A job in Phoenix this spring showed me why you never skip the moisture check

We were laying down a beautiful engineered wood floor in a big living room, and the homeowner was pushing us to finish fast. I pulled out my meter and got a reading of 18% in the slab, way over the 12% limit. We had to stop everything, set up fans, and wait two full days before we could even think about installing. That delay saved us from a massive callback and a floor that would have buckled in a month. Has anyone else had a client get really upset when you insisted on waiting for the numbers to drop?

3 comments

3 Comments

david_jones3822d agoMost Upvoted

Man, that's a nightmare scenario averted. Did the homeowner ever come around and thank you for holding firm, or were they just mad about the delay the whole time? I've seen guys cave to pressure and it always ends in a disaster, like a floor that swells up at the seams a few weeks later.

phoenixw1122d ago

Yeah, that's the real test... @david_jones38, did they ever call back to apologize after the floor would've failed?

the_linda22d ago

Honestly, I get why they'd be frustrated with the wait (time is money, right?). But holding the line on the moisture check is just basic job security, it's not even about being the good guy.