To: pfr pfr I appreciate your answer and position on these "Finger jointed studs". Please remember that I am only speaking of my experience with the use of these studs and not trying to stir the pot with my comments. I can understand that any house can be built out of cardboard boxes and matchsticks secured with glue, but I don't want one, but I have now a house built out of Finger Jointed Studs that I don't really trust. Now to comment on your above. First, no I have not found a wall that seemed to have moved out of its original position so we can count that one out so far. Now, here is one that you can hang your hat on...During our Ice storm, I had a frozen pipe behind the wall, So I had to bust out an area of sheetrock with a hammer (Between studs). When I hit the sheetrock about maybe 5 times with a hammer in order to remove it to gain access to the busted pipe. the Stud actually broke. (And no I was lucky enough to hit enough between the Two studs close enough that it shouldn't have done much damage to any other type of stud. Instead, it broke about an inch and a half across the glue joint. The new homes are being built without the benefit of outside sheeting such as OSB or plywood so they have only plastic sheeting and the Brick positioned further to the outside of the Stud and plastic sheeting. Now you are most likely wondering if either hit it harder than I am saying to gain any benefit of the doubt to all you readers, the answer is no and I did not use a sledgehammer to prove a point. I wish I had thought more about taking pictures that would have been more fact-finding but I did not take any. (Sorry) I was more interested in getting water service to my home during the storm. Now, if the above is any indication of strength, I would not want to be in high winds. Also, not all of the home is without OSB sheeting but the side I am speaking of is. These studs are on 24-inch centers which is the building standard these days.

Make sure that any reclaimed wood has been properly treated for insects or you'' end up with an infestation in your home. No plastic picture of wood floors over particle board in a kitchen. Either choose real wood, or tile.

Concur with above posters. I live in Central Florida and all we know is humidity. Not a builder around acclimates the material to the site before using so if there were any reoccurring issues with FJP it'd be readily apparent. In my opinion and experience is the quality of the painters caulk used to fill the gaps and seams. You really need the siliconized version. It cost marginally more but it bridges gaps and stretches to accommodate seasonal expansion and contraction much better.

I prefer site finished. It is easier to refinish when it needs it. Your friend has probably done "buff and coat" procedures. This is normally done ONCE and then a FULL sand and refinish. If your friend has been doing the buff and coat MORE THAN once, then she's doing it "wrong" (could be "right" for her, but it isn't the regular way for hardwood). Traditionally the FULL sand and refinish occurs around the 20 year mark. So the floors, after 20 years SHOULD look like this. That's kinda what tells you "it's time". A buff and coat only adds a coat of finish (to freshen up the floor). It doesn't "correct" anything. The FULL sand and refinish will do 10 TIMES more for the look of the floor than a buff and coat. The sand/refinish will strip the old finish off and then carve off 1-2mm of WOOD. That means 99.9% of all dings and gouges will be taken care of. The "dirt and food in between" (the planks) is MUCH MORE likely to occur with factory finished floors. These floors have bevelled edges (a little shoulder on every plank that creates little valleys between each plank). But it can occur with floors SHRINKING from LOW humidity. The floor can create little gaps between planks. That's normal if the humidity is too low or is uncontrolled. The THINNER the plank, the LESS the wood will/can shrink. That's why narrow/strip hardwood is the BEST option for uncontrolled humidity. Those big, beautiful, expensive, wide plank products that are SUPER trendy = not an option for uncontrolled humidity. A factory finished hardwood (with Aluminum Oxide = AO) is going to be SUPER expensive to refinish and here's why. The AO finish is SOOOO tough (how tough is it SJ?). It is SOOOO tough it takes 2-3 TIMES the amount of effort/material to strip it from the wood floor. Once the AO is gone, the wood turns into a normal hardwood floor. And just for fun, the 'refresh' buff and coat is almost IMPOSSIBLE to do. Even the toughest finish looks tired around the 15 year mark. Sadly, AO finishes often prevent a recoat (the finish is chemically very slick...almost nothing sticks to it = HELL to add '1 coat'). The average cost of a full sand/refinish = $5/sf. The average cost of a sand/refinish of AO = $7-$9/sf. Yes. It is THAT TOUGH to remove. A traditional buff and coat = $2.50 - $3/sf. So if you do the math, the site finished hardwood may cost a bit more on day 1....but by year 30 it will be MUCH cheaper/easier to deal with/live with. It allows you to freshen up the finish around year 15 (if you wish). It allows for a routine sand/refinish without adding a HIGHER COST of labour. So "cost effective" today can be much more costly by the time you plan on refinishing. In fact, so many people look at the extra costs and figure a new floor is cheaper....and they are right. Sigh...so there goes the idea of using up all the life on the hardwood (3/4" solid hardwood). That goes out the window when the owner realizes the costs are much higher and they choose to rip it out and throw it out; thus negating the benefit of a solid hardwood!