New flooring installed for family with medically fragile child after more than a year of contacting Home Depot

HENRICO, Va. (WWBT) – A Henrico loved ones with a medically fragile 5-calendar year-outdated has new flooring in their residence immediately after extra than a 12 months of hoping to work with Residence Depot to restore or substitute the flooring.

A Henrico spouse and children with a medically fragile 5-12 months-outdated has new flooring in their dwelling after far more than a 12 months of seeking to do the job with Property Depot to fix or repla

Jeff and Lauren Schooler’s youngest child, Hannah, has quite a few health care worries. In 2017, she was born with Down syndrome. By the time she was five months old, Hannah had had a few surgeries, together with open-coronary heart surgical procedure. At about a year aged, she endured a bowel perforation and virtually died. Hannah went into cardiac arrest in the operating room, and while they were capable to revive her, she suffered an anoxic mind damage. Inspite of all she has endured, Hannah proceeds to be an illustration for her household.

“Friends generally request me, ‘how is Hannah?’ Hannah will wake up with a smile and go to mattress with a smile, and there is no far better joy in that as a mum or dad,” stated Jeff Schooler.

A Henrico family calls 12 on your side asking for help after more than a year of trying to work... — A Henrico household phone calls 12 on your side inquiring for support right after extra than a calendar year of striving to perform with Property Depot to repair service flooring
Hannah Schooler has many clinical worries and her household need a sleek area to support with mobility in their home.(Schooler Relatives)

Schooler Family members(Schooler Household)

In March 2019, the household resolved to exchange the carpet in their property with Pergo Outlast + flooring, a laminate wooden flooring. The Schoolers considered the smooth area would be much better for Hannah.

“She was starting to get to the cell stage, setting up to get inquisitive,” explained Jeff Schooler.

By Nov. 2019, Hannah was again in the hospital, this time in the Pediatric ICU, immediately after catching a cold, and finished up with her needing to have a tracheostomy with her currently being ventilator dependent. Hannah also has a compressed spinal wire, residing in a cervical collar 24/7.

Hannah came property from the clinic in Feb. 2020. In the course of that time, the Schoolers turned concerned about gaps that begun exhibiting up in the laminate wooden floors during the wintertime months.

“We realized we required to act on the flooring ahead of the a person-year set up warranty was up. We contacted Property Depot, who despatched the installer, Romanoff [Renovations], out to examine. The pair that set up our flooring came and inspected it and stated that it was not an installation difficulty and must be a products problem. We contacted Dwelling Depot yet again, and they said they would have the [flooring] agent come out. By the time they arranged this, the climate experienced warmed up, and all of the gaps shut,” explained Lauren Schooler. “In early Feb. 2021, my partner attained out to Romanoff but once again, who now claimed the installation was out of warranty.”

Lauren Schooler claims a Home Depot representative afterwards arrived again to their household, and a report determined there was an set up concern with the flooring.

“The first proposal was to location thresholds – bumps, in numerous destinations on our to start with ground to give the floor a position to extend and contract. We recommended that we could not have thresholds in these spots since they would be a hazard to our daughter and make navigating her in her wheelchair, and with her ventilator established up, hazardous,” reported Lauren Schooler. “We explained to them we would under no circumstances have purchased this flooring if it would have necessary thresholds in our daughter’s most regularly traveled places. When the globe alone is not established up for persons with disabilities, to start out with, we adapt when we’re out there. But this is our residence, and it has to be a safe and sound position for her, and that is what I explained to them.”

The Schoolers say the dangers with the floors opening and closing appear from the chance of Hannah’s wheelchair, wheels from the ventilator, a caretaker transporting her having a toe caught in a hole, or obtaining to navigate transitions in the house.

“We are just looking for resolution since what we are going through is not what was explained to us in the commencing. The preliminary measurer did not explain, ‘hey, you are heading to have openings, do you genuinely want this item?’” mentioned Jeff Schooler. “It is all about interaction. If the initially people today we contacted would have listened, compared to indicating ‘no, this has received to be how it is.’ It is all about advocating and undertaking what is appropriate.”

The On Your Facet Investigators to start with reached out to Property Depot by way of e-mail and obtained a phone. The Schooler loved ones later received the following email:

“We acquired [a] reaction from our Support Leadership crew supplying two resolutions for your choice to contain possibly replacement installation with a glue down hardwood or a examine payment in the total of 10 Thousand Dollars and Zero Cents ($10,000.00), to substitute with service provider of your selection.

Thank you so substantially for the opportunity to rectify this issue. You are a valued The Residence Depot, shopper and we sincerely appreciate your organization!!”

”We picked a everyday living proof, which is a luxury vinyl plank, related to what we have. It doesn’t have any wood in it at all. You don’t have to worry about growth and contraction,” discussed Lauren Schooler. “It is one reliable, uninterrupted area, and when you are wheeling a kid in her wheelchair or pulling a five-legged ventilator pole, you just cannot navigate pace bumps.”

In a statement to NBC12, Household Depot wrote:

“Our hearts go out to Hannah and the overall Schooler spouse and children as they operate to provide her a secure and comfortable property. We have an understanding of their aggravation and respect the possibility to make it correct.”

The spouse and children scheduled a new installation date with Romanoff Renovations. The web-site states it “handles flooring installation of carpet, hardwood, laminate, vinyl, and tile for all House Depot residential and industrial flooring wants within just its company footprint.”

“We had a fantastic practical experience with Casey from Romanoff. He absolutely comprehended. He reported, ‘what’s appropriate is ideal,’” said Lauren Schooler. ”I requested him level-blank, ‘was this floor installed adequately?’ One, he said, no. I mentioned, ‘was it proper for our household?’ He stated, ‘without transitions? No.’”

The installation of the new flooring commenced on Feb. 21. The loved ones now has the clean floor they have been hoping for.

“The largest lesson of this is take a minute and pay attention to what somebody has to say to you. It may well be so quite different than what you are going through,” spelled out Lauren Schooler. “We weren’t just people complaining about a flooring – there was a daily life behind that floor.”

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