Very often you’ll read my rantings about knowing the products you’re working with and selling. If you don’t know the products and what they will and won’t do, realistically, regardless of what the manufacturer may tell you, you won’t be able to effectively sell them. Certainly you have to go by what the manufacturer says relative to installation and maintenance but as far as performance is concerned and appearance retention you have to be governed by experience. That being said, everyone in the industry working with flooring products they sell should know them. This brings us to the case of the settling house.
In this case the dealer sold and installed in a new home a sheet vinyl product that is installed with a pressure sensitive adhesive. After two years he got a complaint from the builder that the floor had buckles and wrinkles. When he went to the house to see what was going on he noticed that there were cracks in the walls, at the door frames. All of this is the result of the house settling. The dealer told the builder that the flooring was installed with a pressure sensitive adhesive and as a result the settling of the house was also affecting the floor. The stresses caused it to lift. The builder thought he was crazy. The flooring manufacturer when contacted for help with the complaint volunteered to send out an inspector. The inspectors report said that the reason for the buckles and wrinkles was that there was no adhesive transfer to the backing of the flooring material and that this was an installation problem. He didn’t know what he was looking at and what he was talking about. This sheet vinyl product is supposed to be installed with pressure sensitive adhesive that does not transfer to the product backing and would therefore not be a permanent type installation.
The inspector didn’t know the product, how it is to be installed and that the result of movement in the floor due to the house settling would result in buckles or wrinkles. He has created an argument the builder is basing his complaint on and trying to force the dealer to replace the floor. This is not a product problem, an installation problem or the dealer’s problem. This is more the builder’s problem but builders aren’t doing all that well right now and even when they are they like to blame the guy who sold and installed the floor. The house settling is a warranty issue for the builder. Now the floor could be fixed easily enough but if the house keeps moving there may be a problem again. If this was a wood or ceramic floor there’d be bigger problems but because the sheet vinyl is not a “permanent” installation it would be more forgiving – easier and less expensive to fix.
Keeping with our theme for the year which is trying to save you money from claims losses and helping you keep or increase your profit, this information should teach you a lesson. Even if you know the product you have to understand what’s going on with it when you get a complaint. You have to be able to explain, if the problem is not yours, what caused it and why. Your explanation should include information that will back you up such as the manufacturers installation guidelines, in a case like this. If you can explain in terms that make sense or are based in fact you’ll put yourself in a better position than if you just say this is not my problem. This case falls squarely on the scientific statement that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In this case the house settled causing movement which stresses the structure, changing the original dimensions resulting in walls cracking and in this case, vinyl moving and wrinkling. The walls will have to be fixed and the same mindset should exist that the same will have to be done to the flooring, which was affixed to the moving house.
Author: Lewis G. Migliore
LGM and Associates – The Floorcovering Experts