How to tell if flooring installation is wrong
Contractors and retailers often defend unconventional installation methods, leaving homeowners unsure if visible flaws, gaps, and creaks are acceptable or require a redo. Second-guessing these methods stops people from confidently confronting installers or demanding fixes before paying thousands for defective work.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1consulting multiple flooring retailers for second opinions
- 2Using painters tape to mark areas for the contractor to fix
- 3Checking if gaps are actually intentional enhanced bevel planks
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Paid 10k for 550 sq feet of LVP flooring. Floor is uneven in parts, there's gaps, there's creaks with the material, and there's already scratches. Should the nose have this big of a lip too?”source ↗
“Wtf...are we overreacting?”source ↗
“I thought that sounded a little off, so we went to the highest end flooring place in town and they also said that would work. Is this the best approach?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3Should I glue down engineered herringbone flooring or float it?
- 6How to tell if uneven flooring panels are defective
- 21How to tile over an uneven subfloor without tearing it up
- 4Do I need a waterproof membrane under tile on a concrete floor?
- 2Is old black flooring adhesive safe to remove?
- 4Is minor up and down movement in LVP flooring normal?