Very messy parquet laying work - Is rework not possible?

Hello,

unfortunately we have a problem again with our parquet layer (small family business in NRW). The work on the transitions and the baseboards was done horribly.

Briefly on the matter. After a long wait due to residual moisture in the screed, the parquet was laid (oak, 18.5 cm wide, fully glued).

As you can see in the photos, the gaps at the transitions are about 1 cm wide and filled with a cork mass that is the wrong color.

The baseboards (1.8 cm wide, about 5.8 cm high) at the floor-to-ceiling windows do not look good, the smaller baseboards/profiles are strange and the work was very sloppy. Reason for the strange small baseboards/profiles: the window reveals are too narrow (1 cm wide baseboards would fit, this is the case with our neighbors, identical semi-detached house). There are nicer solutions for this, but there was no communication that the baseboards would not fit. The parquet layer is unable to take criticism and old-fashioned, simply doing it the way he learned 30 years ago. He excludes any rework.

Regarding the cork filling, we probably have no legal chance for rework, although the boards are cut crookedly at the transitions. (I have seen from other providers (unfortunately too late) and spoken with experts from a large parquet company (Parkett Dietrich) that transitions without gaps or with very small gaps of about 4 mm are possible. These could be filled with parquet joint compound in a similar color and it would look 1000 times better). Baseboard in front of the stair tread???

The small baseboards in the window area are however impossible. I am a member of the Bauherren-Schutzbund (legal expenses insurance also available) and I am considering taking legal action with a specialist lawyer and construction consultant, although I would very much prefer not to do this. But the order cost a lot of money and now I will probably have to hire a second company to fix it.

I am grateful for tips on how to save one thing or another.

So the expert for this is clearly , I think they will respond and can give you a really well-founded opinion on this.

Visually, I find both the small baseboards and the work at the top of the stairs with the cork quite "horrible". However, I can't say what alternatives there are for the small baseboard. But this cork work on the stair step is at least visually completely wrong.

Thank you for the photos, they strengthen my resolve to self-publish.

I just showed the photos to my husband and told him that they were installed by a professional and he refuses to fix it because it's fine, and his only comment was "... yeah, buddy." I'm really not an expert and KlaRa will definitely be able to contribute more, but visually this is truly unacceptable. On what grounds does he say that these 1cm wide gaps have to be accepted? I mean, in what world is that professionally installed parquet? o_O

Is a 1cm expansion joint standard practice for parquet flooring?

So, 1 cm could be state of the art, but you can leave expansion joints on walls for that, which is also the case. Why do I order extra long and wide planks if they are not going to be laid continuously? I could lay a different floor in every room, but that is not the point. Our site manager from the developer said you could make thin expansion joints about 4-5 mm, but then fill them with parquet silicone in the same wood color. That will not be noticeable visually at all. The same applies to the joints in the window area. This parquet layerer has no sense of aesthetics. I asked him if he was satisfied with it. His answer: yes, if it can’t be done otherwise, it is like that. Then I showed him the baseboards in the neighbor's semi-detached house, his answer: there is vinyl flooring there, the baseboards are different. The cork filling at all transitions is hideous, allegedly it will change visually over time and you won’t notice it, but it does not change the fact that the wood was cut off. He still has to install the remaining baseboards in the door area. I don’t even want him in my house.