House Fire/ Gaps in laminate

[pacrat]

Hi guys, I joined the forum to see if my insurance is telling the truth, or whether I'm right.
Here's my question.
If I had high humidity in my house, in excess of 65%, for a month and a half, could it cause my flooring to have gaps length wise, without any noticeable buckling?
The flooring was professionally installed 1 year prior to the fire, and these gaps were NOT noticed prior to the fire (I strongly believe they were never there).

The fire actually only damaged my neighbors homes, and mine only suffered water damage from the firefighters clothing and boots when they entered my home, to access the attic to check the firewall...

I've attached a link with the pic, to so you can have a visual.
This is the worst spot, and those are coins jammed in the gap. There are other gaps, but I ran out of coins, as I wasn't expecting to see this.
The insurance company is saying that the gaps are NOT related to the elevated humidity in my house, and that the gaps are isolated to head joints, and localized in one area, not the whole upper floor...

Have a look, and tell me I'm crazy, or that the humidity may have caused this.
Thanks


image upload

 

[havasu]

If my thinking is correct, an elevated humidity would cause your floor to expand, not shrink. Did you acclimate the floor prior to installation?

 

[ernie]

Are the seams swelled? You can hire a flooring inspector.

 

[Ken]

If the gaps are only on the short side of the boards put some titebond in them and kick them shut with a pair of sneakers on, no biggie.

 

[pacrat]

The floor in the main level, was a few years older, but there was noticeable buckling and some gaps, therefore the insurance adjuster agreed that it needed to be replaced, but not this floor, but I said it was only installed 1 year prior to the water damage...
The quality of the flooring in the photo was better than the main floor that was replaced and newer, which is why I thought the damage might not be as "bad" or "noticeable" as on the main floor...
However, there are some gaps, most visible in the room and hallway where the most traffic was. There is some ever so slight "waving" like it had some water on a few of the planks, but in the engineer who inspected it, everything I see is related to a faulty installation, or product.

I'm just doubt that the engineer has MY interests in mind when he is being paid by my insurance company to investigate my claims.
I was told that when there is excess humidity of 60%, you can have expansion of the wood, and then contraction, that would create gaps...

The whole experience has been a nightmare, and I just felt in my gut, that this was another lie, to avoid fixing the damage they had caused...

All of this could have been avoided, if they had removed the wet carpet, instead of leaving it to sit for a month and a half...
Thanks guys
If anyone else thinks I'm on to something, please chime in with your thoughts.
Cheers

 

[FloorMaven]

Have a look, and tell me I'm crazy, or that the humidity may have caused this.

What would you consider your normal rh? It's possible that the floor expanded at the height of your rh increase moving boards in the row slightly. When the rh normalized the boards shrunk to original size leaving a gap. It is a fixable condition. It'll probably cost you more to fight the ins. co. than it will to fix it.

 

[pacrat]

I installed a "high end" thermostat to control the humidity and program the heat/ac...
Generally, it doesn't go above 50%, and to be honest, I don't remember it even being that high, although it has been in the 40's.
Due to asthma issues with my son, we keep the a/c and have a MERV16 rated 5" media filter, to try and control the allergens, dust, etc...

When I attended my home 6 weeks AFTER the fire, the humidity was at 65%, which leads me to believe, that it was HIGHER than that up to that point.

To be honest, the gaps aren't the end of the world, BUT, they were not there before the fire, and we paid a few thousand dollars to have them installed by a professional, so they would be beautiful, and hopefully last for longer than 2 years before they started breaking down, chipping, gapping, etc....

This is only one of the issues related to the fire/water damage, and I know it may not seem like much, but when I include this, along with dead maggots in my air registers (that were just cleaned according to the insurance) garbage being stored in my fridge, broken stairs that they tried to carpet over (they said they were repaired, but I attended prior to the carpet being installed due to a delay, and they were still broken...) painting on light fixtures that I had just installed prior to the fire, it adds up...
I think I'll call the installation company, to see what sort of warranty they offer, on installation... Do installers offer warranty against gapping like this?

Thanks again

 

[FloorMaven]

Do installers offer warranty against gapping like this?

I can only speak for myself and I offer my clients an open ended warranty on my workmanship. What you describe sounds like an environmental, locally caused problem, not a workmanship issue. Still, if you were my client and called me with this concern, as long as you weren't pointing fingers in my direction, I would come out and probably attempt a fix at no cost. It's good customer relations as far as I'm concerned. Not everyone sees it that way.

 

[Floorist]

I can only speak for myself and I offer my clients an open ended warranty on my workmanship. What you describe sounds like an environmental, not a workmanship issue. Still, if you were my client and called me with this concern, as long as you weren't pointing fingers, I would come out and probably attempt a fix at no cost. It's good customer relations as far as I'm concerned. Not everyone sees it that way.

I agree, I have repaired stuff for no cost that had nothing to do with installation. But, I don't think that most installers will do that.

 

[pacrat]

I was able to get the original installers contact info, and he's agreed to come out and have a look. That the gaps all seem to be located in the hallway leading to and in the room that has the attic hatch where the firemen were, make me think its related to them...

Its painful dealing with insurance

 

[pacrat]

If the gaps are only on the short side of the boards put some titebond in them and kick them shut with a pair of sneakers on, no biggie.

This is what I want them to pay to fix... I know I could fix the majority of the issues (kicking the small gaps, replacing the low voltage wiring, smartwire, etc, but I have insurance, why should I pay $ and labour?)
I have photos pre fire, with no gaps, now there are gaps...
Its a multitude of little things...
They broke a window crank, painted on light fixtures, on the floor, broke a screen door, broke a spindle and plank on the deck, didn't cover my a/c unit when they tore the brick down, and then re bricked the house, new locks (they lost the keys to the old one, and this one is smaller, so re painting the door) , dead maggots in the vents (that were just cleaned) and on and on.
All of these little things, have added up to thousands of dollars to repair once added up.
We've been very patient, but this fire happened over 300 days ago, and my home still sits empty, while my neighbours, in homes that were completely rebuilt (basement to roof, gutted) are back in their homes, while I wait to get my home repaired.

I REALLY like the attitude of the installers in here, you guys are what I like hearing about! Keep up the good work!

 

[Ken]

I agree, I have repaired stuff for no cost that had nothing to do with installation. But, I don't think that most installers will do that.

I agree. Free repairs are an awesome way to get that referral. I walked into a customer's home with no more than four gaps in their laminate floor. I used a little titebond, kicked them closed, and was on my way. Within a month I had 6 new jobs that were referred by that customer all because of something that took about two and a half minutes of my day.

 

[Ken]

I'm sorry, I didn't realize this was a contractor issue. I thought the gaps were a result of the environmental change from after the fire. I suppose that changes things, lol.

 

[Ernesto]

This is what I want them to pay to fix... I know I could fix the majority of the issues (kicking the small gaps, replacing the low voltage wiring, smartwire, etc, but I have insurance, why should I pay $ and labour?)
I have photos pre fire, with no gaps, now there are gaps...
Its a multitude of little things...
They broke a window crank, painted on light fixtures, on the floor, broke a screen door, broke a spindle and plank on the deck, didn't cover my a/c unit when they tore the brick down, and then re bricked the house, new locks (they lost the keys to the old one, and this one is smaller, so re painting the door) , dead maggots in the vents (that were just cleaned) and on and on.
All of these little things, have added up to thousands of dollars to repair once added up.
We've been very patient, but this fire happened over 300 days ago, and my home still sits empty, while my neighbours, in homes that were completely rebuilt (basement to roof, gutted) are back in their homes, while I wait to get my home repaired.

I REALLY like the attitude of the installers in here, you guys are what I like hearing about! Keep up the good work!

You must have Allstate Insurance. They suck.

 

[pacrat]

I'm sorry, I didn't realize this was a contractor issue. I thought the gaps were a result of the environmental change from after the fire. I suppose that changes things, lol.

It is a contractor issue according to the "engineer" that my insurance paid for, to determine why I have gaps in the flooring, and whether it was related to excess rH (65%+ for a month and a half) and water from the firefighters clothing.

The thing is, the gaps weren't there originally, and only "appeared" after the fire.
I found when I was discussing the deficiencies with regards to what had been "repaired", the contractor hired by the insurance to fix the damages, refused to accept responsibility for anything. Every broken stair, painted fixture, "wasn't done by my guys"...

 

[Ernesto]

I've seen laminates gap from high rh and or water damage all the time on inspections. Some rows can move and some get locked in which can cause gaps as sections of the floor will move independently of the other.

Write it up, I'll take fifty bucks.