Our experience with Empire Today

[Ahoragi]

We have never been this frustrated with any purchase.

In Sept of 2025 we had Mike from Empire Today come and scope out the basement for a floor. Our basement is below grade and has a concrete floor with a wood stove for heat. We asked for something waterproof because our cat pees randomly on the concrete and it's a biotch to get the smell out. He recommended this LVT tile that is glued down over the concrete. He showed us a sample and even took a hammer to it. The wife liked it and we agreed to their $4500 contract. Note: we are not experienced in flooring and were told this is what we need for our basement. Three weeks later the team shows up on a hot day in Sept. They did not have enough material and requested an additional $800 to manage around the seven support posts going down the middle of the basement. We were not happy but we paid it and they went ahead and installed but ended up not having enough tiles. They came by a few days later and complete. It was beautiful. We waited 48 hours before returning furniture but noticed a few tiles popping up at the corners. I weighed them down with weights thinking maybe they didn't push them down enough during installation. No big deal. Life goes on.

We were looking under the couch for a cat toy and saw a lot of tiles were warping at the corners and middle. We called empire and they came down to repair but when they arrived they said they did not have enough tiles to repair because it was all over the basement and did not expect that. At that time I was due for work in a few hours and my wife was already at work so I did not have a fire going and it was 53 degrees down there. They said it's "too cold" and that was causing the issue. They had to leave to discuss with their installation manager. A few days later I get email stating that the warranty is not covering this due to inconsistent temperature control. My wife and I were very disappointed and argued this on the next email stating that we were NEVER informed of temperature requirements of the floor being installed and that the salesman AND install team both saw that the basement had a wood stove and no HVAC system but still recommended or installed the floor. I said had we had known the floor required consistent them then we would have declined this as it is not possible with our basement and a wood stove. We did not get a response from this and made way too many calls daily for weeks trying to get a response out of Empire regarding what is going on with our floor. Were were told random things like lack of vapor barrier or installation errors or just "we submit a ticket and you will receive a call" which never happened. I later received a text from the assistant of the installation manager asking for a repair date. We told her we were still waiting for an answer regarding warranty and she stated it was now covered and asked for Feb 4th to be the repair date. We agreed, got email confirmation. We took that day off, cleared out basement, provided coffee, and waited. No one came. I texted the lead of the installation team and asked what time they were coming and he was confused as they were never told about this repair. Two hours later I get email stating warranty is voided. What the actual F??? We waited all day and no one came and no one called then suddenly after I text the lead of the team they send an email? We managed to speak to corporate at their Illinois headquarters and the lady said the temperature has nothing to do with it and they will contact the manager and have him come down to inspect. The manager contacts us and sets a date. He comes and has a temp checking device and says floor is 55 degrees which is acceptable. Then he does a moisture test and says it's borderline acceptable. He then lifts up a tile that was not sticking anymore and notices moisture under it. Apparently moisture being released from the concrete slab gets trapped under the tile causing the glue to fail. He did say that once these are glued down they should never come up but then states in a later email that the adhesive they used is water resistant to a point but excessive moisture causes failure. He asked for pictures of what we used to clean the floor (we didn't have the floor long enough to need a cleaning but I sent a picture of a broom and swiffer). From what he is saying he thinks excessive moisture occurred causing the floor to fail. His next email came after he discussed with his higher up stating that the warranty cannot cover this as it is environmental factors causing the failure. He recommended them to remove the floor and use MSP adhesive which acts like a vapor barrier, locking in the moisture from coming out of the concrete slab. He quoted us $4700 for a redo but reduced it to $2000 out of good faith. While we were waiting for his response, we went ahead and shopped for a sump pump to help eliminate moisture stuck under the slab and secured a local company to do this in March (sump pump and 15 ft drain field). I mentioned that we are taking care of the moisture issue that he deemed responsible and I asked that they work with us and replace the floor as their installation team did no moisture testing prior to installing and we were never told about temperature control and also told this floor is "waterproof". He declined and maintained the good-faith $2000 charge. My wife said we are done with this company as we have had our basement in a wreck for months waiting for a response to this issue. We are now out $4500+$800 and a floor that is defective.

Now I cannot argue that moisture could be a cause in this BUT their team did not have any moisture testing equipment with them when they installed it and he is saying they did. No way to prove it, just his word vs mine. He still completely ignores the part where tiles started coming up two days later. If they DID test for moisture and detected none as he stated, then what caused those tiles to start popping up? It was two days later, 90 degree weather, zero rain. There was a discussion where he was stating no vapor barrier is needed for these glued down tiles that are placed over concrete yet recommended the MSP adhesive as it acts like a "vapor barrier", plugging up the pores of the concrete to eliminate moisture release. My wife did a lot of research on this and came across information regarding LVT tiles needing acclimating to the environment before installation. We noticed they took it out of the back of their van on these 90 degree days and just started installing it in our cooler basement. Was that a cause for those tiles to fail just two days after? I could have brought this up but he would counter it and shoot it down as he did to every point I made.

This is just a short version of what went down and it has been such a stressful headache. We are no longer dealing with Empire and have to gut this floor in the summer. A sad and frustrating experience it was.

I welcome your thoughts.

 

[Whitenuckler]

We have never been this frustrated with any purchase.

In Sept of 2025 we had Mike from Empire Today come and scope out the basement for a floor. Our basement is below grade and has a concrete floor with a wood stove for heat. We asked for something waterproof because our cat pees randomly on the concrete and it's a biotch to get the smell out. He recommended this LVT tile that is glued down over the concrete. He showed us a sample and even took a hammer to it. The wife liked it and we agreed to their $4500 contract. Note: we are not experienced in flooring and were told this is what we need for our basement. Three weeks later the team shows up on a hot day in Sept. They did not have enough material and requested an additional $800 to manage around the seven support posts going down the middle of the basement. We were not happy but we paid it and they went ahead and installed but ended up not having enough tiles. They came by a few days later and complete. It was beautiful. We waited 48 hours before returning furniture but noticed a few tiles popping up at the corners. I weighed them down with weights thinking maybe they didn't push them down enough during installation. No big deal. Life goes on.

We were looking under the couch for a cat toy and saw a lot of tiles were warping at the corners and middle. We called empire and they came down to repair but when they arrived they said they did not have enough tiles to repair because it was all over the basement and did not expect that. At that time I was due for work in a few hours and my wife was already at work so I did not have a fire going and it was 53 degrees down there. They said it's "too cold" and that was causing the issue. They had to leave to discuss with their installation manager. A few days later I get email stating that the warranty is not covering this due to inconsistent temperature control. My wife and I were very disappointed and argued this on the next email stating that we were NEVER informed of temperature requirements of the floor being installed and that the salesman AND install team both saw that the basement had a wood stove and no HVAC system but still recommended or installed the floor. I said had we had known the floor required consistent them then we would have declined this as it is not possible with our basement and a wood stove. We did not get a response from this and made way too many calls daily for weeks trying to get a response out of Empire regarding what is going on with our floor. Were were told random things like lack of vapor barrier or installation errors or just "we submit a ticket and you will receive a call" which never happened. I later received a text from the assistant of the installation manager asking for a repair date. We told her we were still waiting for an answer regarding warranty and she stated it was now covered and asked for Feb 4th to be the repair date. We agreed, got email confirmation. We took that day off, cleared out basement, provided coffee, and waited. No one came. I texted the lead of the installation team and asked what time they were coming and he was confused as they were never told about this repair. Two hours later I get email stating warranty is voided. What the actual F??? We waited all day and no one came and no one called then suddenly after I text the lead of the team they send an email? We managed to speak to corporate at their Illinois headquarters and the lady said the temperature has nothing to do with it and they will contact the manager and have him come down to inspect. The manager contacts us and sets a date. He comes and has a temp checking device and says floor is 55 degrees which is acceptable. Then he does a moisture test and says it's borderline acceptable. He then lifts up a tile that was not sticking anymore and notices moisture under it. Apparently moisture being released from the concrete slab gets trapped under the tile causing the glue to fail. He did say that once these are glued down they should never come up but then states in a later email that the adhesive they used is water resistant to a point but excessive moisture causes failure. He asked for pictures of what we used to clean the floor (we didn't have the floor long enough to need a cleaning but I sent a picture of a broom and swiffer). From what he is saying he thinks excessive moisture occurred causing the floor to fail. His next email came after he discussed with his higher up stating that the warranty cannot cover this as it is environmental factors causing the failure. He recommended them to remove the floor and use MSP adhesive which acts like a vapor barrier, locking in the moisture from coming out of the concrete slab. He quoted us $4700 for a redo but reduced it to $2000 out of good faith. While we were waiting for his response, we went ahead and shopped for a sump pump to help eliminate moisture stuck under the slab and secured a local company to do this in March (sump pump and 15 ft drain field). I mentioned that we are taking care of the moisture issue that he deemed responsible and I asked that they work with us and replace the floor as their installation team did no moisture testing prior to installing and we were never told about temperature control and also told this floor is "waterproof". He declined and maintained the good-faith $2000 charge. My wife said we are done with this company as we have had our basement in a wreck for months waiting for a response to this issue. We are now out $4500+$800 and a floor that is defective.

Now I cannot argue that moisture could be a cause in this BUT their team did not have any moisture testing equipment with them when they installed it and he is saying they did. No way to prove it, just his word vs mine. He still completely ignores the part where tiles started coming up two days later. If they DID test for moisture and detected none as he stated, then what caused those tiles to start popping up? It was two days later, 90 degree weather, zero rain. There was a discussion where he was stating no vapor barrier is needed for these glued down tiles that are placed over concrete yet recommended the MSP adhesive as it acts like a "vapor barrier", plugging up the pores of the concrete to eliminate moisture release. My wife did a lot of research on this and came across information regarding LVT tiles needing acclimating to the environment before installation. We noticed they took it out of the back of their van on these 90 degree days and just started installing it in our cooler basement. Was that a cause for those tiles to fail just two days after? I could have brought this up but he would counter it and shoot it down as he did to every point I made.

This is just a short version of what went down and it has been such a stressful headache. We are no longer dealing with Empire and have to gut this floor in the summer. A sad and frustrating experience it was.

I welcome your thoughts.

I have VPF in my basement. It was put in by the previous owner. It just floats. He probably put down underlayment first. The house was built in the mid seventies. The basement is dry, but the previous owner had just put in a new sump pump before I bought it. Then 2 weeks after I bought it, the sump pump failed and part of the basement got wet. It was mostly in the sump pump area. I was not even there at the time, I had to get my real estate agent to deal with it. Turned out the sump pump "hole" was full of crap debris. I had to clean it all out and make sure the pump was raised. In hindsight, in your case I would have gone with floating, but you called the "experts" so it's not your fault.

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

We have never been this frustrated with any purchase.

In Sept of 2025 we had Mike from Empire Today come and scope out the basement for a floor. Our basement is below grade and has a concrete floor with a wood stove for heat. We asked for something waterproof because our cat pees randomly on the concrete and it's a biotch to get the smell out. He recommended this LVT tile that is glued down over the concrete. He showed us a sample and even took a hammer to it. The wife liked it and we agreed to their $4500 contract. Note: we are not experienced in flooring and were told this is what we need for our basement. Three weeks later the team shows up on a hot day in Sept. They did not have enough material and requested an additional $800 to manage around the seven support posts going down the middle of the basement. We were not happy but we paid it and they went ahead and installed but ended up not having enough tiles. They came by a few days later and complete. It was beautiful. We waited 48 hours before returning furniture but noticed a few tiles popping up at the corners. I weighed them down with weights thinking maybe they didn't push them down enough during installation. No big deal. Life goes on.

We were looking under the couch for a cat toy and saw a lot of tiles were warping at the corners and middle. We called empire and they came down to repair but when they arrived they said they did not have enough tiles to repair because it was all over the basement and did not expect that. At that time I was due for work in a few hours and my wife was already at work so I did not have a fire going and it was 53 degrees down there. They said it's "too cold" and that was causing the issue. They had to leave to discuss with their installation manager. A few days later I get email stating that the warranty is not covering this due to inconsistent temperature control. My wife and I were very disappointed and argued this on the next email stating that we were NEVER informed of temperature requirements of the floor being installed and that the salesman AND install team both saw that the basement had a wood stove and no HVAC system but still recommended or installed the floor. I said had we had known the floor required consistent them then we would have declined this as it is not possible with our basement and a wood stove. We did not get a response from this and made way too many calls daily for weeks trying to get a response out of Empire regarding what is going on with our floor. Were were told random things like lack of vapor barrier or installation errors or just "we submit a ticket and you will receive a call" which never happened. I later received a text from the assistant of the installation manager asking for a repair date. We told her we were still waiting for an answer regarding warranty and she stated it was now covered and asked for Feb 4th to be the repair date. We agreed, got email confirmation. We took that day off, cleared out basement, provided coffee, and waited. No one came. I texted the lead of the installation team and asked what time they were coming and he was confused as they were never told about this repair. Two hours later I get email stating warranty is voided. What the actual F??? We waited all day and no one came and no one called then suddenly after I text the lead of the team they send an email? We managed to speak to corporate at their Illinois headquarters and the lady said the temperature has nothing to do with it and they will contact the manager and have him come down to inspect. The manager contacts us and sets a date. He comes and has a temp checking device and says floor is 55 degrees which is acceptable. Then he does a moisture test and says it's borderline acceptable. He then lifts up a tile that was not sticking anymore and notices moisture under it. Apparently moisture being released from the concrete slab gets trapped under the tile causing the glue to fail. He did say that once these are glued down they should never come up but then states in a later email that the adhesive they used is water resistant to a point but excessive moisture causes failure. He asked for pictures of what we used to clean the floor (we didn't have the floor long enough to need a cleaning but I sent a picture of a broom and swiffer). From what he is saying he thinks excessive moisture occurred causing the floor to fail. His next email came after he discussed with his higher up stating that the warranty cannot cover this as it is environmental factors causing the failure. He recommended them to remove the floor and use MSP adhesive which acts like a vapor barrier, locking in the moisture from coming out of the concrete slab. He quoted us $4700 for a redo but reduced it to $2000 out of good faith. While we were waiting for his response, we went ahead and shopped for a sump pump to help eliminate moisture stuck under the slab and secured a local company to do this in March (sump pump and 15 ft drain field). I mentioned that we are taking care of the moisture issue that he deemed responsible and I asked that they work with us and replace the floor as their installation team did no moisture testing prior to installing and we were never told about temperature control and also told this floor is "waterproof". He declined and maintained the good-faith $2000 charge. My wife said we are done with this company as we have had our basement in a wreck for months waiting for a response to this issue. We are now out $4500+$800 and a floor that is defective.

Now I cannot argue that moisture could be a cause in this BUT their team did not have any moisture testing equipment with them when they installed it and he is saying they did. No way to prove it, just his word vs mine. He still completely ignores the part where tiles started coming up two days later. If they DID test for moisture and detected none as he stated, then what caused those tiles to start popping up? It was two days later, 90 degree weather, zero rain. There was a discussion where he was stating no vapor barrier is needed for these glued down tiles that are placed over concrete yet recommended the MSP adhesive as it acts like a "vapor barrier", plugging up the pores of the concrete to eliminate moisture release. My wife did a lot of research on this and came across information regarding LVT tiles needing acclimating to the environment before installation. We noticed they took it out of the back of their van on these 90 degree days and just started installing it in our cooler basement. Was that a cause for those tiles to fail just two days after? I could have brought this up but he would counter it and shoot it down as he did to every point I made.

This is just a short version of what went down and it has been such a stressful headache. We are no longer dealing with Empire and have to gut this floor in the summer. A sad and frustrating experience it was.

I welcome your thoughts.

If I may a couple of recommendations. Copy and paste what you wrote to your state attorney general. They usually have a reporting mechanism on their website. 2nd is check your local tv stations for one that has consumer help. I think all of my local channels do this where they do a piece about the company and the issue and then how the company handled the response. It seems to be very effective for reaching a real, reasonable solution. There's always the BBB. I doubt they have a very good rating with the BBB
Good luck!

 

[Whitenuckler]

He recommended this LVT tile that is glued down over the concrete

The salesman should be responsible, as he decided on the product and installation (adhesive/adhesive type). He was there to quote, and he did not warn you, or verify the moisture or heating/insulation ect. Or, he needs to blame it on the installation crew.

 

[Ahoragi]

just got this an hour ago:

"I would also direct you to your contract for any recommendations on maintaining humidity and temperature controls. Proper care and maintenance shouldve also been emailed day after install was sent."

The instructions included in picture. We read and abided by these directions back when they were installing it.

Both my wife and I are saying the temps are required prior to installation since it states that but is his argument that the temp must resume within that range post-installation?

 

[Whitenuckler]

just got this an hour ago:

"I would also direct you to your contract for any recommendations on maintaining humidity and temperature controls. Proper care and maintenance shouldve also been emailed day after install was sent."

The instructions included in picture. We read and abided by these directions back when they were installing it.

Both my wife and I are saying the temps are required prior to installation since it states that but is his argument that the temp must resume within that range post-installation?

It is very clear that those conditions are required FOR INSTALLATION (prior to installation). Check what it says about the actual product and adhesive ie what environmental conditions for using those products.

 

[Ahoragi]

We don't have the actual product name. It is labeled as LVT Biege using Robert's 7399-1 adhesive.

I will try to research the adhesive after work today.

 

[Whitenuckler]

We don't have the actual product name. It is labeled as LVT Biege using Robert's 7399-1 adhesive.

I will try to research the adhesive after work today.

https://www.robertsconsolidated.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/2025_ROBERTS_US_Adh_Catalog_WEB_J1326-12251.pdf

Here is a link. I see they have a product that would have been good to use first to seal it.
The 7399-1 adhesive was the correct one to use, but the question is was the floor properly prepared?
"FS420 FIRST STEPTM MOISTURE BARRIER is a liquid-applied membrane designed to control moisture vapor emission rate (MVER) including new or existing concrete slabs up to 100% RH. FS420 MOISTURE BARRIER is a water-based, one-component system that that requires no mixing and is formulated to block alkalinity in substrate."

Were the tiles coming detached from the adhesive, or the adhesive and tile becoming detached from the concrete? You may want to try to find an "expert" or contact Roberts to dig into the application considerations.

 

[Ahoragi]

https://www.robertsconsolidated.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/2025_ROBERTS_US_Adh_Catalog_WEB_J1326-12251.pdf

Here is a link. I see they have a product that would have been good to use first to seal it.
The 7399-1 adhesive was the correct one to use, but the question is was the floor properly prepared?
"FS420 FIRST STEPTM MOISTURE BARRIER is a liquid-applied membrane designed to control moisture vapor emission rate (MVER) including new or existing concrete slabs up to 100% RH. FS420 MOISTURE BARRIER is a water-based, one-component system that that requires no mixing and is formulated to block alkalinity in substrate."

Were the tiles coming detached from the adhesive, or the adhesive and tile becoming detached from the concrete? You may want to try to find an "expert" or contact Roberts to dig into the application considerations.

They ran out of tiles on day one and left with a portion of the floor not tiled. From what we could see on the exposed floor was just adhesive spread out. The installation manager who did the inspection said they would have to redo it using MSP and I asked what that was and his response:

"Moisture seal protection. The best I can gather would be there's some sort of external cause probably from outside the house possibly they did not put any sort of moisture vapor protection beneath the concrete when they poured it so those vapors are what is causing the moisture and our MSP product you can go Right on top of the concrete and prevent those vapors from being harmful, there is another possible solution that I am gonna look into, but it's a lot more expensive so I don't necessarily want to pass that cost on"

"The running theory is that the glue and the tile trapped those moisture vapors so while they weren't present because the concrete was breathing before the floor was put down, we trapped all of those pores - replacement with MSP would typically run 4733 - I am going to cut it down to $2000 and that would include taking up and reinstalling"

From what he said, they did not use any sealant for moisture because his crew detected none at the time of installation.
We have a 8x11 corner of the basement that we did not want tiled. There was zero change in appearance or any moisture in that section during this whole ordeal.

 

[Tonty]

I was a floor covering installer at one time. That’s been 15 years ago or more, so things get foggy with time passed. I see in your contract that it says the installer was going to do a moisture test. If it was done and done properly, that should have pointed out this issue ahead of time. You probably wouldn’t notice with the naked eye any moisture problems, so that is why an actual test needs to be done. It is also important to acclimatize the product. It’s very important for installers to follow ALL manufacturers recommendations, because they will not cover the warranty if the directions were not followed. I don’t think this is a manufacturer’s issue; it boils down to if the installers did a moisture test. I think it’s obvious that moisture is present, so if they did one and installed anyway, that’s an issue. If they did not do a test, that is also an issue.

 

[Ahoragi]

View attachment 346535
I was a floor covering installer at one time. That’s been 15 years ago or more, so things get foggy with time passed. I see in your contract that it says the installer was going to do a moisture test. If it was done and done properly, that should have pointed out this issue ahead of time. You probably wouldn’t notice with the naked eye any moisture problems, so that is why an actual test needs to be done. It is also important to acclimatize the product. It’s very important for installers to follow ALL manufacturers recommendations, because they will not cover the warranty if the directions were not followed. I don’t think this is a manufacturer’s issue; it boils down to if the installers did a moisture test. I think it’s obvious that moisture is present, so if they did one and installed anyway, that’s an issue. If they did not do a test, that is also an issue.

I actually do think they lied about doing a test before install becauase my wife and I told the installation manager who came to do the testing recently that we never saw them carrying that same case he has that moisture tester in. We also know for a fact that no tiles were aclimated since they came that morning and started prepping and installing within a few hours. Again we are noobs and did not take know of any of this or ask questions and all we can say is they didn't do it yet they claim they did.

 

[kborndale]

Small claims court is an option that I would be looking into. If you had paid by credit card I would have stopped payment but it is probably too late for that now.

 

[Ahoragi]

My wife and I thought about taking it to small claims but still waiting for the response of this manager after his recently email. We normally purchase everything with cash but they had a 1 year no interest through wells fargo so we went that route. It's almost paid off.

Some pictures just for the heck of it. Found an extra tile laying around.