Last fall, I decided it was time to get rid of my carpet. It was cheap rental grade carpet (all I could afford when I bought my house in Nov. 09) and it was literally coming apart at the seams, plus stains, etc. I also needed to get new baseboards and tear out the tile in the front entryway. The total area is ~730 sq. ft. (foyer, dining room, living room, hallway and master bedroom).
Pic of the carpet (with a drum in the way). You can see the tile in the front entryway as well:
I knew that laminate was the route I wanted to go, so I began getting quotes before Thanksgiving. I got multiple quotes from Empire, Texas Floors and Home Depot, but before I did that, I went to my local HD and picked up a few free samples so I had an idea on color and texture. The rep from Empire was rude, called me by the wrong name several times and ignored what I wanted to do, so his quote was trashed the next day. Texas Floors was easy to work with but they wanted me to come into their store to pick out samples, which I just didn't have time for. Home Depot was pretty easy to work with as well (despite a $35 measuring fee, but that comes off of your purchase if you buy from them). The rep was friendly, quick and measured everything using a laser and tablet computer.
Once the measurements were done, HD called me the next week to discuss pricing. They provided me with itemized quotes on the 3 samples I chose, as well as floor plans of each room. After we had discussed pricing, I asked about financing. It just happened to be "their last day of their 0% financing promotion", but I wasn't ready to decide that same day. All of the itemized quotes and floor plans were emailed to me for review.
Jump forward to after Thanksgiving...my local HD store had called a few times over the last month to see if I had my decision yet. I didn't feel like I was being rushed...they just wanted feedback on their quotes. Finally, around the first week of December, I answered their call. I felt the most comfortable going with HD but I wasn't happy that the 0% promotion was over. So, the lady put me on hold to speak with her manager. Two minutes later, I had 0% financing for 24 months (surprise, surprise). I went in the next day to setup my HD account and sign the final paperwork.
The materials (flooring, underlayment, baseboards, caulk, etc.) were delivered to the store a few weeks later, but I asked them to hold off on delivery until after Jan. 1 because my kitchen project had just finished, plus the holidays. I scheduled the delivery around the first weekend in January. After delivery, I scheduled installation. HD uses a company out of Dallas called Cooper Installation Services (http://www.cooperinstallationservices.com/) to do their installs. The install team showed up on time on Jan. 13. They were a married couple and were very friendly and easy to get along with. However, this is where things started to unravel...
Per HD's and Cooper's policies, the floor had to be checked for level before the install could go in. This is the material I had purchased from HD:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Hampton-Bay-Tortola-Teak-8-mm-Thick-x-7-1-2-in-Wide-x-47-1-4-in-Length-Laminate-Flooring-463-89-sq-ft-pallet-HD702-P/203280081
The spec required a level within 1/16" over 1 meter...REALLY tight for laminate. After about 20 minutes of the install crew checking the floor with a 4 ft. level, it was determined that my floor was very unlevel and they couldn't do the install that day. Their suggestion was to pour leveling compound over the entire area, so ~60 bags at $50/bag (including labor). Aside from the cost, I was hesitant because of previous moisture issues that I've experienced with SLC in my master bathroom. I told them that I had to think about it, so the install team left.
I called superspeck to discuss options. He also agreed that leveling compound wasn't the best option, so we discussed grinding the slab in the high spots. The HD install team had marked the high spots during their inspection. I liked the idea of grinding better, so I started making calls around the Houston area. After no luck, I called superspeck back and he recommended I contact Cabot & Rowe (http://www.cabotandrowe.com/) here in Houston. I got Paul on the phone and he happened to be free that afternoon to come by. He showed up around 4:30, checked with a 6 ft. level and confirmed that the floor needed work. His team had just started a large tile install, which booked him for the next two weeks, but he did have a contact out of Beaumont that was available to start on Weds. Steve from Avanti Tile & Stone showed up Wednesday morning to get to work and was done by Thursday afternoon. He ground down all of the spots marked by HD as well as laid a small amount of leveling compound in the living room because the floor sloped down towards the back of the house (I knew about this before he did the work). The work cost me $2k, but I confirmed with superspeck that this was a good price for the amount of work involved.
I rescheduled the HD install for the following Monday, January 20. I had requested that the same crew come out because I liked them, despite the flooring issues. They showed up Monday morning and as soon as they walked in, they told me that the floor still wasn't ready. This put me on the defensive right away and I explained the grinding work that I had had done. They went through the area with a 4 ft. level again and marked even MORE spots that were out of whack as well as told me that the grinding work was "poorly done". They didn't bother to explain why ALL of the bad spots weren't marked in the first place. I was pretty frustrated, so I called my local HD store to talk to them. They agreed with me that this was a very unusual case and that 60 bags of compound seemed really high. They then called Cooper, who sent out a supervisor to inspect my floor. He showed up about 30 min. later and confirmed what the HD team told me. By this point, I was really upset, so I sent them all home.
After thinking about it for the rest of the day, I called HD back. They had previously told me that, if I'd rather have someone else do the install, they would refund all of the labor charges. I went with this plan (they also covered the trip charge for having the install team come out again), so that made me feel a lot better. Fortunately my local store is still interested in customer satisfaction. That same day, I reached out to a few flooring companies in the area, including Cabor & Rowe again and BAC (who did my kitchen). The going rate for install is $1.50-$2.00/sq. ft. plus any baseboard labor.
By Tuesday, I had all of my quotes from companies that could start that week. Cabot & Rowe wasn't able to help, which was understandable considering their work load, another company came in around $1.70 and BAC was at $2.00. Even though BAC was higher, I was most comfortable going with them. They came out Weds. to inspect the area, we agreed on the price (which included removing the old baseboards and installing the new ones), and they started around lunchtime. By Friday morning, the floor was done and they were paid.
My contact at my local store was actually in training for the flooring department, but she handled everything really well and I have since passed along thanks to her direct manager. HD did mess up on the materials though. They shorted me about 10 ft. of baseboard and shipped me way too many transition pieces plus an extra set of moisture barrier that I didn't need. In fact, two materials deliveries were required, plus I had to go in and pick up two more transition pieces after all of that. Fortunately, I was able to return everything I didn't use. Cooper was not necessarily difficult to work with, but once the word "policy" gets tossed out, my eyes glaze over and roll back in my head.
Here are some pics of the final result. I was in a hurry that day, so I apologize for the slight blurriness. I'm handling the touchup work and caulking, which is nearly complete.
Front entryway:
Living room:
Master bedroom:
[This message has been edited by AgDrumma07 (edited 2/4/2014 11:13a).]
Pic of the carpet (with a drum in the way). You can see the tile in the front entryway as well:
I knew that laminate was the route I wanted to go, so I began getting quotes before Thanksgiving. I got multiple quotes from Empire, Texas Floors and Home Depot, but before I did that, I went to my local HD and picked up a few free samples so I had an idea on color and texture. The rep from Empire was rude, called me by the wrong name several times and ignored what I wanted to do, so his quote was trashed the next day. Texas Floors was easy to work with but they wanted me to come into their store to pick out samples, which I just didn't have time for. Home Depot was pretty easy to work with as well (despite a $35 measuring fee, but that comes off of your purchase if you buy from them). The rep was friendly, quick and measured everything using a laser and tablet computer.
Once the measurements were done, HD called me the next week to discuss pricing. They provided me with itemized quotes on the 3 samples I chose, as well as floor plans of each room. After we had discussed pricing, I asked about financing. It just happened to be "their last day of their 0% financing promotion", but I wasn't ready to decide that same day. All of the itemized quotes and floor plans were emailed to me for review.
Jump forward to after Thanksgiving...my local HD store had called a few times over the last month to see if I had my decision yet. I didn't feel like I was being rushed...they just wanted feedback on their quotes. Finally, around the first week of December, I answered their call. I felt the most comfortable going with HD but I wasn't happy that the 0% promotion was over. So, the lady put me on hold to speak with her manager. Two minutes later, I had 0% financing for 24 months (surprise, surprise). I went in the next day to setup my HD account and sign the final paperwork.
The materials (flooring, underlayment, baseboards, caulk, etc.) were delivered to the store a few weeks later, but I asked them to hold off on delivery until after Jan. 1 because my kitchen project had just finished, plus the holidays. I scheduled the delivery around the first weekend in January. After delivery, I scheduled installation. HD uses a company out of Dallas called Cooper Installation Services (http://www.cooperinstallationservices.com/) to do their installs. The install team showed up on time on Jan. 13. They were a married couple and were very friendly and easy to get along with. However, this is where things started to unravel...
Per HD's and Cooper's policies, the floor had to be checked for level before the install could go in. This is the material I had purchased from HD:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Hampton-Bay-Tortola-Teak-8-mm-Thick-x-7-1-2-in-Wide-x-47-1-4-in-Length-Laminate-Flooring-463-89-sq-ft-pallet-HD702-P/203280081
The spec required a level within 1/16" over 1 meter...REALLY tight for laminate. After about 20 minutes of the install crew checking the floor with a 4 ft. level, it was determined that my floor was very unlevel and they couldn't do the install that day. Their suggestion was to pour leveling compound over the entire area, so ~60 bags at $50/bag (including labor). Aside from the cost, I was hesitant because of previous moisture issues that I've experienced with SLC in my master bathroom. I told them that I had to think about it, so the install team left.
I called superspeck to discuss options. He also agreed that leveling compound wasn't the best option, so we discussed grinding the slab in the high spots. The HD install team had marked the high spots during their inspection. I liked the idea of grinding better, so I started making calls around the Houston area. After no luck, I called superspeck back and he recommended I contact Cabot & Rowe (http://www.cabotandrowe.com/) here in Houston. I got Paul on the phone and he happened to be free that afternoon to come by. He showed up around 4:30, checked with a 6 ft. level and confirmed that the floor needed work. His team had just started a large tile install, which booked him for the next two weeks, but he did have a contact out of Beaumont that was available to start on Weds. Steve from Avanti Tile & Stone showed up Wednesday morning to get to work and was done by Thursday afternoon. He ground down all of the spots marked by HD as well as laid a small amount of leveling compound in the living room because the floor sloped down towards the back of the house (I knew about this before he did the work). The work cost me $2k, but I confirmed with superspeck that this was a good price for the amount of work involved.
I rescheduled the HD install for the following Monday, January 20. I had requested that the same crew come out because I liked them, despite the flooring issues. They showed up Monday morning and as soon as they walked in, they told me that the floor still wasn't ready. This put me on the defensive right away and I explained the grinding work that I had had done. They went through the area with a 4 ft. level again and marked even MORE spots that were out of whack as well as told me that the grinding work was "poorly done". They didn't bother to explain why ALL of the bad spots weren't marked in the first place. I was pretty frustrated, so I called my local HD store to talk to them. They agreed with me that this was a very unusual case and that 60 bags of compound seemed really high. They then called Cooper, who sent out a supervisor to inspect my floor. He showed up about 30 min. later and confirmed what the HD team told me. By this point, I was really upset, so I sent them all home.
After thinking about it for the rest of the day, I called HD back. They had previously told me that, if I'd rather have someone else do the install, they would refund all of the labor charges. I went with this plan (they also covered the trip charge for having the install team come out again), so that made me feel a lot better. Fortunately my local store is still interested in customer satisfaction. That same day, I reached out to a few flooring companies in the area, including Cabor & Rowe again and BAC (who did my kitchen). The going rate for install is $1.50-$2.00/sq. ft. plus any baseboard labor.
By Tuesday, I had all of my quotes from companies that could start that week. Cabot & Rowe wasn't able to help, which was understandable considering their work load, another company came in around $1.70 and BAC was at $2.00. Even though BAC was higher, I was most comfortable going with them. They came out Weds. to inspect the area, we agreed on the price (which included removing the old baseboards and installing the new ones), and they started around lunchtime. By Friday morning, the floor was done and they were paid.
My contact at my local store was actually in training for the flooring department, but she handled everything really well and I have since passed along thanks to her direct manager. HD did mess up on the materials though. They shorted me about 10 ft. of baseboard and shipped me way too many transition pieces plus an extra set of moisture barrier that I didn't need. In fact, two materials deliveries were required, plus I had to go in and pick up two more transition pieces after all of that. Fortunately, I was able to return everything I didn't use. Cooper was not necessarily difficult to work with, but once the word "policy" gets tossed out, my eyes glaze over and roll back in my head.
Here are some pics of the final result. I was in a hurry that day, so I apologize for the slight blurriness. I'm handling the touchup work and caulking, which is nearly complete.
Front entryway:
Living room:
Master bedroom:
[This message has been edited by AgDrumma07 (edited 2/4/2014 11:13a).]