I think alot of the problems people experience with this flooring comes down to knowledge and following the installation instructions exactly. Some sites or videos gloss over alot of important steps that need to be followed. Firstly you should still let the planks acclimate to the room for a week or so. This allows them to get to the same temperature as the room and will prevent shifting. Also you need to prep the existing floor by cleaning it well, and making sure it is level. Any low or high spots need to be addressed. A plastic moisture barrier should be used, but do not use a thick underlayment since the Arowana planks already have a layer of underlayment attached. Be sure to leave a quarter to a half an inch between the planks and the wall to allow for expansion and contraction. I used a scrap piece of the planks and a rubber mallet to click the planks together. I was very liberal with hammering the planks together to make sure they locked securely. I hammered along the entirety of each seam where the planks meet. After about 6 months of use with a dog, cat, toddler, and two adults, I have not noticed any issues. I got the cappuccino color. Only complaint was how pricey the transition pieces were from the manufacturer. Luckily I only needed one.

As Sophie and HandMac have stated. The STAIRS are your biggest problem. If you can have them carpeted, then you will want to do so. The next big problem is the subfloor underneath the 2nd story carpet. Carpet HIDES the WORST subfloors in the world. I mean THE WORST. Carpet can hide humps and bumps and lumps like no one's business. And the only way to assess the subfloors properly is to (you guessed it!) remove the carpet. Hopefully the subfloors have maintained some semblance of "flat" and you can go straight over top with some moisture/pet resistant laminate. And remember to add in the cost of a decent underlayment for the laminate (vinyl isn't allowed underlayment). The NOISE difference between carpet and laminate is enough to drive some to drink! A decent underlay/pad (1/4 cork or 5mm Quiet Step) will offer some outstanding noise reduction...but you will have to watch the height of the landing/top step. It could push your entire stair system out of code (yes there is that pesky code popping up again when it comes to stairs). Sigh. Do you see why everyone is telling you to be cautious about code?

I have bought and installed $3000.00 worth of smartcore pro 1 year ago in my unheated cabin since it said good for extreme temperatures down to 25 degrees below zero and Lowes said it was the best and only flooring that will work for me. The floor started to seperate in December 2020 at 19 degrees. Lowes said they can not help me and to file a claim with Shaw. Shaw sent an independent inspector to see flooring in March 2021. The so called independant inspector came and pretty much told me that his job is to find things to void the warranty so no claims get paid. He crawled on my floor throughout all rooms with a 6 foot level and found one high spot on my l floor that tilted his level uneven. I told him every house built has a joyce that is a little high or a little low. He agreed and said that he goes through million dollar brand new homes and always finds the same. He measured the space at edges an said some spots were too close to wall. I told him nothing expanded or contracted and its the locking that has failed. He also said the floor molding was touching the floor and that will also void a warranty. I told him there are no houses where the wall molding is not touching the floor and that no one keeps a gap below the molding. He agreed but said even if my floor did have more spacing and wall molding had a gap under it that Shaw would still void my claim since he found a joyce high spot. He left and I never had a returned call since March. I even offered to lift my floor and pay the $1.49 per square foot and to have it reinstalled by anyone of thier choice to prove it was not an installation problem and it is a locking failure problem with the flooring. I am a tipical hard working person that saved for two years to buy the best flooring made for my conditions. Shaw or Lowes have not even called me to offer me a solution or any compensation towards my $3000.00 invested. I do not know if my floor will continue to worsen but I do know it will not get better. I told the inspector that if Shaw really wanted to improve thier product that this was the perfect chance. An unheated cabin that temperatures go down to a couple of degrees below zero in the coldest part of the year. I have 8 rental proerties, a house and 2-cabins that I wanted to do all over with this flooring and now I can not trust Shaw flooring or Shaw customer service to correct the failure. My cousin is a contrator that build homes and works with hundreds of other contracors and said that he will no longer use Shaw flooring after he sees what happened to me. SHAME ON YOU SHAW FOR NOT FIXING YOUR FAILED FLOOR LOCKING PROBLEM. I or my cousin will never buy another Shaw product unless this is fixed by compensation or what I prefer which is to lift and reinstall new flooring by anyone of Shaws choice. The cabin next to me installed a cheap laminate flooring from Pergo at 1/2 the price and it has not failed under the same temperatures. I am out $3000 but you are out hundreds of thousands of dollars when contractors will not trust your products since you chose not to do the right thing.***SHAME ON YOU SHAW FOR NOT FIXING YOUR FAILED FLOOR LOCKING PROBLEM. Tim Sommers Mongomery, Pa. 17752 (570-220-8070)

CoreTec wood line is a hybrid product. It has the water proof core (mineral core) that is very stable (doesn't move too much). This is a core that is NORMALLY paired with laminate (a paper photograph on top) or vinyl. CoreTec has used the wood product on top to reach out to customers who will NOT have laminate or vinyl in their homes. They are trying to capture the 'wood market' without producing a wood floor. My problem with this situation is: Wood expands and contracts in the presence of moisture. This is normal and to be expected. The CORE underneath the wood DOES NOT. Hmmmmm. That means the expensive TOP stuff (that you pay $$$ for) will do everything wood is supposed to do (expand/contract) while the stuff it is GLUED TO does not. And that brings us to the next concern: the Glue. A layered floor (like CoreTec Wood) has a weak link = the glue that holds the layers together. The Wood can and will expand. That will STRESS the glue underneath. Eventually (and no one knows when 'eventually' will be...the product is so new that no one knows it's breaking point) that glue will let go. The CoreTec core works well with laminate (the photograph) and vinyl because both are relatively stable when dealing with humidity and with spills. The WOOD is NOT stable. My concern is the hype around the water proof CORE is going to be the selling feature when the WOOD on top (and the glue below) are NOT. I would get a sample of this product and soak it in a fish tank for 24-48 hours. Then pull it out and see if the wood has been affected. At that point you can assess the legitimacy of the claims re: water proof wood flooring. Please get back to us once your experiment has been conducted.