A quick look around my showroom indicates that most manufacturers state that their wide engineered plank can be glued, stapled, nailed or floated. Full spread glue will provide the most sound, solid result. Stapling/nailing alone may result in a little more sound. I don't find that objectionable (it sounds like a wood floor!) but I ask customers what their preference is. Stapling/nailing with a partial adhesive assist will minimize the sound generated from traffic. Stapling/nailing alone does allow one to use a cost effective moisture retarder like Aquabar.

The 'hand scraped' look is on it's way out (as a fashion). The 'distressed' wire brush is more common and more trendy right now. Either way, the floors probably are not 'refinishable' so you might as well get what you want and ignore the 'can be refinished' concept. Just remember: an engineered hardwood MUST have 3mm OR MORE (more if it is hand scraped or distressed) to ensure 1 sand/refinish in the future. In reality, a hand scraped engineered floor is *normally a one-and-done type of floor. You install it. You beat it up for one life cycle (15-25 years...depends on the poly used at the factory) and then you rip it out and start again.

I am looking at installing 1100 sq ft of Provenza Warm Sand engineered hardwood. I chose it bc of its thick wear layer and wide plank appearance. It has taken me YEARS to find an affordable, wide plank engineered product with at least. 3mm wear layer (prefer 4mm!) I recently came across a discussion on Houzz with multiple people having very significant complaints about Provenza flooring delamination and failure and the company’s failure to honor warranty. Can you pros or homeowners give some honest feedback about Provenza?

Wow, none of those options sound satisfactory to me. But I guess I'm confused why, if they were installed incorrectly, you would be expected to buy new flooring, even if you only pay costs. Most flooring can be either nailed or glued.....and either is usually a good option, it depends on your subfloor. What do the manufacturer instructions say? And what is your flooring expert recommending based on your location and subfloor etc. If you're going to redo them then you want to ensure the choices made this time around are the best choices. I would NEVER agree to nails being added and filling the holes with putty. NEVER. That is going to give you more heartache than you have already. Removing and gluing or removing and installing following the instructions with appropriate nailing - those are reasonable options. Are they guaranteeing they can remove and reinstall without damaging the flooring? Can you get more of the same flooring, with the same colour lot if there is damage and new pieces need to be installed alongside the old? Choosing new flooring at your cost seems somewhat unreasonable to me. You may wish to choose new flooring for sure but I'd further negotiate the price for the flooring. I'm assuming you've already paid for the first round of flooring. Maybe you haven't, in which case new flooring would be your only outlay. That isn't clear to me, sorry. Short of tearing everything out, I'm not sure you can avoid some trim to cover up edges around cabinets. Trying to pull cabinets could cause damage there too and that can add up $$$ in a hurry. Ask to see the quarter-round they are planning to use. It may not need to be very big. It if is as small as possible and could be painted to match the cupboards, it might blend in well and be much less of an eyesore than you anticipate.