Hi there, We put provenza weathered oak in our new custom home by the beach. Now, just one month later, it is splintering at the edges on several planks. Not sure if it was a bad install, our proximity to the beach or what. Thus far, we vacuum everyday & use murphys oil soap a coulple times a week. I was actually googling how best to clean this floor and found your post. The flooring is really beautiful & comes with a 25 yr residential warranty. Hopefully they will replace the damaged planks without a fight. Fingers crossed!

Hello- I am not Kathy, but I got a notification since I am also in this conversation. We installed our Monarch floors May of 2018 (Novana line/color Nebbia) and I have been extremely happy with them. We put them in our entire house (2700 square feet) and they look just as nice as they did when first installed. I just vacuum them regularly/spot mop if something spills and mop everywhere with recommended wood floor cleaner about once a month. We did have issue with our stairs when they were being installed with batches matching. The stair caps (not sure correct term) did not match the batch the rest of the floor boards were. In hindsight, I would have made sure they opened the boxes and made sure the batch for the stairs matched the batch we had everywhere else, since colors can slightly vary. Monarch worked great with our installer, though and it ended up working out fine... just caused a little delay. Good luck! Amy

I just wanted to add that I have the Hallmark engineered floor in wide plank hickory and absolutely love it. It was more expensive than other engineered floors, it was comparable in costs to solid hardwood. We went with engineered because it was in our kitchen. No issues in almost two years with this floor. The benefit of a thicker layer is more chances of sanding it down to refresh the floor. We hope our floor outlasts us.

Hi there, Engineered hardwood floor will be great for you, especially since you are wanting a wider plank. A good quality engineered floor can be refinished. An engineered hardwood is much more dimensionally stable and you will be able to avoid severe cupping, popping, warping and gaping between boards during humidity changes in the year. For us, most popular width is 5" and has been for years. It looks great in many sized rooms but we do 6" a fair amount as well. Since you are wanting grey but do not want to commit grey on the floor for longevity of style, here's a few ideas for color that will be stylish for many years. And these look great with gray or beige wall colors! Hallmark Hickory Gaucho Mirage Maple Umbria Mirage Aged Maple Nougat (PERSONAL FAVORITE) Mix of grey and beige in it. Mirage- Birch Nougat Our website & houzz page has great pictures of installs we have done for realistic inspiration ideas as well as seeing what brands they are. We only cary good quality brands, no cheap big box styles. https://www.koebers.com/hardwood/  **Brands we recommend and have seen perform excellent are: Mirage Floors, Homerwood (can be pricey), Sommerset hardwood, Hallmark Hardwood. Be sure your installer is VERY qualified. Some of these brands are great products and you do not want a great product and non experienced installer. Good luck on your project, congrats on the new home!