There are several misconceptions here. There can be site finished solid wood or site finished engineered wood. Having it finished on site is the variable. The two are not mutually exclusive. Foundation type often demands engineered wood, and that does not mean accepting a lesser quality material. As long as an adequate budget is in the picture, quality in either type is achievable. Site finished has everything to do with finding the right artisan. Prefinished has everything to do with the company that creates the product. It is a shift in emphasis for responsibility of a successful install. A NWFA accredited installer and installation for site finished is likely to be several notches in expense above the install of a medium quality prefinished product. Choosing to use a lesser skilled finisher simply because of budget, will likely have results that you are not happy with in the long run. Engineered wood, if it's a good quality, is indistinguishable from solid wood to the naked eye. IF it's installed as a Permanently affixed nail down or glue down. Floating floors are a whole other category of installation and often perform unsatisfactorily because of improper site prep and low quality sound pad. That is regardless of the material being floated, including laminate. Any floor that is not flat enough, and experiences bounce, is not flat enough for Any floor but carpet to be installed. Deflection though, often has more to do with the joists being inadequately specced to the lowest allowable by code rather than the subfloor thickness. When hard floors are desired, the home has to be engineered to accept them from the design phase. This is one area that being "code compliant" results in too many problems down the road because the code is inadequate for the construction level that most homes now wish to have. The use of a good quality vacuum is a recommended care routine in addition to dry dusting. If there are no other issues in the home, such as inadequate kitchen ventilation, a vacuum will remove dust from any micro bevels in a prefinished floor---or the inevitable micro gaps in a site finished floor.

Drywall is done and tile is in! We flip flopped on the HW flooring for awhile, but finally decided on maple stained with a custom mix of Special & English Walnut...which is what we had originally planned. We really liked the 8" pine until we saw the stained sample boards in the house. It didn't really work with the style of house we're building. So....the maple is scheduled for delivery next Thursday, and then we have to let it acclimate. It will be awhile before we can get them down, but there are plenty of other things for us to do while we're waiting. :o) Cabinets were ordered from a local custom shop and are supposed to be ready by the end of the month. We decided on recessed panel doors that are painted with SW Alabaster in the kitchen & laundry and maple with a Special Walnut stain in the MB.

We are also planning a screened-in porch on our new house and were initially considering using stone or tile on the floor. John, from your reply, and after some discussions with others, it sounds like we would need to pour a slab first? Are there any other options for stone/tile. If we have to pour a slab I think we will just go w IPE or some other durable wood as the porch will be elevated, above a walkout basement.

John, I see you've already answered, but while I was waiting I did a search and see basically the same reply every time the question is asked. You mention "first few weeks" and "first few moons", but how long are you actually talking about? And Steve (Brooklyndecks), if you're out there, why do you not use an adhesive? I'm really confused, because we have three professionals offering contradictory information. ___________________________________________________ Posted by John_Hyatt (My Page) on Fri, Jul 30, 04 at 17:21 Bill, with the clips the info you get tells you to use counstruction adhesive,thats because its heavy bodied and makes up for the space the clips leave inbetween the joists and for uneven pt framing,its not going to help as far as fastining the decking to the frame or with any movement in the frame or with movement in the decking. John  Posted by John_Hyatt (My Page) on Sun, Jan 4, 04 at 19:05 Hey guys,,,ventalation is a must for any decking material, and vastley over looked,,we use screen vents for cross ventlation,,on the clips,,they dont really fasten the decking to the joice,,thats why the co calls for counstruction adhesive underneath,,to make up for uneven or warped joice,,not for holding power,,using them is a gamble,sometimes they work,,but when they dont as in the wood shrinking or warping causing the clips to pop out of the slot,,you just spent all that time and money for nothing and you end up going back and face fasting and even when they do work the clip and the screw still show and the gap needed is a little much,,which brings us to the bottom line best way to fasten any decking,,face fasten,,if you dont want the screws to show pre drill twice and install plugs,,a lot of sanding true,,but it always works,, I have several 1x6 T & G Ipe decks out,,no screws showing this way at all,,two of them worked there way out of the grove,,5 of them dident,,George ( east teak ) an I still havent found out why some work and some dont,,one of his was 14' off the ground and went crazy,,I have several porches with 1x4 t&g ipe out with the normal 2'' off the slab, hardley any ventlation at all,,doing fine after 3 years or so,,so now you know almost everything I do,,using the clips with 3/4 material is twice the gamble as using 1'' or 11/2'' material, this is what I have seen over the 10 years or so I have been puting down Ipe,,,John Hyatt deckmastersllc.com  Posted by john_hyatt (My Page) on Tue, Oct 17, 06 at 18:11 Moisture Barrier 101, Class trun off all devices you brought with you the ipods,lap tops,cell phones and all the stupid time wasting things you have in those purple back packs I am only going to say this one time and one time only. Pick it up now or fail the Course Ipe is moisture cranky in the first few important weeks because>>> the preasure treated lumber has a lot of water in it from the treatment plant,add to this its mostly yellow pine that is movement prone in the sun anyway and really open grain thats why they use it to pump all that copper and water into it. If a person seals the ipe on all four sides,or pre treats at all...A during construstion its going to get really beat up..B the wood will be hampered in its breathing,remember when you started this class?? thats right wood has to breath...Martha Zolinkisi!!! get that plug out of your ear!!!! you think I cant see that??? another bump and run like that and your headed back to the shop clean up!! Lets start up with those two givens,,using construston adhesive on the joists helps leval out uneaven framing that is the norm with pt lumber,it adds a little hold down power,and protects the ipe from the fast escaping water in the first few important weeks or moons while at the same time lets the ipe take a breath when it has to. This combined with cross vintalation in the skirting gives this high dollor and most execlent material the respect it has coming.Doing all we can to keep it from cupping and buckling. All you young people are the Furture of Construstion, I am proud of every one of you,That includes you Martha, The big test is next week,ride hard, ride safe,stay away from the high side,and Get Er Done!!! John  Posted by John_Hyatt (My Page) on Wed, May 18, 05 at 7:44 With 20' long material I need two guys to help,use a short piece of the material to tap the decking together, we also cut a little 1/2'' slot in the toungue every 3' or so it wont show if your carefull. If your project is low to the ground its a good idea to use counstruction adhesive on the joists, not for glueing power but to protect the ipe from the water in the green preasure treated in the first few important weeks, one contractor I know in Little Rock used black duct tape. Screw every joist.With T&G material 1x4 and 1x6 are the same just depends on the look you want and the 1x4 will use more screws and take longer. John  Posted by brooklyndecks (My Page) on Tue, Oct 17, 06 at 15:18 Birgit, No, I don't use adhesive as a moisture barrier. JH does that. I used to paint the joist tops black, so you don't see them in the gaps. why do you/I need a moisture barrier? I have sealed the bottom of my Ipe boards, but I usually don't. If I was building my own deck, I would seal the bottom and sides...but I do this for a living, and there aren't enough hours or dollars to do that. It's not that important, or I would do it. There is a downside to pre- sealing...having to handle oily boards. that's really the reason that I don't do it. steve