Sandra, FIX - Borrow then replace with new 17 - Brazilian Direct Ltd. Flooring Inquiry by Dan Cosgrove For 15 years BD Ltd. has had a 500 square foot Minimum. This policy was in place as we cannot get involved with trying to match what we did not sell you. The other larger reasons are listed below. Brazilian Direct Ltd. - Exceeding Customer Expectations for over 15 years Mill Direct Premium Exotic Hardwood Flooring, Lumber and Decking Hardwood Flooring Repair - Do Not over commit or over promise! Lost a lot of industry buddies trying to do a favor (100sf repair) for a friend. Hardwood Flooring Repair (IF weaving/patching) After 30 years, I will say this. On unfinished flooring, the only way to try to weave or patch a repair on an old Exotic/Tropical hardwood floor (or any hardwood flooring) is to figure out a smart way, to use the existing hardwood flooring on site. We recommend that you borrow the hardwood flooring from the closets or from a back room (pop the last few rows) to do the repair. Then replace the newly created inconspicuous areas, with whatever you find that is close. Only way you can guarantee the match is with the same hardwood they used during the original installation. Then the entire floor should be then resanded. Prefinished adds another issue as now you have oxidation (darkening), the micro-bevel and gloss levels to contend with. Most exotics will change depending on species from light to dark approximately 25-35%. Sheen levels will vary per manufacture and the gloss level will have dulled and have scratches after years use. It is even more important with pre-finished to borrow then replace. Even the exact same product will be 25% lighter in color, the sheen will be different as the finish will be new. Make your repair with hardwood on the job. Then find something, as close as you can and install that in the area that is not highly visibility. In the end, it will never match perfectly, so do not over state. This is as close as you can get it. This applies to ALL species: Brazilian Cherry (Jatoba), Brazilian Teak (Cumaru), Santos Mahogany (Cabreuva), Brazilian Walnut (Ipe), Brazilian Koa (Tigerwood), Bolivian Rosewood (Tiete-Sirari), Tiete Chestnut (Sucupira), Amendoim, Patagonian Rosewood (Curupau), ETC. We want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. PS: The insurance company should pay for complete removal & tear out for the entire room - doorway to doorway. That is the real answer. ------------------Followup # 2 was Sandra, was also explaining to the different grades, another reason we do not try to match. LL lies and calls this species Bolivian Rosewood, which it is not, (Bolivian Rosewood is Morado & cost 4 x more) so there is a lot of confusion about this species. In addition, I then said upon hanging up, that I have another call I must take, as a conference call with Brazil started at 11 am, I had to jump on this call. So sorry if I cut the call short and appear to be rude, that was not my intent. Dan Here are essentially four grades of exotic flooring: - Straight-grain (quarter-sawn) - Premium/A grade (Clear) - Select and Better (S & B) - Select-grade All of our flooring at Brazilian Direct Ltd. is Premium/A grade flooring. Advantages of using Premium/A grade flooring over select grade include longer average lengths, less color variation from board to board, and less waste requirement. Brazilian Direct does carry straight-grain flooring as well. Straight-grain or quarter-sawn flooring is only available in unfinished Brazilian Cherry and Santos Mahogany. We recommend this floor specifically for radiant heat application. Brazilian Direct does not offer select-grade flooring. Brazilian Direct discourages the sale of select-grade flooring due to quality issues. Quarter-sawn or straight-grain flooring is a slightly different cut of hardwood flooring than clear grade. It has the same features as clear grade; however, it is cut so all grain runs vertically. This minimizes the risk of horizontal board expansion, making quartersawn the only choice for radiant heat applications. This premium cut will carry a higher price. Premium/A Grade (Clear) is the highest grade of hardwood flooring available for that species. It offers the minimum number of character marks and discoloration, providing a uniform appearance while allowing for natural color variations. Premium/A grade flooring has the longest average board lengths as well as the highest quality milling. Our average clear grade board length is 38.5". Select & Better grade flooring (S & B) is a ranking assigned by some mills in Brazil indicating the highest grade of flooring they offer. S & B offers the minimum number of character marks and discoloration, providing a uniform appearance while allowing for natural color variations. S & B grade flooring is synonymous with longer average board lengths as well as exceptional quality milling. Our average S & B grade board length is 35-37". Select-grade flooring (not offered) is a lower grade of flooring than clear grade. It has more character marks and possible discoloration, creating a less uniform appearance. Small knots and some imperfections in face work are acceptable. A typical average length for select grade flooring is 28".

I happen to be someone who installed both BR111 (Timborana) and Bellawood Bloodwood and Bolivian Rosewood. The ground floor is slab so I needed engineered wood. I am super happy with both. The Timborana is much softer than both Bellawood. The Bloodwood and Rosewood are about 3X harder than Red Oak so this is not a surprise. You can literally drop anything on either of the Bellawoods and I challenge you to see any dents. The BR111 Timborana is absolutely gorgeous and looks better than mahogany. We are super careful so in spite of both floors being 16 years, they look great and I still get compliments on the Timborana. It literally looks like fine furniture wood. I would not use it if you have children and pets or you are super rough on your floors. We almost never walk in with outside shoes and as a result it has held up well and only a few deeper dents and scratches. If you are not on slab and can use 3/4" planks in the heavy traffic areas, then by all means go for the Bellawood. I think it will outlast the house by another 50 years .... it is that good. The only advise I would say, if you have a Bellawood plank that is bent significantly, do not attempt to push it into shape with the nail gun, just set it aside and use another. I am not talking about slight misshapen, rather about ones that are 1/2" because sometimes they will resist so hard, you will spend 20 minutes on one plank. Luckily there is only a tiny percentage that are not straight. Overall both are great but pick the best according to your intended use

Despite not liking how dark my Brazilian Cherry floors became in my home office, I loved them so much in my family room so I have been so disappointed they were ruined in my flood recently. I have tried so many sample big boards from a local store and I am realizing that the wide board just does not look good in my home office and I do love my floors despite the color change. I am not back into deciding which exotic wood floor but in the 3.25" or 3.5" wide depending on which engineered width is being offered. All the really wide boards in other brands just do not look right in my home office with little floor showing to my eyes. Also if the boards are shorter and less wide, more of the light boards will be seen and I will see the mosaic of colors that I fell in love with almost 4 year ago when I installed my floors. Yes, they change color but no wood is perfect especially if one is stuck with engineered wood since I am on a slab floor and I have to make sure the wood looks good with my Putty file cabinets. Hope this helps others that despite the problems associated with Brazilian Cherry needing to be cleaned more often and darkening, I do love the exotic floors the way they dramatically make a room come alive if one can't have rugs in the room.

Di you use the robinson brazillian teak flooring? I am considering this brand and species as well