Complaint Review: Cali Bamboo

We received our order on November 9. Per instructions, we placed the boxes of bamboo in our home, open and stacked in a criss-cross pattern. We let the flooring acclimate for six days. Our installer began work on November 15.

He immediately noticed that the boards had a slight banana bow that made it difficult to fit them together without some gapping (about 1/32"). He recommended we go with a nail-down installation at considerable added cost. We asked him to consult with Cali. He called Cali to and spoke with an installation specialist, who dissuaded him from nailing down the flooring and told him to use blue painter's tape to hold the boards together until the glue dried. He did, and the flooring went down with minimal gapping (again, about 1/32" to 1/16" between boards). This concerned me, but I decided to live with the gaps as the flooring is gorgeous.

We left to visit family in California on Thanksgiving. We were gone 10 days. When we returned, we were shocked to discover that several of the boards in our new flooring had pulled completely apart. Several of the small gaps had widened to at least 1/2". In one spot, we could see the underlayment under the boards.

I emailed Samantha Savitch, a Cali customer service rep. She told me that I would need to hire a National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) inspector to determine if the separation was the result of faulty product or installation. We hired an inspector that Savitch recommended, Terry Weinheimer from Eugene, OR. He inspected our floor on December 11. He found that the banana bow caused gapping throughout. He stated that in his opinion, Cali Bamboo was responsible in some part for the separation due to the bowed boards.

I sent the inspection to Savitch. According to Weinheimer, she called him shortly thereafter and was very upsetshe even threatened to report him to the NWFA for implying that Cali bared some responsibility for the problems we're having.

Savitch then presented Weinheimer's report to another inspector from the NWFA, Drew Kern, who concluded that the separation is "100 percent" installation related. In his brief message, hestated that if the flooring wasn't fitting properly, it should have been nailed down. (Again, we were told that glue-together was the best route for installation.) Savitch stated that Cali bares no responsibility for the problems we're having and offered a 15 percent discount on any future products we may order to finish the job.

I was present during installation of our flooring. Our installer used all the glue Cali sent us for the job and applied the glue evenly to the joints. Weinheimer found that the boards in our order, including the boards that weren't installed, were bowed.

I believe the bow or perhaps contraction led to the gaps we're experiencing in our flooring. Since the floor opened up, the gaps have gotten worse (up to a 1" gap in some places) and have appeared in several other spots. We've been living with a large gap in our flooring and exposed underlayment for two months.

We purchased Cali Bamboo flooring because we believed it would be the best material for our house. We thought that because it is made from old-growth bamboo it wouldn't expand or contract as much as other bamboo flooring. We were confident that Cali would stand behind their product if we had any problems.