Avalon Flooring, Lumber Liquid. or HD / Lowes?

11 years ago

We are about to purchase our HW floors (kitchen and floor renovation) - and I am looking for opinions on where to purchase from.

We have decided on solid hardwood and not laminate or engineered.

Any reviews on Avalon Flooring and tile? They have a Homduran Mahogany that we like, which is sold under their own label.

Lumber Liquidators - we liked the strand bamboo, but I read AWFUL reviews - here and elsewhere - about formaldehyde issues. The Bellawood floor that we liked there is more $$ than we would like to spend.

Home Depot or Lowes - they seem to have nice choices in our price range - but I thought I had read posts (which of course I can't find now!) - not to buy from there - but WHY?

Any help would be appreciated. We seem to like the darker / stained colors, but I obviously want to choose something that will be durable and last a long time, and that can stand up to two small (and growing) children, as well as a cat (and 2 adults).

We were hoping to be around $4/square foot, but looks like we are tapping out at $5/square foot. (not including quarter round or baseboard - to be determined).

HD seemed to have some nice options around $3-$4/sq. foot, but if there is a reason not to use them, I would like to know that.

We need about 900 square feet. (800 square feet of flooring - contractor told me to order at least 900 square feet)

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

gregmills_gw
11 years ago
The problem with Any big box store flooring is this. They get junk wood which they get cheap which allows them to sell it cheap. Every see lumber liquidators 99 cent hardwood. If you look closely thats utility wood. Which means its all scrap that couldnt be graded for sale.

I installed a friends floor they bought from HD and while the floor in every aspect was okay. The problem was each box contains roughly 20 sq ft. Out of each box about 5 sq ft was unuseable. The tongue was busted. Boards were scratched/dented or had visual defects. He had 400 ft to install and had to buy around 550 sq ft just to make up with all the junk wood.

The other problem i ran into was what to do with that left over wood? This particular HD would NOT take any wood back that was opened. So he was stuck with that.

If your big box store will take returns on open boxes then i say ok. But beware that you will probably need to buy more than 900 as your contractor suggested.
sserra85
11 years ago
what about on-site finished wood? I was having the same issue when I decided to get a quote for site-finished. I saved thousands (including labor), and my floors look beautiful...
Related Discussions
Vinyl plank flooring , lowes, Home Depot, lumber liquidators ?
Q
Comments (11)
I put in 5mm vinyl click plank from LL in a stone pattern in my kitchen. the thickness does make it a bit tougher to cut so any advantage that the thickness has in making it lock together is balanced by it being harder to make cuts (assuming score and break with a blade and not power tools). Overall, it does take a bit of time and patience to get it installed well. In my installation, seams are all very tight with no signs of any separation after 8 months, despite all this ridiculous cold weather no doubt causing more contraction than what I would normally ever see. Mine is on concrete slab so I don't have experience with it on wood subfloor. Overall, I am happy with it. Note that the surface wear layer will scratch. You should still put protective pads on furniture, etc. It is much more resistant to gouging from dropping heavy stuff on it unlike the cheap sheet vinyl I've had in the past (and worlds better in this regard then laminate and wood). These characteristics may not carry over to all the other 5mm. LL private labels from multiple manufacturers, even stuff they label as being in the same series. In getting stone style click vinyl samples, I noted that they came from at least two different manufacturers. When I've looked at their laminate samples, I've found at least four different manufacturers (and again at least two were supposed to be the just different patterns in the same exact series), some were clearly better quality than others despite being the same price.
...See More
Lumber Liquidators flooring
Q
Comments (4)
Well here is your issue...I am not a lumber liquidators fan by any means and they should be avoided at all cost. A civil complaint may get their attention enough to give you some money, but this shrinkage can not be pinned on them. It is absolutely installation related. a 7 week acclimation means nothing without proper moisture readings taken. I do not know of any installer that does this..measure moisture in the wood, and the sub floor and monitor relative humidity during and after installation. Simply having it in the room is just not enough. It usually is, but the exception has bitten you. If it shrunk that much, it either had too much moisture in it at the time of install..or the relative humidity dropped way too low. One of the two in my mind. Wood only shrinks for one reason..it dried out. This is positively a climate issue and thus why they are not concerned at all about it. To make you understand when we install hardwood, we give the consumer a relative humidity gauge that is there before installation. We have the associate come out the day of installation commencement to register what the moisture readings are from numerous areas in the sub strate and numerous wood samplings.This is a 700 dollar meter. The humidity gauge (a separate 5 dollar instrument) must be between 35 and 55 at all times prior to during and after installation. Thus why they keep the meter. We require the readings to be within 2% to 4% of each other depending on the species. No one does this..I have never met an installer that does this (not saying that there aren't any) but you can count them on one hand. Thus why we do it because if we instruct the installer, it still will not get done. They simply play the law of averages and I believe this was done in your house and it bit you. Wood shrinking like you state is only caused by moisture leaving the specie. Good Luck but a civil suit may make them ante up a few bucks rather than fight it.
...See More
Any positive experiences from lumber liquidators?
Q
Comments (4)
I was looking at LL because of the price point. However, a lot of the installers I spoke to had bad experiences with either a lot of waste or a low quality product. I went out searching for a quality product at a low price point and am now currently considering CaliBamboo at 3.92 a sf. You can order distressed or scraped from them for a lot less than other brands, so maybe check them out. The samples of the "fossilized" stuff we got made us fall in love with the quality of this product. am still doing research, but am happy to have an option outside of LL so i don;t have to take the risk associated with LL.
...See More
Lumber Liquidators Exposé on 60 Minutes
Q
Comments (27)
I think this is a great opportunity for education on this subject. Here is more info: http://www.greencabinetsource.org/Manufacturing/Wood_and_Emissions Note: 7 Ways To Reduce Formaldehyde Exposure: http://eartheasy.com/blog/2011/06/7-easy-ways-to-reduce-your-exposure-to-formaldehyde/ "Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society, said that formaldehyde is both worrisome and inescapable. “It’s the smell in new houses, and it’s in cosmetics like nail polish,” he said. “All a reasonable person can do is manage their exposure and decrease it to as little as possible. It’s everywhere.”?
...See More
gregmills_gw
11 years ago
Site finished or raw wood is different. Even if tongues are damaged or dented you can still pound them in. Site finished allows for you to sand any visual dislikes out.
rrgg
11 years ago
gregmills, Do you consider Lumber Liquidators quality no better than HD/Lowe's? Where are you recommending? Or are you recommending some brand that HD/Lowe's don't carry?
gregmills_gw
11 years ago
Im not saying anything bad about any particular brand flooring. All im saying is HD/lowes carries cheap wood because of the reasons i described above. The wood itsself is ok. Just to get a decent floor out it you need to buy a lot of extra due to the high % of waste in each box. Lumber Liq. Has good wood too and you might find a lower % of waste per box. BUT they also sell crap wood for 99 cents. Stay away from that. LL sells Bellawood which is nice its more expensive than the 99 cent wood but in flooring higher price tends to give you better quality all around.

But like i said every store you can think of has decent wood its just how much of that wood are you going to need to buy to make up for the high percentage of waste.
rrgg
11 years ago
I see. At least LL marks the wood grade of everything, so I can see that Bella is "Select" and the 99 cent is not. I guess I can consider the % waste as a hidden mark-up on the wood, so you're saying the big box may not be cheaper in the end.
gregmills_gw
11 years ago
Correct. And even LL could cost more too it just depends if you get a shotty batch. And your odds go up with any big box or LL. If you want a good quality product with minimal waste find a local hardwood floor disturbitor. You may spend a little more but you will have peace of mind knowing you wont have 300 sq ft of junk wood that you cant return.

If you have problems finding a distrubtor call any local refinishing company and ask them where they go.

Avalon Flooring, Lumber Liquid. or HD / Lowes?

Comments (7)

gregmills_gw

sserra85

Related Discussions

gregmills_gw

rrgg

gregmills_gw

rrgg

gregmills_gw

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US