We built a new home with BayWest, possession in May 2014. Went with laminate flooring at BayWest's suggestion for a more durable, less maintenance floor option. Actually paid more for the laminate, compared to hardwood. Looked fantastic for about 3 or 4 months. Noticed some bubbling along seams, first in kitchen and then hallway. By 1-year inspection, there were 50+ spots where it had bubbled. Noted on the 1-year report. Nu-Way sent an inspector out who blamed it on our dog! (who is not even a messy drinker) Obviously not happy with that decision, BayWest contacted Nu-Way on our behalf and Nu-Way sent out 3 guys (original inspector, Manufacturer Rep and Julian Pontes, Customer Care Supervisor, I believe) on July 27th, 2015. They also blamed it on the dog! But took a couple of extra boards that we had in the basement so they could do some testing on them. They said they would get back to us ASAP and send us a copy of their findings. Fast forward to beginning of November, still no word from them so we contacted BayWest. They came over on November 6th and told us that Nu-Way's testing did not show anything wrong with their product and are blaming us 100% for the damaged flooring, again, siting that it was due to us having a dog that caused the damage while drinking/walking over the floors. We contacted Alberta New Home Warranty and they said that we only had 1 year and 2 months to file a claim against Nu-Way but since they took so long to come inspect the floors and then even longer for the "testing", they could not do anything about it. How convenient! If there was a leak or a spill that we intentionally left on the floor, well that's one thing. This is well over 60 spots now all over our floors (kitchen, hallways, entryways) and now the older spots have started to crack. This flooring either should have been sealed after installation or NOT sold for use in homes! During the July 27th visit, all three of them grilled us about getting any (even a single drop!) water or liquid on the floor. I use a dry mop with their own cleaning solution (a gift upon possession) to clean it and we are all very quick to clean up any moisture in a timely manner. And despite their claims, our dog never drooled, urinated or walked on it with wet paws! Apparently, we are not supposed to actually "live" in our house unless we want to have damaged floors!!! The funny (not really) thing is that our dog recently passed and now we have a puppy who actually does all the things that they blamed our previous dog for doing, so I can only imagine how horrible our floors will look like in 6 months from now! I will be fighting this Nu-Way, using every single avenue that is available! Even if we were as messy as you claim, 1-year old laminate flooring should not look like this!!!! Pictures do NOT show how badly the damage actually is! In person, they look horrible! As of today, still haven't received a copy of that "testing" Nu-Way apparently did.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $15,000.00
- Company Response
Dear Home Owner,
In response to your above statement. When you were sold your laminate you were informed verbally and through sign off about the pro's and cons of laminate floors. Yes Laminate floors are more durable than hardwood against dents, scratches, and in general wear and tear. Unfortunately laminate floors are just as or a little more susceptible to water damage than hardwood floors. Your complaint of bubbles or raised areas along the edge of your laminate was brought to our attention by yourselves and your builder Baywest Homes. We sent out our Quality assurance agent along with a manufacturer’s rep to inspect your floors. It was deemed that there was no installation issues and the complaint about raised or bubbling edges unfortunately was caused by standing water damage. When we inspected the floor, we have pictures showing numerous drops of water on the floor that was determined caused by your dog drinking water and spilling or dripping excess water over the floor when walking away after drinking. The concentration of damage is higher around the dog’s water dish and surrounding area. Please note that if the laminate was faulty the swollen areas or bubbling areas would not be so intermittent, but rather the whole edge along the length of the board would be peeling or releasing showing a raised edge along the entire length of the boards in your floor. All boards tested were of good quality until moisture was added causing the bubbling or small areas of raised edges on the boards. This is the same issue that you have with your floor. In closing, your complaint was not taken lightly, but upon viewing and testing from the manufacturer it was determined that the problems with your floor was not installation or product related but caused from an outside source that is beyond control of the product manufacturer or Nu-Way Floor Fashions Ltd. In this case water getting into the joints of the floor caused the bubbling along the edges of the boards. We do apologize for the delay in sending the results of the tests performed on your floor and will be forwarding them to you as soon as possible. Please note: Nu-Way Floor Fashions Ltd. And the manufacturer are willing to have an independent flooring inspector come to your home and inspect your floors. If they deem that the floor is not performing to industry standards or meeting existing warranties on the product the manufacturer and Nu-Way Floor Fashions Ltd will honor any decision that the independent inspector makes. Baywest will be in touch with you in the near future to see if you are interested in this possible solution.