Would love to see pics of your floor when it's installed. I have never seen another floor like this, so it would be fun to see it in someone else's home. Enjoy it -- it's a beautiful floor.

We were over at our house this evening and they were just finishing. It looks great - very similar to yours. I've never seen it in anyone else's home either. They've already covered it up to protect it until the house is finished. I'll post a pic in 3 or 4 weeks.

gardenchick,
your floors are just beautiful.

can I ask, since you've done your homework, what you'd recommend if I was looking for something very similar, except a bit lighter in color overall?

much thanks.

Thanks for the compliment -- after 7 months of living with it, we still absolutely love our floor. FWIW, the picture of our floor above is a little on the dark side. The actual color of the wood is more like the boards to the left of the columns in the foreground of the picture. When we were researching, I actually didn't find many woods lighter than ours but many that were darker. We wanted something exotic and not ordinary so we stayed away from the oaks and maples (where you could find all shades of wood lighter than ours).

Perhaps you could post a question to some of the flooring installers that frequent this site and ask their opinion. If you want to stick with the exotics, the poster that is a missionary might be able to steer you to lighter woods. Good luck!

GC1,

Don't kill me for asking again, but in other words, you wouldn't call your flooring "dark" per se? I would be using it in a small studio apt in Manhattan, and although I like some dark floors in general, I am afraid they would make the space look smaller.

I am the thinking the planks in the foreground look more "medium" in tone, rather than "dark" -- right?

Below is a link to another photo of Brazilian Teak, but the floors appear a bit lighter in this photo. This is exactly the type of look I was trying to achieve -- perhaps your floors resemble this shot in actuality? Thanks again.

Here is a link that might be useful:

We just installed Brazilian teak in our small bedroom this past fall. I don't think it makes the room look smaller, definitely richer.

The picture below is before mouldings and bedding were added/changed.

uluvbs -- here is another picture of my flooring which is much lighter than the previous photo. The link you provided shows a floor whose grain pattern looks different than my floor or chrissay's floor (which is just like mine). In my floors, I don't see any of that swirly pattern that is shown on the link. Which website did you get that photo?

I would definitely call my flooring medium, not dark. It has quite a variety of hues and is very rich. Perhaps a good definition would be honey-brown.

{{gwi:1523859}}

We installed Cumaru in most of our 3,300 sq ft home last year. We love it. It is very unique and strong. We took most of the darker planks out, so ours is more uniform light red in color. Also, they started cupping about two months after we got them, b/c we were having a terribly dry year. The installers came out and sanded and refinished (can't think of the word right now) them and they have been perfect ever since. I don't even notice that much color change, but I have been too busy chasing my kids around to really notice.

Hi, GC1.

The new pic you added is much more along the lines of what I want.

The link I gave above was to a company selling Brazilian Teak (Cumaru). The phone rep claimed it looked in person just like it does in the picture, but I have never seen those swirls in any sample in any showroom, truth be told. The link at the end of this post is to a company that has similar-looking cumaru product.

For me, it is now a toss-up between Cumaru and Peruvian Walnut. Have you seen PW before?
The photo on the left is how it looked in the sample:
http://www.lumberliquidators.com/catalog/search_command.cmd?form_state=searchForm&form_state=searchForm&keyword=peruvian&Go.x=0amp;Go.y=0

The base color of PW in person is a dark brown, but it had lighter flecks of gold/light brown in it, so the overall look is not a dark one.

Thanks again.

Here is a link that might be useful: This company's cumaru looks similar...

I have never heard of Peruvian Walnut -- just Brazilian Walnut which was also a consideration of ours. The PW looks to be a beautiful floor. It seems much more uniform in color if that is what you are looking for. The BT has boards of many different hues and is very beautiful when laid. As sf treat did, you can remove any boards which aren't to your liking. We did not, and the look really captures your interest. Our rooms are very large and the entire floor plan is very open. But as Chrissay said, they installed it in a small bedroom and loves the look.

What I did to make my choice easier was to go to a flooring store and take their samples home so I could see them in a natural light. I don't think you would have a problem finding BT, but I'm not sure about the PW.

OK, so after reading these posts I went home and truly inspected my Cumaru floor. Things I never notcied before. There is no swirling; also, although we did remove the darkest pieces, so it doesn't look like the original posted picture, there still is a lot of variation within the planks which gives it depth and interest. It looks more like the last picture that was posted.

One area in parictular gets traveled on by all of us every day, from heavy men's bunsiness shoes, to high heels and muddy tennis shoes worn by my two boys. It isn't showing signs of the daily abouse and it hase been since September 2005. We are looking for a runner or something, but it is just added to a long must-get list.

After looking at my original pic above, I realize that much of the photo is underexposed and the floor is more true to the second photo and looks exactly like chrissay's bedroom photo. The variation in the boards looks very good in our open floor plan because I think a uniform color might make the rooms look too expansive.

As sf treat said, there are no swirls in the woodgrain and that is why I am hesitant to say the link you provided earlier is truly BT as the salesperson says. Get a real sample from the manufacturer you are considering to be sure.

Hello..

I am also about to purchase some Brazilian Teak/Cumaru from either BR111 or Wood Flooring International. I was wondering if anyone here has had an issue with excessive shrinkage of the floor??? I am getting conflicting information about the stability of Cumaru. I live in a sububarb of Chicago and we tend to get big swings in temperature/humidity. Sources are telling me that Cumaru will tend to shrink more than other woods during dry periods.

Any issues with your floors??? Shrinkage, cupping, etc??

Thanks..

We live in Michigan (which has high humidity levels in the summer) and installed our Cumaru in June of last year. As I stated above, we have quite a large amount of this wood in our home. Recently, we noticed a very small (1/32 of an inch" space between one of the boards. Our GC came over and had our heat/AC guy increase the humidity level in our home since it is winter and probably very dry. We are waiting to see if this small gap disappears. Otherwise, we have had absolutely no problem with this beautiful floor.

I would like to note that our architect (who is a close friend) said that the small gap may not have anything to do with the Cumaru itself. He said that based on where it is located in the home, it most likely is due to the normal adjusting of other woods in the structure. He said that as the house settles and adjusts to the humidity level, woods will shrink or expand slightly and this action will cumulate in the middle of a room or the middle of the house. From where it is located, I believe him.

We had a pretty deep gouge (made by the electrician moving a bar refrigerator) fixed by a furniture repairman. You can't tell where the repair was made. If adjusting the humidity level doesn't fill in this very small gap, we may have him repair it.

Thanks for the quick response gardenchick1! It is tough to find accurate information on Cumaru. It is good to know that you have had a positive experience with the wood. We absolutely love the color and only had an issue with the reported stability of the wood. Some companies list it as more stable than red oak while others say it is much less stable and prone to excessive shrinkage in dry conditions. Thanks again for the input.

Gardenchick, great photos! I am amazed at the beauty of the wood. I have just decided to purchase 3500 sf of the BT for our new home in california. I will post pictures when we are complete.
5 years ago my DH and I installed (ourselves) 2500 sf of blond brazilian cherry. Everyone thought we were nuts. This flooring turned out beautiful, the wood did darken a bit over time with all of the sunlight.
However, for this home, I wanted something darker, yet able to stand up to a lot of traffic. Have you noticed much darkening in the sunlit room? Our whole house will be lit up with windows lots of sun and the main room (40 X 20') is all windows and doors.
Have you noticed a lot of scratch marks on the surface?
Did you say you refinished the wood yourself? Did you use an oil or water base sealer? Sorry if you have answered these questions in the past, I may have missed them.
Thanks for your great pictures and information.
Vicki

Brazilian Teak is very color stable and I haven't noticed any change since we installed last summer. I even lifted up the area rug we have in the great room and can't see a bit of difference. We have large floor to ceiling windows all along the back of our house so we also get quite a bit of light shining in. We like the variation in the floor boards and everyone comments on how great it looks.

As for scratches -- with normal wear and tear there are no scratches showing. We have a couple of small scratches where a heavy table was moved (before felt pads). I covered them with a little scratch remover from Old English and you can hardly see them. I have dropped quite a few heavy objects and this wood does not dent! It is the second hardest wood available and I've put it to the test.

We purchased this finished, so we did not apply any coatings. It does come with the aluminum oxide finish from the factory and holds up very well.

I love the look of the Cumaru as well. We are finishing a basement, and will be putting floating engineered hardwood down over hydronic heater floor. The BR111 has some nice choices in the Triangulo line, but I would love to fine engineered floor in Brazilian Teak. Does anyone know of a brand that makes this? I am still amazed that the engineered is more than the solid...

We are also considering Braz. Teak. Do those of you who have it think it would go well with a variety of furniture? We will have a bamboo bar set (bar and furniture) on one end of the room, walnut furniture on the other end, and pearwood (kind of orangy)cabinets in the kitchen.

Also, is it too hard? I'm a bit worried that it will be hard on my feet & body (and all the things I drop!).

Thanks

We have a variety of furniture woods in our home -- black, dark walnut, medium brown, cherry, etc. and the wonderful thing about BT is that it also has a variety of colors within the boards. Overall, it is a warm honey brown. I would suggest getting a couple of sample boards and bringing them home to put against all your furniture colors to see how you like it. We had originally chosen Brazilian Cherry flooring until I brought home a sample and it clashed with our kitchen cabinets (which are natural cherry).

As far as being hard on your legs -- don't worry. I can stand on my floor for hours while cooking in the kitchen and it doesn't even begin to bother me. My old ceramic tile kitchen floor would bother my back after being on it for less than an hour.

Those pictures look great! anyone with ideas on how cumaru would look with mahogany colored cabinets? My husband and I are trying to decide between cumaru (which I love) and tigerwood floors.

I think your best bet would be to take a door from your cabinet and a sample of both floors and see which looks best to your eye. I think you will be able to tell right away. Remember that you don't want your floor and cabinets to match exactly -- it'll look too monotone and you will lose the contrast. It's best to look for woods that harmonize.

BT has lots of color variation with some boards being in the deep red hue of mahogany. You will see in my pics above that there are dark boards scattered throughout the floor -- these are the ones that have a dark red hue.

Tigerwood also has lots of color variation. Beware, though, that Tigerwood is color sensitive and you will have a deepening of the colors as it is exposed to light -- the original color will deepen to a reddish brown over time. Perhaps the sample you look at will already have darkened.

Look at the link below. It shows a Brazilian Teak floor with a desk in a reddish brown tone and several other pieces of furniture in varying wood tones. The contrast between the woods makes each item stand out. I think that is what you ultimately would want.

Look at the recent post called "Gardenchick1 ... wanted to show you" by polkadots. It shows a perfect picture of BT with all its color variation. It's a beautiful floor.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1550897}}

Gardenchick1, what a beautiful picture. The rest of the home looks as stunning as the floors! I was considering BR-111's Santos Mahogany for my new home, but after seeing the Cumaru, may change up. Would you mind sharing the cost of the materials for the Cumaru? What can one expect to pay per square foot for this?

kn25 -- we obtained our BT from a friend of ours (a commercial flooring contractor) so I'm not sure what we paid. However, when I was shopping around I believe the price I was quoted was around $9.00 sq.ft. not installed.

gardenchick1
I have just received my cumaru flooring and I guess I am having a panic attack! During all of my planning, I had been using a sample that is somewhat lighter than the actual wood I received...
My flooring is somewhat darker, 5" planks, same variation as yours, however, when I put my cherry cabinet samples and window trim on top of the brown flooring, it almost clashes.
The cherry isn't in the same "hue" it seems as the cumaru. all of my doors are stained the cherry cabinet color as well. Any suggestions to make them get more in "tone"?
I noticed you have a lot of cherry in your furniture (we do too), but I just am so afraid of the two different type of woods going together.
Here is a picture of what I mean:

Thanks for your help.

BTW KN25, I picked up my flooring, unfinished for $3.25 about 6 months or so ago and have had it in a conditioned storage facility. It just arrived last monday to my home and is now acclimating!

I will assume that the new sample you are referring to is the one propped up next to the cabinet sample. If so, is that the only board you have in the new sample color? Brazilian Teak planks come in such varying hues that having only one board to use for comparison will not work. In looking at my floor, I actually have boards scattered here and there that are almost burgundy in color.

Anyway, our kitchen cabinets are also natural cherry. The BT goes beautifully with them. In fact, we originally were going to choose Brazilian Cherry floors until we saw that they clashed horribly with our cabinets because the flooring had too much of a rosy tone to them. We found (and fell in love with) the BT because there were so many varying tones that everything went with it.

I don't think your sample board clashes with your cabinets and woodwork, but from the picture on my monitor it appears that they are very close to the same color. That is why I would insist on having a sample that shows much more than one floorboard.

Here is a picture of our kitchen with the BT floor and our natural stained cherry cabinets. I have trouble getting my camera to take a picture that shows the true warmth of this floor -- it always comes out a bit paler than they really are, but you can see that there is quite a variation in the wood tones in the planks.

{{gwi:1550901}}

Vfish, I don't see any clashing. Your floors will look different when they are finished, they won't "match" the cabinets but that is a good thing :-)

Gardenchick, kksmama, thanks for your replies.
Gardenchick, the BT I have is what you see laid out on the floor.
The first board on the left is a sample piece of my pine doors stained cherry. the middle piece is a sample door of my cabinets, and the right piece is the sample of the windows we had hoped to stain.
I went to my cabinet maker and asked him if he could find a stain that had slightly less red in it just for our window trim (sample on the far right). I will see if that will work.
I had wanted to stain my large wooden beams and douglas fir mantle the same color. I think now I will go darker on those items, keeping the same hue, but darker which will hide the majority of the red that I am seeing.
As far as the pine doors, I can't change that at all and frankly, I love the cherry look, so I will cross my fingers and see the BT once I get the glitsa finishing on it.
I also noticed my paint color I had chosen for this particular room where I saw all of the clashing was more of a dark/yellow brown. I changed the paint color to a warmer, slight golden look and it magically blended the hues of the wood together.
Once I get these parameters figured out, I will post some pics.
thanks for your help, as always, you keep my sanity in check as I go thru all of these mini nightmares!
V

kksmama is right -- you don't want total matching with your cabinets because it will blend into a monotone and nothing will stand out. I also do not see any clashing of colors with the flooring sample and the rest of your woodwork. Our home actually has quite a variety of woods in our furniture and everything goes beautifully with the BT (look at my first picture and you will see I have every color of wood furniture). That's the beauty of this wood -- there is so much variety in the colors.

I think you will be very pleased with this floor. I know choosing everything and hoping it will all come together makes a person frazzled, but I think you are definitely on the right page!

vfish, from the picture, the tones don't seem to clash at all. You saw my floor in a post I posted to Gardenchick. I have a cherry chest on mine and it looks great. I will say that I didn't want mine to be too red so I had them take out any boards that were obviously going to turn out really red (you can tell). But in areas that don't have as much light, I think my floor does have a reddish hue to it, but overall it is a brown tone. I will also say that it will darken quite a bit once you get the finish on it - I was actually a little freaked out at first because it was darker than I expected (mine seems to be a little darker than Gardenchick's), but the glitsa really brings out a beautiful richness to the wood. My only concern for you would be that once the finish is on you might not have a lot of contrast between the cabinets and the floor color (the floor itself will have contrast, but it might be about the same darkness/tone as your cabinets etc.). You can get an idea of the finished color by putting some water on the boards. Or if you want, ask your flooring guy to put some finish on a sampling of boards so you can see it. I really love the floor - we are very happy with it. I hope you will be too.

BTW, would you mind telling me what paint color you switched to? I continue to look for a nice warm golden tan, so I'd love to know what you picked.

Gardenchick, as you know, I love your floors, that's why I have them :) I do hope the variation will look good, it's just that I had someone make the comment this weekend about the hues being so different on the woods and I panicked!
Polkadots, I plan to use the glitsa as well and I hope the red in ours does come thru more. As you mentioned, my wood is a lot darker than I imagined, but I love it. Everyone who sees it and feels it wants it! I am so excited to see it in.
My paint that I am looking at is a Sherwin Williams color 6127, I am using Dunn Edwards and had them convert the SW to their paint. I just purchased a sample quart of this color and will put it on my wall tomorrow. I'll take pictures of it if you like.

Again, thanks for your help. Pictures to follow!
V

Gardenfish, I just saw your beautiful pictures. My husband and I are building an addition/remodeling and are planning on getting the Cumaru flooring. Can I ask what you used for the paint color on you wall? I am seriously challenged when it comes to decorating! It helps to have a picture. Thank you in advance.
D

The wall color in our living room is Benjamin Moore HC-31 Waterbury Cream. Thanks for the compliments. You'll love your floor.

Thank you so much Gardenchick1. I really appreciate it. You are so kind.
Sorry I called you "Gardenfish" in the last post!
D

gardenchick Just joined gardenweb and we are also interested in the teak. What brand is yours and are you still pleased? We have been looking at the BR 111 braz. teak. Hope you see this message or someone knows the answer! Know this was several months ago. thanks!

Bumping up this thread for dawn10...

Hi Gardenchick,
I was wondering if you are still in love with your Cumaru floors? I am in love with the Brz. Teak and with your floors as well! I'm very very nervous though about what I've heard about the shrinkage and gapping. I just want to make sure that you've been satisfied. I live in NY and weather is somewhat similar to Michigan I think as far as humidity.

Also, what brand kitchen cabinets did you use? I love them as well and the color looks fantastic witht he floors.

Any advice is helpful, it is very hard to find info on this floor as Im sure you know. I love everything about the pictures youve shared!

Just got sample boards of this and it is my top choice for planned mudroom, kitchen, eating area reno. I will be using about 700 sq ft. It looks beautiful but seems slightly glossy and maybe a bit slippery. Also seeking feedback from homeowners who have it installed in their homes. TIA

Recently installed a brazilian teak/cumaru floor in my house over the holidays. Love the floor. Would like to install shoe molding that blends well. Do anyone with this type of floor have any suggestions for stain/wood type for molding. Thanks.

We ordered BR-111 Brazilian Teak but the dealer sent some off-brand of Cumaru claiming it was the same thing. Let me tell you the color was nothing like the BR-11, it was very red!! We eventually got what we "ordered" (long story) but just be very careful by getting and maybe saving a sample. I don't think you need to worry with BR-111 not matching the sample fairly well. We have really enjoyed the floor and will probably be installing another 1000 sq. ft when I scrape up some more cash.

I found a company on eBay called Vernon Floors that claim they have BR-111 3/4" Brazilian Teak at $5.95 sq. ft. The difference is that this run is a 3.25" width instead of the normal 3". Vernon Floors told me that Lowe's ordered it and then did not want it. I called BR-111 and they said it is possible that it was a special order but probably won't be made again. They said they have 8000 square feet in stock. I need 1000 sq. ft. and the shipping is free. Would you trust them?

Here is a link that might be useful: Deal or Not?

Odiegirl: I came across your post and called Vernon floors. They did not mention the Lowe's issue to me but assured me that what they have is manufactured by BR111. I called BR111 and they said that with the part number I quoted(given to me by Vernon Floors) that the floors are made by them. I asked how I could be sure, she said some planks have BR111 stamped on teh back. Of course I cannot verify this until I receive the shipment and open the boxes. Their price is about $2 cheaper per square foot and I am tempted to buy. What did you do?

Anyone dealt with Vernon Floors out of New Jersey?

We'd also like to know if they are reputable--we are looking at replacing our floors.
We also found nogalink, also in NJ--this is the link in iluvbs's post above.
They seem to have very good prices but we'd love to hear from anyone who has purchased from them...They have been advertising on NYC Craigslist...

Here is a link that might be useful: Nogalink Teak

No one answered the question above if anyone makes an engineered wood in the Brazilian Teak for those of us how should be using engineered wood for our floors due to the cement slab they are on.

Just do a Google search, with the keywords, Cumaru, Braz Teak, Engineered

I loved the pictures of your floor. I've heard conflicting comments on the adaptability of cumaru flooring in dry climates. I live in Colorado which is very dry in both winter and summer. Also, CO is at 5,000' which might further affect the stability (strong UV rays/color) on cumaru. Can you pass along any info you might have concerning these environmental conditions. My 2nd choice is Lapacho (Brazilian Walnut) which is a more oily wood. Thanks. Deb

Can someome send me pics of their cumaru floor? We are going to install it and would love to see pictures. We are in CA and are installing on a cement slab on our main floor and up our curved staircase and upstairs into our bedroom and family. any info will be appreciated! Thanks

Does anyone have photos of their cumaru floors? Gardenchick1, you posted photos way back in '07 of your cumaru floor. Unfortunately, the link to photobucket said that your photo had been deleted or could not be seen. Anyway, I couldn't open the photos, and I'm dying to see your floors, since I'm considering installing an engineered cumaru floor. The only sample I've seen is by Mullican, and it's lovely. But I'm worried that it will look too "stripey" and what I'm really looking for is gorgeous color floors that don't look too busy. I have lots of my art work on the walls, and I want that to be the star of the show, but I want the floors to be unique in themselves. Am I making sense? Can anyone help out there?

This floor is at the top of my list too - but I've yet to find the right source. I'm hoping to find Engineered that can be floated (concrete slab floors). I'd like the 5" wide planks and a decent wear layer so it can be refinished if need be down the road. And I would like all of this for $5.00 or less per sq feet. We need 3300 sq feet of this.

Any recs???