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Home Depot Floors

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Floors are pretty essential, and working on them creates quite a mess even when all goes well. For a couple of book-length tales of horror, read what happened to

• Sharon of Chester, VA
• Patricia of Lexington, KY
• Erik of Sacramento.

Jesse of Green Bay, WI June 13, 2009

I had flooring installed in 2006. After about a month, the floors started to squeak. After complaining and working with the Home Depot for 2 years to correct the issue, they agreed to replace the floors after an indepenant inspector concluded there was an issue with installation. In September 2008, the same company that installed the floors came back and tore out the old floors and replaced them again. Unfortunately, the issues with the squeaky floors returned immeadiately. Again I have been working to get this fixed, but the Home Depot has now sent me a letter stating "we have found no liability on behalf of the Home Depot for your flooring squeak issues." I have had multiple flooring companies come to my home and state that they think the only way to correct the issue is to tear up the flooring again and to replace it. I have spent 3 years dealing with this!

Dawn of Sacramento, CA May 19, 2009

As background, I purchased and had installed Armstrong Gunstock Springdale hardwood floors through Home Depot in Natomas, CA. These floors were installed throughout the lower portion of my home (front entry, living room, and kitchen) on April 22, 2002. As time went by, I noticed gradual deterioration and fading of the surface lamination of the floors, and began to question the integrity of the wood. In 2007, I contacted a Customer Service Representative at Home Depot in Natomas named Michelle Beck. I told Ms. Beck about my concerns with my flooring, and she started the process of opening this up as a Claim/Inspection Report. After numerous follow-ups with Ms. Beck, she stated on one occasion that the paperwork was lost, and did not show any motivation whatsoever in further facilitating this claim. My dealings with Ms. Beck were extremely frustrating, to say the least, and I found myself unable to make any progress with Home Depot in addressing the problems with my floors. On November 28, 2008, a new Claim/Inspection Report was filed by Ms. Beck, and I was told that within approximately 2-weeks that I would receive follow-up. This time passed, and I once again had to take the initiative to contact Home Depot to receive a status on my claim. Ms. Beck stated that another Customer Service Representative (named Mike) would be assisting me with my claim from that point forward. I spoke with Mike, and he stated that an Inspector would need to come out to my home to inspect the floors before next steps were to be made. Recently, this Inspector came to my home, and spoke with my fiance, Eric, as I was unable to be at home due to work (which the Inspector said would be fine). Amongst the first tasks that the Inspector conducted was to measure the moisture content throughout various points on the floor using a moisture dome test. He discovered that many areas of the floor had excessively high moisture content, and concluded that this type of hardwood flooring should have never been installed on a foundation with moisture content this high. It was the Inspector's opinion that the laminate and integrity of the floors would continue to deteriorate due to this moisture problem. Furthermore, the Inspector stated that a moisture dome test should always be conducted prior to installing any hardwood floor. He went on to add that if a dome test would have correctly been done at our home, it would have become apparent that this type of floor was unsuitable for our foundation. The initial claim that was filed with Home Depot (back in 2007) was done so due to my belief that this flooring was defective, or was installed improperly. It has become apparent though this claim that the installers used by Home Depot to professionally install this flooring did not follow basic protocols. First and foremost being a dome test to measure the moisture content of the foundation. Home Depot responded with a phone call by P. Evans stating that he had no proof that the installers did not do a dome test, but could not provide me with the proof that they did, nor would they give me the name and information of the installers they contracted out to me. I am still researching and trying to find a solution to the "shady" loop holes that have be used to deny any liability through either company.

I am sickened by the fact that there is 5,000.00 worth of real wood flooring in my house that is buckling and has lamination that is stripping away, and there is no responsibility being taken for not following basic installations on a cement slab, the dome test. The floors should have never been put down. The 10 yr warranty does not require the installer to follow basic professional protocol.

Judith of Verona, VA May 4, 2009

I went to purchase rugs only to find they no longer keep rugs in stock, you must special order. The person helping me was very helpful and placed the order very quickly and took me up front to pay. Neither the special order person or cashier advised me that there would be a 15% restocking fee for returns.

Dr. Saim Giray of Columbus, OH April 16, 2009

Dear Sir: I write this letter to aprise you of my recent experience with a home renovation that I recently had through your company and to ask that something be done to rectify the matter. Last week I put hard wood floors in my condominium and decided to use Home Depot after getting estimates from two other contractors. I am not at all happy with the way in which my business was handled.

First, in what was a terribly unnecessary convoluted process I was given an estimate which was changed on the day of installation. As you may know, installing this flooring is a rather involved process which required taking out my existing carpet, and delivering the flooring 72 hours prior to installation. When your contractors came to do the work on the scheduled day, after days of preparation, they informed me they could not execute it because it entailed leveling the existing flooring which was a structural correction, and that this would cost an additional 800.

When I objected to this unforseen last minute and very large additional cost, they told me that I should ask my insurance company or that I was welcome to return the flooring, get carpeting instead, or find another contractor. I did contact my insurance company which was an additional burden caused by your contractors not telling me from the beginning that this could be necessary. Don't they know when they see carpeting that this is a potential issue, and why do you/they not tell customers up front during the decision making time?

Additionally, after I paid for the additional work to be done, I do not believe that they actually did what I needed and paid for structually. All of this is very disheartening and frustrating. It has not only caused friction between me and my insurance company, but has had the effect of my losing total confidence in your company. I therefore ask that you extend the one year warranty which I am told you provide for an additional two years to make sure that the flooring you have installed without the requisite preparation for which I paid, is at least up to standard. I think it is the least you could do in light of the mishandling and complications that arose. I hope you will stand by your company and trust that you understand the importance of keeping your customers satisfied.

I do not believe that additional charges of installation I paid to start the work first for 800 then after the change of opinion by the crew as to how to do leveling off the floor for 270+ instead was at all justified. I felt like I was simply being ripped off as under the circumstances I had no choice but pay whatever amount to finish the work on the bear floor after the carpet was removed..

Mary of San Diego, CA March 28, 2009

There is an imprint of a penis within the pattern of the tile I have installed in my bathroom. It was not very obvious what the pattern was until some time after it was installed. There are also other images of nipples and a women's crotch too but I didn't want to take pictures of everything as you can probably imagine its quite embarrasing. I was able to find a sample of the tile and went in to Home Depot (the images are like someone dipped their body part in a paint and pressed it against the tile at the time it was being designed).

This is not something I was expecting to find in my new bathroom tile. Home Depot has pulled the tile from the shelves of the local store and admitted they see the images and that it is not easily seen until you know it is there. Cotto has offered to reimburse me only for the tile, not for the removal and replacement.

While amusing and probably something you don't hear every day, I think it unfair for my family to have to endure having this stuff on our walls.

Bob of New Albany, IN March 20, 2009

In 2001, Home Depot, Clarksville, Indiana, installed ceramic tile in three rooms of my house. Extra thick backer board was used, even though the house has two layers of wood base. The result is an elevated surface of the floors, which blocks dishwasher service and removal, exterior door opening difficulty, room to room elevation differences, etc.

I have many photos that document the numerous problems. At the time of installation, I tried to get Home Depot to replace everything but they refused.

In response to many heated discussions with the Home Depot flooring expeditor, we were given a written lifetime guarantee on installation. Recently, the dishwasher had to be replaced. However, since the Home Depot installed tile floor blocked its removal (and installation of a new unit)a section of tile and backer board had to be removed.

I first talked with Lou Anne Nally (current Install Expeditor) and was told that help would be forthcoming. However, nothing happened and I was forced to remove the section of tile and backer board myself.) In an attempt to get the store to honor the lifetime guarantee and replace the removed section, I had several more conversations with Lou Anne Nally and with Michael J. Reinhold, Store Manager. Thus far, I get promises but no action.

I'm tired of Home Depot's apparent practice of ignoring warranties and their responses to my requests to exercise the lifetime guarantee. I now want to have the Home Depot installed tile and backer board replaced in all three rooms and then properly installed. Also, since the floor was installed exceptionally high, door moldings and interior doors were shortened to accommodate the high floor. I'd like to get those issues addressed when the ceramic floor is installed properly.

The elevated floor blocks removal of the dishwasher, makes operation of three exterior doors cumbersome, creates a significant room to room elevation difference which creates a trip hazard.

If Home Depot is not going to stand behind their written guarantee, I want to have the whole installation removed and then installed properly.

Seth of Bladenboro, NC February 28, 2009

I purchased a large quantity of hardwood flooring in June of 08, around 3 thousand dollar's worth. It was purchased and placed on will call meaning that I could pick boxes up as I needed it. I went initially and picked up 10 boxws and everything went well. a couple of weeks later I called ahead to tell the customer service dept to let them know we needed another ten boxes of the wood i had already purchased.

they told me someone had already picked it up. this led to two days of calling and speaking to managers who were less than helpful and at times ignorant and rude. finally someone said that the would refer to the security camera and see who it was. a day later a manager called and said they had misplaced my order and that it was there. so after being delayed on my work for days i went to get my wood, I had 10 boxes remaining. they called me 2 weeks later and said that they had refunded my acct for the 10 boxes I had left, when asked why they said they had a contractor that needed them and i hadnt picked them up. this was something I paid for , it was mine. I raised hell and of course no one cared. I will never do business in Home Depot again, I also sold my stock in the company because its on the way out due to the incompetant idiots that staff their stores.

Dennis of Salt Lake City, UT January 4, 2009

On April 15th I placed a special order for Castello Stoneline Laminated Flooring, after having received a visit from Tyler and Associates who performed the measuremesnts and flooring preparation that would be required. It was my responsiblity to certain appliances removed to accomdate the installation. On May 8th Home Depot's installer arrived to begin the installation. It was there opinion that the installation could be installed over our current vinyl flooring. My wife and I were somewhat apprensive with this decision but they assured us that this was the standard procedure for installing laminated flooring. Tyler indicated there were a number of areas that would need to be leveled.

Home Depot's installer did not concur with all of Tyler's reccomendation and used some leveling cement in one area but concluded it was not necessary in other areas. The installation proceed, but there was not enough flooring to complete the job so an additional two cases were ordered. This merchanise was suppose to arrive in about three weeks. Instead the additional cases did not arrive until about June 15th and the installatiion completed June 20th. In the mean time we were without a stove, water and dishwasher.

When the installer arrived on June 20th to complete the job I pointed out to him certain areas in the flooring that had popping and cracking sounds. He examined the flooring and concluded it must be the product and not due to his installation. It is interesting to note that this was one of the areas that Tyler & Associates had indicated needed leveling.

The installation was completed and I notified Home Depot of the problem and I wrote a letter to Home Depot addressed to M. Kramer on June 23rd informing them with my concern. M. Kramer informed me that they would have a manufacturing representative come out and take a look at the flooring. A manufacturing representative never came out so I wrote another letter to Home Depot dated October 21st. M. Kramer no longer was serving as the expeditor so I was contacted by another gentelman from Home Depot who made an onsite visit the later part of October. He was of the opinion that it was an istallation problem and would have representive from the installation company come out and make a site visit.

Another month elapsed and no action or on-site visit had occurred by the installer so I sent another letter to Home Depot dated December 2nd. Shortly thereafter arepresentive from Home Depot and a represative from the Installers arrived and inspected the floor and concluded that the flooring would have to be taken up and basically start from scatch. Finally on Dec 15th a inspector representing the manufacturer arrived and inspected the flooring and his report indicated the flooring had not been installed inacordance with the merchandise instructions.

In the mean time Home Depot contacted me and indicated that I basically had two choices starting all over or they would refund me my out of pocket costs and services I performed totaling approximately 710. I agreed to accept this amount due to fact that I no longer can trust Home Depot' word as to what they would be willing to accept as there financial responsiblity in starting the job over. Needlessly to say the 20 year warranty on the product I purchased is mostly likely voided.

Claire of Union, KY December 20, 2008

Update from Claire in Union KY. Well as luck would have it we decided back in Nov. to go and buy more of the cherry floor since we had to twin a room. We thought we could deal with the look since we did not wish to have too many different floorings visible. They discontinued the Jotoba cherry at the end of Sept. So evidently they were having far too many problems. Now I have to pull up my floor since I have open twin rooms that face each other and I am without any other resource for this discontinued wood. Buyer beware. In today's economy a lost customer is really something to worry about.

Economic damages are having to pull out a floor that is less than 4 months old and replacing it completely with a new one. But there is going to be more damage to HD since I will no longer give them my business and I am not hurt by the current economic crunch and still have money to upgrade my new house. I will do it with the use of another company.

Carlos of Cumming, GA October 21, 2008

My parents had hard wood flooring put down, the exact match as the other wood flooring in there house so that it would look like one piece. The floor has spaces in between them, the shoe molding is brown, not white, like the rest of the house, which looks HORRIBLE!, there is puddy all over the fireplace, that you CAN see, and the worst is there are dividers from the kitchen and the hall way....why would they have wanted an exact match just to have a divider. The divider has a cut in the middle so when you walk in the living you see not only the divider but the cut in the middle!

ITS THE WORST JOB I HAVE EVER SEEN! The thing is we were going to lay the floor down and deceided that Home Depot was worth the money to put it down! NO! You could trip on his HUGE divider also! We could of done this job 100% better. When we went to complain they gave us the run around and told us there is nothing they can do about it! All they want is the floor done right! (I wrote this because my parents do not speak enough English and felt they would not being taken seriously)

I HOPE NO PHYSICAL DAMAGE WILL RESULT BUT WITH ALL MY PARENTS GRANDCHILDREN THE DIVIDER LOOKS LIKE IT WILL BE A PROBLEM IN THE LONG RUN!

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