Floor Educational Guild

Plausible Deniability Vs. Best Industry Practices

Plausible deniability, what is it? 

“Plausible deniability is a situation where an individual or group can deny knowledge or responsibility for an action, even if it can be proven that they were involved, by offering a plausible, though potentially false, explanation. It allows for the denial of blame or knowledge by making it difficult to definitively establish a connection between the individual or group and the action.”

Best Industry Practices, what is it?

Best industry practices, also known as good industry practices or simply best practices, are methods or techniques that have been generally accepted as superior to any alternatives because they produce superior results or because they have become standard practice within the industry. 

An example of Plausible Deniability and Best Practices. In Central NC, in a home with each step, visible defection. 

In the crawl space the joist’s spacing measured 24oc. There was only one layer of OSB panels. No squash blocks or bracing. 

It was explained to the warranty person and his assistant the requirements for solid wood installation and offered to send him a copy. This was in the early 2000s. 

He replied, no. He did not want a copy. His assistant was confused and kept asking why they didn’t want a copy. 

I told him it was simple. His company had built the house to the local and state building codes, the minimum standards but he can state, with assurance, that whenever someone asks why there was so much visible deflection when someone walked through the house, that it was built to local and state building code. 

Can ignorance can be used as Plausible Deniability?  Deliberate ignorance as a tool?  

However, if they had a copy of the industry standards, that outline the “Best Industry Practices”, the requirements recommended for a wood flooring installation, there might be some accountability, responsibility. 

Any competent builder knows 24oc is not a Best Industry Construction Practice but, can meet code.

This was and is, an extremely rare event encountered.

Review: the builder built the home to local building codes, as required. Yes, the minimum codes, but in code compliance.

Wood floor installation manuals, and many other types of flooring installation guidelines, state that State and Local Building Codes prevail. 

For example, the NWFA manual states, “Note: Local-building codes may differ. Local building codes prevail. Follow local building code.”

There is also a disclaimer stating the following, in essence are best practices but, like all good industry publications, and we see the need for this in our litigious society, “ These guidelines/standards for the installation of hardwood flooring were developed by the NWFA Installation Guidelines Committee using reliable installation principles with research of all available wood flooring installation data and in consultation with leading industry authorities. “

“Recommendations in this publication are directed at the North American Market in general and, therefore, may not necessarily be the most accepted industry practice in your geographic area.” 

This is not criticizing the NWFA’s disclaimer, we use a similar disclaimer on our reports.  

Now, some inspectors will blame the installer but, again, “Note: Local-building codes may differ. Local building codes prevail. Follow local building code”.

In other words, follow the law.

Should the installer be blamed? We vote NO!

How to report the issue? 

A Peer Reviewed Consultant knows to report the facts, the measurements, and report the differences between the building codes and Best Industry Practices, then the settlement falls into the providence of legal interruption of, in this instance, the contract between the builder and the consumer.

We are not lawyers and therefore not qualified to offer professional opinions to legal compliance to the contract. 

We can only report, that in our professional opinion based upon our profession as a wood floor consultant, based upon our examination in this case, it was not installed on a support system that is in compliance with Best Industry Practices. 

We can report our professional opinion what long term effect deflections will have on the product’s performance and appearance, but again, no professional legal opinion on the contract between the builder and consumer. 

Warranty compliance? Another entire issue. Not enough time or room for that discussion. 

Basic Best Industry Practices, for wood installations, have been around much longer than the NWFA. They have modernized the practices for new equipment and advances in wood flooring products .