Q: One visitor asked, "We recently purchased a new house about a year ago in Whitby, Ont. We had the builder install our hardwood floors (******** brand). The floor was installed right out of the box the night before we moved into our house?? The installation job was absolutely awful. The contractor is now telling us that it does not matter that the floors were installed the night before. Is it not true that the wood (Birch) should have sat in the house for a week??"

A: Lately it seems that it is becoming an issue with some customers that I work alone, rather than in a crew, which can fly in, bang down the floor, and fly out, just like that. I try to tell people that success cannot be rushed! I worked with just such a company years ago. We took the flooring, in this case, oak, into a house on the edge of Scarborough Bluffs. The day we took the wood in, was the day we started installing. The installation rapidly completed, we sanded and stained it. 2 weeks later we were back doing it again, because the wood had swelled and cupped from picking up moisture off the lake. We didn't let the wood acclimatize to the environment. Here is a quote from the National Oak Flooring Manufacturers installation guide. As they say, this applies to most other species as well. I hope this helps:
http://www.nofma.org/installation1.htm