Thread: New Blackbutt hardwood floor defects

Hi Guys,

We have gotten a new timber floor installed and finished recently. We have some timber defects that I feel pretty uncomfortable about. Some may left you with the splinter in the foot. I have never seen anything like this on a newly installed floor.

I want some sort of advice/opinion on that to understand the situation better.

I give you as much info as I can without finger pointing.

We have concrete slabs as the sub-floor. The way it was installed:
- black plastic membrane over concrete;
- 12.5mm ply nailed down into concrete through membrane;
- 14mm timber TnG glued and secret nailed to the ply.

Timber installed: Blackbutt Selected grade 14x83mm.

I wasn't happy with the way it was laid down. The installer’s process was pretty messy. As an example, when timber was delivered it was nicely placed in one stack in the corner. Because the installer was doing the whole floor, after he had done half he had moved the timber into another corner where he had already finished putting timber and half of the material was piled like an ant-hill. I don't know if he was throwing it around. I was not on site that day and did not take photos of it.
Now we have a bunch of torn grain holes in the planks. The installer company have rung the mill about it and mill people asked them haven't they seen these defects when they installed it? The installer claims they are timber defects and result of sanding. I'm not sure if defects were there when the installer was installing it, because as I said it was pretty messy and there were different problems that I was focusing on before the floor was finished.

I'm still puzzled how the installer applied the finish without noticing the defects. I think the installer guy just didn't care and this makes me really disappointed.

The installer company want to bring in their ATFA guy to assess and recommend what to do.

I can't say anything about this timber as I have never done any work with Blackbutt. I did work with spotted gum floor boards though and did not have any problems during cutting or sanding except that it was pretty heavy

Can it really happen because of sanding? And what are some ways to fix these problems?

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