HELP! Where did you buy your unfinished hardwood?
Nathan Wylder
5 years ago
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Nathan Wylder
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Where DO you buy your hardwood floor?
Comments (6)I just had my hardwood floors installed over the weekend. I purchased Burma Mahagony 3 1/2" solid wood flooring (prefinished) from Floor and Decor. I also went online to look for this material and found it in a couple of places for less than our local Floor and Decor store. F andD matched the internet price from Emerald Floors ($5 sq ft). the floors are absolutely gorgeous. I would not hesitate to recommend the material. The manufacturer is Elegance. I ordered some of the trim from Emerald floors and they matched perfectly. Actually, Floor and Decor had to have 36 boxes of the flooring shipped from CA to their Atlanta store where I picked it up. And, I picked up a couple of extra boxes at another Atlanta store. All matched. The wood is not stained, just prefinished. I highly recommend the brand and think you can buy it online. You can also search for Elegance hardwood and their website has local contacts who can tell you where to buy it. The installers told me that an equivalent wood at HD would be at least $7 or $8 and would be special order. I had a bad experience with LL and would definitely not recommend them. I am not impressed with their flooring or their policies. Some of the Bellawood is nice, but they don't have anything in stock. You have to order everything and you cannot cancel an order. If you do, you will get a store credit for your deposit - you can never get your money back from them....See Morewhy would one buy unfinished engineered hardwood?
Comments (13)My take on engineered "solid wood" flooring is that it's an overblown term to describe a lower quality product than can be created by any local sawmill. It's basically plywood with a thin layer of decent wood on the top. The one good thing I can find about it is that it uses resources that otherwise would be wasted, and it save trees. So it has environmental benefits, partially. On the other hand, the plies are glued together with adhesives. I don't know what glues are used, but I'd bet they're environmentally offensive and will offgass in your home. (another "green" conundrum.) There might be specific conditions under which the plywood's greater stability is useful, but in most cases, real wood will stand the test of time better. I was looking at some yesterday and it's several layers of junk wood with a very thin layer of hardwood on top. We've installed solid wood floors all over our house ourselves. It's one of the more doable projects for a homeowner with modest skills. I wouldn't buy a brand name, I'd find a quality small business that mills the boards. I'd ask about the length of the boards, whether the boards are end matched (cut at a 90 degree angle so you don't have to cut each one while installing), the color consistency and the knots. A high quality floor has nice board lengths (few in the 2 to 4' range, and some being 8 and 10'), consistent coloration of the boards and few, if any, knots. Oh, and 3/4" thickness. Most of the flooring you see these days, especially by brand name, will contain lots of short boards with varying color. When laid, what you see is a choppy floor. There are good and easy-to-use sanders that you can rent that have a flat bottom and don't gouge the floors. They put out surprisingly little dust, visibly, anyway. I'm not sure about finishes, but research might turn up some tough ones that aren't as toxic as the typical polyurethanes. I don't know the age of your current white oak floor, but if it's an older one, I think this is the best way to match it. It's also the best quality wood floor, imo. BTW, there's a lot of confusing terminology in the wood flooring world, no doubt intentional. Using the word "solid" to refer to engineered wood is a little tricky. Or "hardwood". The samples I saw yesterday looked like they consisted of layers of fir or whatever plywood is made of, and that's a so-called softwood. If you can't use the word "solid" to distinguish a board sawn from a tree, I don't know what you're supposed to call it....See Moreunfinished hardwood -- where to buy?
Comments (5)I bought mine prefinished from Huron Hardwood in Canada (www.huronhardwoodfloors.com); however, they do have unfinished. I got select and better white oak solid 3/4 inch (4 inches wide) for $4.23 a square foot delivered. It is incredibly beautiful! There is a 3% upcharge for paying by credit card. There was virtally no waste, and we allowed 5% for waste and had almost 12 boxes left over after installation. The only problem we had was getting the semi truck up the driveway. The owner of the company was incredibly knowledgeable and helpful to us and answered questions at length both before and after the sale. I am extremely pleased with my floors, both for the quality and the price....See MoreHardwood flooring prefinished vs. unfinished cost/time
Comments (11)Personal experience. Hard maple flooring. Took three days to install(working part time) with three helpers. Professional installers would have taken two or less days. However, I installed three bedrooms along a hall, the hall into and including the living room without transitions at the bedroom doorways---the entire floor is monolithic. Two days to sand(USand sander--a rotating orbit sander. They are slower than a drum sander but much more forgiving). Used MinWax polyurethane for floors($45 a gallon). Oil based, nasty smelling, but is designed to apply three coats in 36 hours. Does add an amber tint, but that was the color the wife wanted. Cure to walk(socks) in 72 hours, furniture in two weeks, area rugs in 30-45 days. You do NOT want to stay in the building(not a problem for our remodel) for the for two days. The odor is pretty much gone(with ventilation) in that second day. Cost was a big factor, we have dogs and I needed to do the work myself(had the requisite training/tools/tool rental) and we did not have to occupy until finished with most of the remodeling(bought a foreclosure and had up to three months to do the necessary work). Reason for the choice of wood was the color, the price(less than $1.23 a sq. ft.) and the finish was as water proof as could be found at the time. Factory finished means small gaps for moisture(new puppys/old dogs) to penetrate. The finish made a water tight seal except on the perimeters. And, I knew the light color would not show the scratches as would a darker color. No idea what a pro crew would have charged(my son/grandsons worked for meals and a pat on the back), but they would have only been about two days faster....See More
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5 years agoNathan Wylder
5 years agoNathan Wylder
5 years agoNathan Wylder
5 years ago
Karen Lee
5 years agofloorfreak
5 years agoKaren Lee
5 years agoNathan Wylder
5 years agofloorfreak
5 years agoKaren Lee
5 years agofloorfreak
5 years ago
PROOak & Broad
5 years ago
Karen Lee , Why Red Oak??? Most of our clients are only using Red Oak for patches. Here is one of our recent Rift & Quartered White Oak projects. The client wanted mixed widths and also used the flooring on the ceiling. We do serve MI. Let me me know if you have any questions. Joel@oakandbroad.com
Mixed Width White Oak Flooring and Ceiling in Washington · More InfoKaren Lee
5 years agoKaren Lee
5 years agoNathan Wylder
5 years agorwiegand
5 years agoKaren Lee
5 years agoNick Miller
5 years ago@Karen Lee regarding the "oaks" it just depends what you're looking for. Both are used for flooring. Red Oak has a redder color, and a more elaborate, wilder grain pattern. White Oak has a more subtle, finer grain pattern, and a lighter warmer color. If you're planning to stain, Red oak might take stain slightly better. If you want a natural finish like polyurethane, White Oak looks very beautiful finished naturally. They are both hard and durable for flooring use. Of course with all wood species there is variation depending on the part of the tree it's taken from, etc, but here's a quick comparison pic of Red Oak vs. White Oak to show the differences between color and grain. (Red on the left, White on the right).
- PRO
Oak & Broad
5 years ago Karen Lee
5 years ago- PRO
Oak & Broad
5 years agoYes. Rift & Quartered grain is commonly combined since they are created using a similar method of sawing commonly called Quarter Sawing. We do offer just one or the other if you like but thats not as common as combined. Here is one of my favorite character grade RQ White Oak floors.
Wide Plank White Oak Wood Floor in Nashville TN · More Info Karen Lee
5 years agohbeing
5 years ago
Keim Lumber
3 years ago
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