I’m a small flooring business located in Florida. I have about 7 years total of running my own company and in total about 17 years of flooring installation and refinishing hardwood experience. So here goes my problem. When Covid first started and everything got all jacked up and began effecting supply chains. The ability to acquire urethane based wood glue was next to impossible. Maybe you’d grab one bucket from here a few from offer up and the rest was what ever flooring glue you could get your hands on. So when I found a guy that had pallets of AAT 420 which is engineered vynil, vynil, vct and subfloor adhesive I jumped on it. I ended up in the last three years going through about 4 pallets of glue which is about 200 -4 gallon buckets or closet to 800 gallons of the stuff. Just to state it is not a urathane based adhesive. When I first purchased the glue I ripped out then tile in my closet using a 3/16 v notch trowel I glued different types of flooring to include: 5 inch wide by 5/8 engineered white oak, 7 inch by 7/8 engineered oak, 3 1/2 solid white oak and 8 inch by 1/2 inch engineered oak. With all of that dry for a day I began to try and rip it up and see how it would hold. It had about a 90% grab rate and to remove it I had to use considerable force and even then it left parts of the floor behind still glued down. With all my 17 years of flooring experience I had a confidence going in to all my jobs and using the adhesive. In total in the 3 years since Covid ruined the world I’ve installed close to 125 different jobs and until my present job have had 0 zero zero point zero problems with adhesion and boards popping or cupping. So what’s the problem? That brings us to my last job. Just to state I’ve never had any written contract or other instructions from the current contractor. I did 6 unit apartment building which includes 2 lobbies on Palm Beach, Florida. The contractors that subbed me I had done 4-5 previous jobs, using the above stated glue, and have not had any issues of adhesion and any call backs for any issues for glue related issues. Just to state I have never had a written contract with the contractors on any of the jobs I’ve done for them. My reputation, quality and honor is known in the area. I do what I say and never try to hide anything. Which sometimes is a downfall of mine. They never told me to use a specific glue and on my estimates and invoices it plainly states “flooring adhesive” not urethane based adhesive. So, The job was about 6000sqft and 47 steps and risers installed over existing 24x24 smooth tile. When I began installing the current building, that has no CO, I began grinding and even used sulphuric and Muriatic acid in fear that the tile may give me some Issues. The problem was that the owners that just bought the building who are multi multi millionaires did not want to stay in a hotel or rent a place to stay during the complete Reno of the building. Every one began complaining of dust and the stench of the acid. So the contractor asked me if it was necessary to grind and acid every area. I told him that I believed we needed to but I wasn’t the one to make the call to stop and said it’s up to you what you want me to do. He then asked me just to start installing because the new owners were in a rush to start to recoup the 15 million they just paid for the building. The glue had always been on site with all the labels intact so I was not hiding the glue or switching to try and save money. The glue goes for about 45$ a gallon or 180$ for a 4 gallon bucket. So saving money or cutting corners was not the objective I wasn’t able to get any other glue and I had about 35 buckets left. So I install 4 units and the 2 hallways and in one of the units along the walls where the tile was uneven there was a hollow spot not because of the glue but the unevenness of the tile. In the original estimate I stated that we should pour self leveler and use a sound proofing product that would aid in installing the wood. Both those options were denied due to the cost that it would bring. I explained about the tile and at that point I was not going to be liable for the unevenness. And because they were in a rush just to go. So go I did. The wood was stored outside a warehouse a few miles away outside. They asked me if I would bring the wood that I would need for any given time or day. Because of the time crunch we were not able to properly acclimate the flooring land on top of that the AC was consistently going out because people leaving the exterior doors open and leaving the windows open. So because the apartment building was the first building on the beach the humidity was clearly at 100% inside. I kept telling them that this would eventually cause an issue and it was going to be on them. But again I was told just to keep going so I did. The entire time I was on the job we were either under the supervision of one of the companies partners or a week and a half after I started they hired a full time superintendent. They knew the entire time what product I was using and what I had used on the previous 4 or so jobs. That brings us to the end one day while walking the owners noticed some creaks in the locking systems of the floor in one of the units. . I told them it was because everything was at 100% humidity and all of a sudden they Shut all the doors and kicked on the ac to 70. I told them that this was due to wood getting shocked and I could inject glue under any boards or use tounge and groove glue mixed with a little bit of water and get it in each seem. So I did that in one of the units and it took care of about 85% of the problems. The owners then proceeded to call 5 different flooring companies for them to come and give them an estimate to rip out and reinstall the floor. One of the companies said that they wouldn’t be able to give a proper estimate with out testing how hard it would be to remove. When the company began prying up some of the floor the first are came up is shards. Then on landings prior to the stairs in 3 of the units the edge board came up with medium strength. At this point the owners were still leaning towards leaving it and trusting my word that there wouldn’t be any future issues because the previous 100 plus jobs I did using this glue. But then the contractors spoke on the side and said to the owners that they were going to rip it up. The owners were a bit taken back and said they thought they’d leave it. But because the contractor offered and never got my input they all agreed and the following Saturday began to remove the flooring. Because of who I am. I went over and helped them begin to remove the first two units. The contractor has since asked/told me that I am responsible for everything and I would have to pay for the removal, dump, new wood and all costs associated with the reinstallation to include the shoe moulding and paint. When this job finished I was halfway through another job for them that was 10,800$. They gave me the first 5,400 and have yet since to pay me the rest even though the job had been completed and using the same glue is as solid as any other glue. In total they’re asking for about 90K even though to date I’ve been paid about 36,000 out of 45,000. Not sure what in the world I should do as this is the first time I’ve ever had to deal with something of this nature in all my 17 years and probable 5000 or more jobs. Any help would be more than appreciated. Sean McNamara McNamara Custom interiors llc.