The Flooring Connection

Selecting the tile and wood floors went well. We used the Murrells Inlet office to do our selections. The had a very good assortment of both ceramic tile, wood flooring, and vinyl flooring. We initially started working with one of the owners (family-owned business), but when he could not make an appointment, we were helped by another and was able to complete our selections. Installation was another matter. Some of the installers we quite good, others only adequate, and some indifferent. The difference showed mostly with the ceramic tile installation. One shower surround and floor was quite complicated but all cuts were very well executed. We have a drain in the middle of the laundry area falling in the center of a large floor tile. The cut was so well done that only minimal grout was needed to fill in the gap with the drain cap. A different person did the upstairs bathrooms. The cut around the drain looks like something I would have done with my limited experience. Furthermore number of tiles were chipped when they were installed and the grout work was never completed leaving a gap of mastic exposed between the bull nose edge pieces and wall, and a gap between another bathroom's tub and tile surround. We got to this point (not quit finished) for the ceramic tile work with numerous, unexplained delays, broken promises to resume work, and broken promises to fix the problems. Only when we refused to pay the balance due, was anything done about the chipped tile and missing grout. When those repairs were made, they used the wrong grout color. Now we have 2 different grout colors in one shower surround! And a bull nose tile was damaged during the replacement of one of the chipped tiles. The second attempt at repairs fixed the damaged tile, but still did not match the grout color. With the materials they left behind, I was able to remove the wrong colored grout and replace it with the correct grout color on the first try. The engineered wood floors were installed primarily over a concrete slab. A pad was glued directly to the concrete slab that serves 2 purposes, one as a vapor barrier and to give a slight cushioning effect. The wood flooring was glued to the pad. Initially the glue was a problem. The installers were not very careful where that glue went. It took me 3 days on my knees to clean all the excess glue before we could put down area rugs and arrange furniture. Then they used a cheap and easy solution for the transitions between the wood and tile floors. This resulting is a wood piece that was at least 1/4" higher the the surrounding flooring and not a good match to the wood flooring. This house is a custom house, designed with "aging-in-place" requirements. A bump like this in the floor is a tripping hazard and would cause difficulty rolling a wheel chair over it. Besides, it looks cheap, not a look you want in a custom house. The other problem we found with the wood floors are numerous gaps in the butt joints (where the narrow ends of the wood strips meet). The engineered wood pieces use a tongue-in-groove connection both on the long and short sides. Some gaps are bad enough (at least 1/4") that one can easily see the tongue. This problem was supposed to have been corrected last Monday, but we have, once again, not seen any trade people to do the repairs. This project started back in May. It should have been finished by early July. With numerous delays and broken promises and my own sweat, the tile was completed finally in October. We are still waiting on the wood floor corrections. Needless to say, working with TPC has been extremely frustrating. We have lost count the number of times we had delays and broken promises of workmen showing up. And now we are stuck in another delay when a workman was supposed to repair those gaps and now 5 days later we have seen no one and have had no explanation as to why no one showed up.

excellent

See above.

Installation went fine. Workers were professional in workmanship and overall behavior. My only complaint is that it required multiple phone calls over a month's time for me finally to get a return call regarding a really minor issue, which was a single spot that creaked when stepped upon. In spite of that, I think they are good people and run a good honest company. I would use them again.