Who Pays for Moisture-Related Flooring Failures?

Picture this scenario:

A husband and wife decided to replace some tile flooring in their home with white oak wood flooring and hired a contractor to do the work.

In the months after the installation, though, calamity struck. The homeowners shared their experience on Hardwood Flooring Talk:¹

“We immediately began noticing cupping of the new floors…throughout the new flooring.”

They called the contractor, and so the detective work began. Was there a leak? A source of high humidity? Did the subfloor have excessive moisture?

The answer seemed to be no for all these questions.

But there was one possible problem:

“The installer that was subcontracted brought the new boards to the work site and installed them within 24 hrs. There was no dedicated in-home acclimation period.”

So who pays for a flooring failure caused by skipping acclimation and moisture testing? That’s the question that you, as a flooring installer, have to consider as you do your work and deal with clients.

It depends on many factors, such as the cause of the moisture, the type of flooring, and the terms of warranties or contracts. Let’s look at the possibilities so that you can know how to handle situations that come your way.

We’ll Cover:

• The manufacturer
• The builder or general contractor
• The floor installer
• Homeowner’s insurance
• The homeowner

Read to the end to also learn how you can protect yourself against liability for a moisture issue.

(Please note: This article is not intended as legal advice. Please consult legal or insurance professionals to determine who is liable in a specific situation.)

The Manufacturer

The manufacturer usually won’t cover moisture damage, though it depends on the product’s warranty. If a moisture issue occurs due to a defect in the flooring material, then the manufacturer might take responsibility.

For example, if the manufacturer guaranteed that the floorboards would be at a certain moisture content, it might be responsible if they don’t have that moisture content on arrival at the jobsite.

However, even then, the warranty may require that any issues be reported before installation. This means the general contractor or installer should check the moisture content of the boards at the time of delivery and alert the manufacturer of any issues.

The Builder or General Contractor

As noted in the previous section, the builder or general contractor (GC) may be responsible for failing to check for defects when materials first arrive. The GC is also usually the one who contracted with the customer, so the responsibility for making sure the manufacturer’s guidelines are followed often lands there.

And if a moisture problem is caused by the subfloor, such as excess moisture in a concrete slab, the responsibility may fall on the GC. If not, the installer may be left with the bill. We’re going to talk about that next.

The Installer

If a moisture problem happens due to improper installation, the installer or flooring contractor typically pays.

That was the case with our story above, and the contractor agreed to fix the problem at his cost.

These kinds of issues can occur if the installer fails to check the moisture content of the floorboards or subfloor and acclimate them to their final environment. They can also occur if the installer doesn’t properly seal the subfloor or use the correct adhesive.

If the flooring manufacturer sets specific humidity requirements, someone has to make sure they’re followed and that the customer knows about them. In one case described in LBM Journal, the customer was never given the manufacturer’s humidity guidelines, and the GC, installer, and customer ended up splitting the cost of replacing the floor.²

Of course, you may have liability insurance to protect yourself, but you also care about good customer service. So, if a problem occurs, you may step in and fix the issue to save your reputation.

But why not avoid the issues in the first place? We have some tips below to help you do just that.

Homeowner’s Insurance

Homeowner’s insurance policies may cover the cost of repair or replacement in the event of flooding or major leaks.

According to Progressive, homeowners insurance is likely to cover water damage that’s sudden and accidental, such as:³

• A broken pipe
• Sudden plumbing issues
• Appliance overflows

But most policies won’t cover gradual damage, such as a slow leak that’s gone on for months.

The Homeowner

Homeowners are responsible for moisture issues caused by negligence or failure to care for their floors.

If you, the installer, instructed them to keep their home environment at a certain temperature and humidity level, but they failed to do so, the cost of repairs falls on them.

Properly educating them on how to care for their floor and keep environmental conditions consistent can prevent these situations. So can equipping them with an in-floor data logger.

We’ll look at some more suggestions in the next section.

How to Protect Yourself Against Liability as a Flooring Contractor

Flooring contractors bear a lot of the responsibility for moisture-related flooring damage, but thankfully, you can avoid much damage by doing proper moisture testing before installing the floor.

Use a pinless wood moisture meter to test the moisture content of both the flooring and the subfloor.

The flooring’s MC should be close to the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) for the conditions it will see in service. An EMC chart can help you find that number for your area, and a meter with a built-in temperature and RH sensor and EMC calculation, like the Orion^® 950, gives you a more precise number for the specific building.

Per National Wood Flooring Association guidelines, the MC of solid wood flooring should be within 4 percentage points of a wood subfloor for strip flooring (under 3 inches wide) and within 2 points for plank flooring (3 inches or wider). If the subfloor is a concrete slab, use in-situ relative humidity testing to get an accurate picture of the moisture in the slab, not just at the surface. Follow the flooring manufacturer’s requirements for the RH level to aim for.

By testing for moisture, you’ll be able to avoid many costly and time-consuming mistakes.

We also recommend having a way to keep a record of the testing you’ve done. Some moisture meters, like the Orion 950 pinless meter, send your readings to a smartphone app, where you can create reports if you need them. Those records come in handy if you’re ever blamed for a moisture problem you didn’t cause.

And finally, you can also help your clients protect their floors post-installation with an in-floor humidity sensor. Floor Sentry^® is a small data logger installed in the floor that lets homeowners track the temperature and relative humidity conditions in the floor and subfloor from their phones. If conditions go out of range, they get an alert so they can adjust the environment.

That way, your clients can take care of their floors, and they’ll be much less likely to have moisture problems.

Shop Orion Moisture Meters

Last updated on October 8th, 2026