We've had some trouble with the floors in our new house. There are big gaps between boards everywhere. There are sections where there doesn't seem to be anything under the boards. There are sections where the boards are cupped. We've tried to get the builder to address these problems, but he just tells us to talk to his floor sub-contractor, who never returns our calls. When we complain about this to the builder, he says "well, you gotta stay on him!" That approach isn't working.

Researching, it turns out there are people who are certified to inspect floor installations. And, it also turns out that a report from one of these certified inspectors is the only thing a judge will accept, if we were to file a lawsuit against the builder.

So, we got one of these inspectors to come out this week and look (and they charge by the mile for travel, per hour for inspecting, per hour for report creation, plus a flat fee on top - yay). And the inspector's conclusion was ... the entire floor should be re-done. Aside from the problems that we noticed, there is too little finish on the boards, many of the boards are dried out, and they weren't laid square with the walls (!).

Next step is to get estimates from a couple of flooring companies to do a full re-floor of our house. Then, we present all of that to the builder... The builder who used to be the county D.A. and owns or has built half the town. That should go well.