Our baseboards were also installed before hardwood. It’s common. I asked our builder and for good measure a relative who is a project manager with another company

I've always had hardwood floors installed before baseboards. No shoe mold or quarter round needed.

In any case you shouldn't have to end up with squat looking baseboards because they made a mistake and decided to double stack your floors. You paid for a specific baseboard height and they don't just get to cover some of it up due to their mistake.

Yes, it seems to be both ways that is "normal" for installation of hardwood.

Personally, I like floor then trim, but as long as the installer knows how thick the flooring is

going to be, they can install the trim and the flooring slides underneath it.

We don’t have shoe mills or quarter round and baseboards went in first. They were high enough for the hardwood to go under easily with space for movement. This is an acceptable way to install.

How could your builder install flooring through out the entire house without your not knowing it was the wrong floor? Something is amiss here.

@elcieg -perhaps read this thread and your questions will be answered.

Okay, I'm far from an expert, but the thing that really stands out here is that it was delivered and installed in the same day ... Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't flooring usually get delivered in advance so it can acclimate before installation? I wouldn't think engineered hardware would be excluded from that ...

Aside from that, I don't know the style of the house or the price of the flooring, but I might be tempted to take the credit on this one, but then, I think the dark wood looks pretty nice. Do you know if you got a flooring choice of the same tier as your choice?

The fact that it is engineered vs solid is not a deal breaker. Engineered is the superior choice for most of the country thst has weather. And it’s the *only* choice for the half of the country that uses slab foundations. So that could be considered an upgrade, if the choice is good quality. Good quality engineered is more expensive than solid hardwoods.

If it is good quality, it will have a thick enough layer to be sanded and refinished a couple of times. And that is your solution, if you want a different color. It is cheaper than replacing, and you and the builder both get what you want.

So sorry this is happening to you. I think you are victim to this inflationary building craze and the builder doesn’t really care as if you walk he can sell this home probably at an increased price.

I would not allow him to put your floor over the top and further cover your baseboards. If he refuses to do this correctly, I would get an quote from a flooring contractor to redo and negotiate that credit. That way you can replace floors afterwards.

We just finished a custom build. Of course there were a couple of mistakes. For example, we have the wrong 10 foot, very expensive mahogany doors on my home. The correct doors should be here in 2 weeks. There was no argument, they were specific to our contract and thats what we should have. There was a mistake with our windows, the builder offered to replace them, we decided against it for many reasons. The builder basically threw in a bunch of stuff. we were happy with the compensation. I think as far as those floors go, they are so opposite of what you wanted, id insist on a redo, Our situation may be different from yours as we owned the lot and hired the builder. I cant imagine that a mistake of that magnitude not being fixed to your satsfaction or the builder making it right monetarily. Those baseboards should at least be pulled and placed over the floor, no quarter round.

Make him pull the bases.

He doesn't WANT to .......because it means getting the trim guy back, the drywall guy...the painter too. Tough. BEANS It's their mistake. And it will delay them ..and you.

All of build is process and pecking order. Within that the subs. Goal? Finish and close. For every last one of them.

Jan, why don't you speak in terms we can all understand.?

What dont you understand? pull the trim and redo, and everyone (subs) wants to finish and get paid.

Pull the bases ???

Base trim (moulding)

I hope they didnt install the cabinets yet.

Just my 2 cents. The current floor is a glued down engineered floor. It is going to be dimensionally stable and isn't going to have any real movement and therefore, there is no reason they can't add another floor on top of it.

They are unlikely to pull the baseboards, especially if this is a production builder. You can demand all day long but they are almost guaranteed to tell you to go pound sand and there is nothing you can do to make them do it. If you have a kick-out clause (which you likely do in a production build) then even suing them and winning will not make them pull the baseboards, they will just activate the kick-out clause and eventually give you your money back.

I suspect your engineered floors are 1/2" and your baseboards are probably not setting on the floor now. Unless your baseboards are really small already, just let them do it or take the $5,000 credit. Ensure your dishwasher is properly installed and let them deal with undercutting casings and door swings. That is a problem they will have to fix for the CO anyway so it is largely not your problem.

Miranda33....I can read, thank you.

We are on site at least every other day, if not every day because we live close...

My point being I don't understand why OP didn't look at the floor when delivered and why OP didn't look at the floor when it sat for three to five days to acclimate to the room temperature and humidity.

jkent9024, OP lives close, so not in a different part of the country, nor in hospital.

angel18432, you have a problem with Jan Moyer's response?

What's going on here? Everyone looking for a fight? No one here has been appointed Editor in Chief.

The op stated..............The floor went in, no notice in ONE day

"We checked on the house around 5pm one night, and when we came back the very next night around the same time, the flooring was completely done. It had been delivered and installed all in one day. "

In fairness, no owner can be there EVERY day. Right?

The mistake is on the builder, and in his haste, he made a big one.

I'd assume he made TWO. Because somebody, somewhere, selected the other WRONG floor lol!

“Miranda33....I can read, thank you.”

Clearly you can’t because the OP explained why she never saw the floor before install.

And the problem is that people are trying to lay blame on the OP when she did nothing wrong.

Should the OP insist on getting what they ordered, the existing flooring should be removed.

If not, as Verbo pointed our earlier, the new flooring should be laid at either a right or 45˚ angle from the existing floor. Fitting or undercutting all the casings will be a challenge.

As for re-finishing. There are four types of engineered hardwood. Lucky if you get one refinishing on top of the most expensive one.

OP “-When bringing this to our builder's attention, they said it was "vendor error" and would resolve it.”

Why isnt the vendor responsible? This should be a slam dunk for the builder if he wasnt FOS. Although, it could have been caught before it was put down, someone screwed up the order. If it was such a rush to put down the floor and it didnt acclimate according to manufacturers directions, you will find out soon enough, thats another can of worms.

@M Riz right? I don't know. This process has been ridiculous. They ended up telling us that the order went in incorrectly. But then the builder reached out to us the next day to have us "remind them" what we selected. Which makes me think it was their fault. Such a mess.

Oh it was without a doubt his fault.. We caught our windows the day they were delivered, the door was crated so that went on. Hes stuck with the old doors because whomever ordered it bought the wrong one. Not my problem, Ive been accomodating as has he so our build and any issues were addressed quickly. You are going to have to compromise, he could turn around and sell that house because its already built for probably more than you paid. Youre going to have to pick your battles. The consensus is that you can install flooring over the old so maybe thats the way to go. Let him you know that you are working on solving this and what you want in return is your baseboards reinstalled. I feel like its a good tradeoff to move past the situation. Now keep you eyes peeled for any other mishaps, when they are easier to fix. Good luck

Thank you again everyone! I posted an edit/update to my original post. I'll let anyone who cares, know how this all turns out in case it happens to anyone else in the future!:)

I completely missed that the floors were never acclimated in the home, which most engineered wood brands specify in their installation instructions. Hopefully you know the brand/model of the floors and can check what they specify for that particular product.

If they say the floors need to sit in the house for X days, then that would give you major leverage to get this corrected properly.

I'll be very interested to see how this turns out. Is it a "production" builder?

BTW, in my area, I doubt that $5000 would cover the cost of fixing it.

@raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio yes they are a production builder. Claimed to be more of a custom builder when we began this process back in 2020, and now with covid, everything moving forward is just being built and sold as spec, no customizations allowed. Unfortunately we got caught right in the middle of the mess/transition and things like this have happened a lot. Also, I agree, $5K is kinda a joke. This house is over 3,000 Sq ft., and costs 700K. Will for sure update with what happens.

I am glad for your update from Shaw Flooring. It would have been a mistake to put a second floor on top of the incorrect floor. I want to add that having a very dark floor like that is a maintenance nightmare. It shows every speck of dust and every crumb. Very difficult to keep looking clean. You would have to live with that for years - they need to replace the dark floor with what is in writing in your contract.

So, I looked up Shaw Floors products ... I found your flooring (selected, and the installed might just be a different color of the same ...)

https://shawbuilderflooringsf.com/flooring/hardwood/details/stone-gate-hw719/trellis

https://shawbuilderflooringsf.com/flooring/hardwood/details/stone-gate-hw719/reflection

Anyways, I couldn't find installation guidelines on the shaw builders website,so I went to their regular website and found a flooring that was similar ...

https://shawfloors.com/flooring/hardwood/details/foothills-224sa/stonehenge

And its installation guidelines ...

https://pdmsview.shawinc.com/viewer/doc/3776

I did not see anything about acclimation. There was mention of humidity and making sure HVAC was in place and running in advance, but if those were in range, it didn't specifically mention any reason it couldn't have been delivered and installed in one day, so I guess that's fine by the vendor, etc.

I did find the instructions though for install over various surfaces ... top of page 3 for those reading along:

• For existing wood floors install new flooring at right angles to the existing flooring.
• Do not glue, staple, or nail down hardwood flooring over particle board, floating application is acceptable (products 3” or wider).
• Do not install over existing glue down hardwood floors.

This is repeated for floating installation, as well (bottom of page 6):

• If installing over an existing wood floor, install the flooring at right angles to the wood floor.
• Secure creaking and loose floorboards with screws.
• Do not install over wood flooring glued to a concrete sub floor.

Middle of page 5 confirms what you stated about fasteners and glue being used:

"Glue Assist - For products greater than 5” in width, it is recommended to use a combination glue down assist when using mechanical fasteners. Apply a urethane based wood flooring adhesive to the subfloor prior to installing the planks. Follow the standard fastener schedule. *This installation method doesn’t require the use of a traditional vapor retarder, which enables the glue to adhere to the subfloor rather than the paper."

So perpendicular to the direction running now, not 45° ... and I would be confirming whether glue assist qualified as a glue down application mentioned on page 5 regarding suitability of a surface for install ... floating might be okay either way, since it calls out glued to concrete, which isn't what you have. Again, not an expert, but that's what I found ...

Ah, looks like you figured out much of what I was typing/copying and already edited ...

One thing to think about is the direction you want the floor to run. That's going to trump the 'best' orientation over what's down.

^^^

I don't recall the engineered hardwood supplier being originally mentioned. Almost always the best source of information.

Incidentally, the Wood Floor Business article I linked to--which few readers, I'm told, click as they think they're ads--says if a parallel installation is used, a minimum 3/8" plywood layer should be added for stability. No help to the OP!

That info is a help. It'll reinforce the choice to remove the wrong floor.

Thank you for the update! It was smart to call the manufacturer about the warranty. Let us know how it goes with the builder.

@worthy, the OP added an update to her original/first post. I was confused too!

I noticed the hardwood supplier in the sample picture ... it's labeled Shaw Floors, Stone Gate collection, Trellis color.

I work with a few builders that the home owner would never have known about the issue. They would have torn the first floor up and done what is right on their own.

It sounds like the Builder made the error (from what you say) so let's see how he handles it.

He may just offer you your deposit back and sell it "as is" to another buyer. Contracts are generally written to favor the builder and you don't have a choice to change this.

It's all in the contract - Have you reread yours?

He will probably get more than you are paying in this crazy market and you will have to pay more for the next build.

Keep us posted.

As I asked previously, it is important to know how the floor is laid. If it is glued directly to an OSB subfloor, removing the glued planks will ruin the OSB (which might be another reason why they did not offer to remove, but overlay). So that means the new floor will need an underlayment (self-leveler not sufficient to fill chunks missing in subfloor). With the tract builder's record now known, it might be good for you to be aware, watch, and verify their method of replacement.

Hi Everyone. I promised an update for those who are interested, and it is that the builder is pulling up all of the incorrect floor, and putting the correct one down. We're observing the process of them fixing any damaged subfloor. Ultimately I'm happy to have fought them on this, and it's a drastic difference in look from what was previously there. Attached is a photo of one of the rooms they just finished in our walk out basement.

Congratulations on your resolve to getting your floors exactly as you want. Looks beautiful!

Btw, hang in there. Building anything is crazy now. I know as we are knee deep and hopeful to be finished soon

Glad to hear you were able to reach an agreeable solution and are getting to observe to assure things aren't getting swept under the rug (or floor).

wow it looks great! I am so happy it worked out - good job staying strong on what you wanted, it is not easy 😅

Glad builder is doing the right thing. Thanks for keeping us updated.

Smart move on his part. No amount of savings will cover a bad mouthed reputation : ) Whatever it is ,fix it, and fix it fast. Go ahead and curse in the TRUCK.

Great news! And the new floor looks great!

So all builders are not horned scammers, cheats and liars, after all.

The guys who correct things without requiring substantial pushback are worth respect. This guy wasn't in that group, was he.