Panaget French Oak - It doesn't always go to plan!
It doesn’t always go to plan!
The project
We were invited to the house of Garry and Jean Havens near Melbourne to work on their ceramic tiled floor which had been in the house since it was built 13 years ago. To take up a tiled floor was a massive undertaking and so the Havens had decided it was “time for a change” so chose a Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) which would be laid on top of the existing floor.
A few hitches along the way
All seemed well at the outset, however, in spite of all the best laid plans it is safe to say there were a few hitches along the way! Garry Havens kindly spent some time chatting with us about his experience with Art of Flooring and we also caught up with Warren, our apprentice who gave us his opinion on things too.
The initial purchase
“Very thorough, more so than anywhere else”
Garry and Jean told us that they began to investigate buying LVT and went to a number of companies. The difference with Art of Flooring he said was that “they were very thorough, more so than anywhere else. We were comfortable with the set up and the attention they paid was excellent.”
The Havens ordered LVT for the kitchen and bathrooms and when it came to installation the bathrooms went in without a hitch, however it was when they got to the kitchen things went slightly wrong.
So what did go wrong?
When the fitters came to lay the LVT they discovered through tapping, that certain areas underneath appeared to be hollow. Mr Havens told us the fitters were very honest and were reluctant to lay LVT over the old floor because it clearly wasn’t a solid base. They explained the manufacturer wouldn’t guarantee the new floor.
“Really impressed with the honesty”
Mr Havens said that although this was definitely a setback he was “really impressed with the honesty”, and felt it was “really positive that the fitters had raised the issue and didn’t just do it”. He felt a lot of companies would have “just done it anyway” but felt very reassured that Art of Flooring staff had been so professional.
Did Art of Flooring solve the issue?
Mr and Mrs Havens were still reluctant to lift up the old floor, it was a massive job after all, so the solution that everyone all agreed on after a lot of consideration was that our sister company Art of Clean would come out and clean up the floor to give it new life.
However unfortunately this didn’t work!
A mystery
After 3 cleans there was still some discolouration in parts of the grout; they would just not clean up despite the rest of the floor being glowing and fresh.
It was a mystery as to why this was. Read on to find out what was causing this, we will reveal all shortly!
Mr Havens went on to explain that Pierre of Art of Clean was great, and had no intention of giving up on the problem.
“He had a great determination to do right by the customer” Mr Havens said. After a long and hard think and more conversations, Mr Havens said they decided to do what they originally had said no to.
The old floor was going to be lifted up and we were going to have a brand new floor!
“We completely trusted Art of Flooring, they really wanted to make it work and resolve the issues”.
The new floor AND a mystery solved
Mr and Mrs Havens chose an engineered oak, a Panaget Origine Diva 184 in Sable and round 3 of the project began.
Mysteries solved
When John and Warren our apprentice arrived to take up the old floor they confirmed what had caused the hollow tapping issues.
Warren explained that as suspected, the old ceramic floor had been badly laid. Tiles were lifting as whole pieces because the grout was only dotted on, meaning that the floor was hollow underneath. LVT could never have been laid on there. He said if the tiles underneath the LVT cracked in the future, the whole floor would have begun to dip over time.
They also uncovered the mystery of the discoloured grout.
“It was not surface dirt, Art of Clean could have fixed that” said Warren.
The issue was the floor was wet underneath.
The culprit? A leaky fridge. Water had seeped under the tiles and caused the grout to discolour and no one would have known until the floor was lifted. This explains why it was impossible to clean.
The fitting
Warren told us he learnt such a lot laying the wood because the floor was at an angle to the kitchen units so they had to be very careful with cutting the mitre angles correctly but John took time to show him how to do it properly, “to perfection”.
He also said that he and John wanted to “make sure Mr and Mrs Havens were happy with the work the whole way through, they had been so understanding and it could have been a stressful experience for them”.
John and Warren took 3 days to fit the floor and they were “fantastic, very professional and courteous the whole time”.
Was it a success story in the end?
Yes - it looks fantastic!
Mr Havens told us that Sam at Art of Flooring came out multiple times over the project to check that things were ok, and put a lot of time and effort into making things right, striving for a positive outcome.
“The sign of a good company is how they deal with a problem”
He said that “as someone who worked with businesses throughout my career I know that the sign of a good company is how they deal with a problem and Art of Flooring’s reaction was superb”
“The wood floor looks fantastic, better than we could have imagined” he said, and we at Art of flooring agree it really looks superb too.
We asked Warren what he thought about the whole experience and he “Sam was consistently in touch with the client, there was a connection and they trusted us. They could have gone with someone else but they still chose to go with us and that is down to the customer care”
He went on the say that “Art of Flooring are out of this world in the knowledge they have and are showing me. They deserve their excellent reputation”.
Trust, relationships and knowledge
The underlying messages that came through in this interview when we spoke to Mr Havens and Warren were about the relationships formed, the trust that was built and the attention to detail.
It shows that Art of Flooring strived and succeeded in turning what could have ended badly into a really positive experience thanks to the dedicated care from staff and open and honest communication combined with expert knowledge.
So three words to summarise?
“Trust, honesty, confidence in expertise, ethics, open” said Mr Havens.
Well that’s 7, but we’ll take it!
Customer is central
At Art of Flooring the customer is central to what we do and we want to highlight that even if things don’t go to plan we will be there with you, using our expert knowledge and working for you until your project is a complete and a success!
We would love to help when you are ready for a new floor, so book your appointment and we will see you in the near future!
The project
We were invited to the house of Garry and Jean Havens near Melbourne to work on their ceramic tiled floor which had been in the house since it was built 13 years ago. To take up a tiled floor was a massive undertaking and so the Havens had decided it was “time for a change” so chose a Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) which would be laid on top of the existing floor.
A few hitches along the way
All seemed well at the outset, however, in spite of all the best laid plans it is safe to say there were a few hitches along the way! Garry Havens kindly spent some time chatting with us about his experience with Art of Flooring and we also caught up with Warren, our apprentice who gave us his opinion on things too.
The initial purchase
“Very thorough, more so than anywhere else”
Garry and Jean told us that they began to investigate buying LVT and went to a number of companies. The difference with Art of Flooring he said was that “they were very thorough, more so than anywhere else. We were comfortable with the set up and the attention they paid was excellent.”
The Havens ordered LVT for the kitchen and bathrooms and when it came to installation the bathrooms went in without a hitch, however it was when they got to the kitchen things went slightly wrong.
So what did go wrong?
When the fitters came to lay the LVT they discovered through tapping, that certain areas underneath appeared to be hollow. Mr Havens told us the fitters were very honest and were reluctant to lay LVT over the old floor because it clearly wasn’t a solid base. They explained the manufacturer wouldn’t guarantee the new floor.
“Really impressed with the honesty”
Mr Havens said that although this was definitely a setback he was “really impressed with the honesty”, and felt it was “really positive that the fitters had raised the issue and didn’t just do it”. He felt a lot of companies would have “just done it anyway” but felt very reassured that Art of Flooring staff had been so professional.
Did Art of Flooring solve the issue?
Mr and Mrs Havens were still reluctant to lift up the old floor, it was a massive job after all, so the solution that everyone all agreed on after a lot of consideration was that our sister company Art of Clean would come out and clean up the floor to give it new life.
However unfortunately this didn’t work!
A mystery
After 3 cleans there was still some discolouration in parts of the grout; they would just not clean up despite the rest of the floor being glowing and fresh.
It was a mystery as to why this was. Read on to find out what was causing this, we will reveal all shortly!
Mr Havens went on to explain that Pierre of Art of Clean was great, and had no intention of giving up on the problem.
“He had a great determination to do right by the customer” Mr Havens said. After a long and hard think and more conversations, Mr Havens said they decided to do what they originally had said no to.
The old floor was going to be lifted up and we were going to have a brand new floor!
“We completely trusted Art of Flooring, they really wanted to make it work and resolve the issues”.
The new floor AND a mystery solved
Mr and Mrs Havens chose an engineered oak, a Panaget Origine Diva 184 in Sable and round 3 of the project began.
Mysteries solved
When John and Warren our apprentice arrived to take up the old floor they confirmed what had caused the hollow tapping issues.
Warren explained that as suspected, the old ceramic floor had been badly laid. Tiles were lifting as whole pieces because the grout was only dotted on, meaning that the floor was hollow underneath. LVT could never have been laid on there. He said if the tiles underneath the LVT cracked in the future, the whole floor would have begun to dip over time.
They also uncovered the mystery of the discoloured grout.
“It was not surface dirt, Art of Clean could have fixed that” said Warren.
The issue was the floor was wet underneath.
The culprit? A leaky fridge. Water had seeped under the tiles and caused the grout to discolour and no one would have known until the floor was lifted. This explains why it was impossible to clean.
The fitting
Warren told us he learnt such a lot laying the wood because the floor was at an angle to the kitchen units so they had to be very careful with cutting the mitre angles correctly but John took time to show him how to do it properly, “to perfection”.
He also said that he and John wanted to “make sure Mr and Mrs Havens were happy with the work the whole way through, they had been so understanding and it could have been a stressful experience for them”.
John and Warren took 3 days to fit the floor and they were “fantastic, very professional and courteous the whole time”.
Was it a success story in the end?
Yes - it looks fantastic!
Mr Havens told us that Sam at Art of Flooring came out multiple times over the project to check that things were ok, and put a lot of time and effort into making things right, striving for a positive outcome.
“The sign of a good company is how they deal with a problem”
He said that “as someone who worked with businesses throughout my career I know that the sign of a good company is how they deal with a problem and Art of Flooring’s reaction was superb”
“The wood floor looks fantastic, better than we could have imagined” he said, and we at Art of flooring agree it really looks superb too.
We asked Warren what he thought about the whole experience and he “Sam was consistently in touch with the client, there was a connection and they trusted us. They could have gone with someone else but they still chose to go with us and that is down to the customer care”
He went on the say that “Art of Flooring are out of this world in the knowledge they have and are showing me. They deserve their excellent reputation”.
Trust, relationships and knowledge
The underlying messages that came through in this interview when we spoke to Mr Havens and Warren were about the relationships formed, the trust that was built and the attention to detail.
It shows that Art of Flooring strived and succeeded in turning what could have ended badly into a really positive experience thanks to the dedicated care from staff and open and honest communication combined with expert knowledge.
So three words to summarise?
“Trust, honesty, confidence in expertise, ethics, open” said Mr Havens.
Well that’s 7, but we’ll take it!
Customer is central
At Art of Flooring the customer is central to what we do and we want to highlight that even if things don’t go to plan we will be there with you, using our expert knowledge and working for you until your project is a complete and a success!
We would love to help when you are ready for a new floor, so book your appointment and we will see you in the near future!
