boards below the subfloor. (it can be done from above) Without looking for the perfect video, I would do a combination of these two if patched with plywood. A full rabbet/shiplap instead of tabs on the first video.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AHZpC9Iq5Bk

And some underneath support like this video (but glue it)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i84HR0W42ws

And, there is no logical reason that the holes are needed for any electrical code. The receptacles were probably just moved. A floor receptacle (by code) needs a special junction box that is listed for the purpose. It is installed from above the floor. (Unless all your wiring is done in EMT conduit)

The owner (also our sales guy) wants our flooring crew to take a metal plate about the size of the holes and jam it in there until it fits, then a finish will be spread over the area and vinyl plank glued back over it. A) this sounds like a half-ass way to patch this B) won't there be no support under that plate so eventually with enough weight, the flooring will give way and someone could go through the hole again and get hurt? We have learned through you all and through our home inspector that the right way to repair the subfloor is to cut out a larger portion of the subfloor up to the joists and replace that whole piece and glue new flooring planks over that. The owner said he can arrange for that, but we'll be completely responsible for the labor and materials out of pocket. My husband and I are arguing that he would've been able to demand that had the crew not laid down the floor over the existing holes with no effort to remedy the issue, and instead just hoped for the best. But once they chose to lay the floor like that, they took responsibility for the shoddy work and structural/safety issues it could present. I understand that's throwing the crew under the bus which I absolutely hate to do, but this is unacceptable...and it also sucks because there's a good chance that the owner himself told them to just lay the floor down like that based on his idea to "take a metal plate and hammer it in really hard until it stays". But I'm just assuming...who knows whose idea it was. We're gonna keep battling it out until we can come to an agreement. We have only paid for half the bill since they still need to finish doing our stairs, so that's good for us.

If there is access in a crawlspace or basement, I'd just plug the hole with wood from underneath and screw a plywood cleat over it. No need to hit the joists; you'll never push that plug out.

"We have learned through you all and through our home inspector that the right way to repair the subfloor is to cut out a larger portion of the subfloor up to the joists and replace that whole piece..."

NO. You will have a spongy area of the floor that will eventually sag if you try that. I do not know what your "inspector" was thinking, but it would not even meet codes.

Just do as I said above and be done with it.

If it were in a heavy traffic area, I would glue and screw 2x4 blocking underneath from joist to joist to back up the plug. But that would require getting to it from underneath. The smaller cleats as explained earlier can be installed from above, and will be more than strong enough for that size hole.

That's how they ended up doing it yesterday. The got access underneath and used 2x4s to cover under the hole, then they cut out pieces of wood to fit the inside of the hole. They spread a light finish over that and glue and flooring went on. Looks and feels good as new! Too bad they couldn't just do it right from the beginning rather than lay flexible flooring over it and hope for the best...