Engineered hardwood - anything like Hallmark Laguna but more durable?

last year

HELP!! I’m looking for a 7” (or wider) plank white oak engineered wood floor. At first we were looking at more ”select” grade but they are so spendy! Anyone find something similar in price /color / grain to Hallmark Alta Vista in Laguna? We would just go with this but even the sample is showing water spots when tested. We live in the wet NW with a dog and toddler. The reviews of watermarks scares me and they seem to be true. Hoping for any feedback on this + any more durable recommedations! Thank you!

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Comments (3)

PRO
JAN MOYER
last year
The floor is an oil finish. Either select something else in the engineered category, spend more, or do an LVP.

This is going to be HIGH maintenance in a wet climate, coupled with dogs.

All hardwood flooring requires common sense care, but this is not for you.

Directly from the care/warranty PDF:

2. Mineral Stains: Hard water can leave surface stains on an oil finished floor. Mineral stains can generally be removed with Nu Oil® Natural Oil Cleaner. For stubborn mineral stains Restoration Oil can be used on a board by board basis, following instructions for use of Restoration Oil (available on Hallmark Floors website). If staining is persistent additional coats of Restoration Oil should be applied to make the floor more resistant to surface staining.

FYI:

I would abandon any idea of a board wider than seven inches. It is unnecessary for a good look in the largest of homes. It's an invitation to greater instability with even slight / normal fluctuation in humidity.

At some point, go to a dedicated flooring store, local to you. Think care and longevity over trend. Hardwood has withstood children, dogs, and normal living for centuries. A good engineered product will last for decades, and the type of substrate you have seems to dictate you need that.

I'd never in a million years buy a single plank of any hardwood on the internet. ...........consider that very good advice. Go shopping.
bacochrane thanked JAN MOYER
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
IMO wet an wood never work well together. We have LVP in our walkout in Creston BC los of rain at certain times of the year. we have big dogd that use a free run dog run so in and out in all kinds of weather a quick mop up at the end of the day and 15 yrs later still looks like new . This was the old style LVP the new ones are even better. I also agree in humid climes the wide boards have more issues if you insist on wood and for sure no online shopping for any flooring.
bacochrane thanked Patricia Colwell Consulting
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Ok...first things first. Janka hardness ratings only apply to solid hardwood. Engineered planks do not work with Janka because the plied layers underneath are often 'soft woods'. Considering Janka measures how much force it takes to imbed a metal ball into the wood, it isn't possible to offer Janka scores for engineered. They just don't compute. The next thing I'm going to point out is the oddity of trying to match the ENTIRE HOUSE to a single room of existing hardwood. You have a small amount of hardwood that is dictating the rest of the house. It's not impossible but it is HIGHLY unusual. In other words, you are trying to put down more than a thousand square feet of flooring by trying to match 150 - 250sf of dining room (I don't know the size of your dining room so I'm only guessing here). That's a little like putting the cart before the horse. Usually we see this the other way around. Usually we have a house full of hardwood (big amount) but the bedrooms have carpet (small amount). The homeowners then agonize over getting a match for the smaller area. That is normal. As for your price range that you are looking at, they are too low and a little thin. The gold standard is 3/4" thickness (solid or engineered). An engineered product with 3mm or more of wear layer is the base level. The thicker the wear layer the more times a floor can be refinished. The Gold standard is 6mm wear layer (usually in the $10/sf range). If you are having a hard time finding floors that you like, you might want to think about replacing the dining room at the same time. This takes away all the pressure to work with low-grade hardwoods just to get a match to a small amount of hardwood. Solid or engineered should be more than what you are looking at for price. Prefinished wood flooring should be in the $7/sf just to start and they go up from there.
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chispa
last year
last modified: last year
We built last year and installed Duchateau engineered wood floors. The Riverstone Collection in Sava color. https://duchateau.com/product/sava/

We have been in the house about 11 months and I am very happy with the floors. We have 3 dogs, two of which are high energy shepherd mixes. I don't do a good enough job of keeping their nails short and the floors aren't showing scratches.

I have the hard wax oil finish and happy with it. We use the Duchateau branded products for cleaning. The floor does not stain with dog drool and one of mine drools a lot after exercise in hot weather.

The boards are 7.5" wide. Also have some texture which does a great job at hiding any scratches that might occur.

LVP was not for us, specially after we got to walk on some that was installed. We have always had wood floors and didn't like the sound when walking on LVP.

In the past we also lived in a climate with snow and had wood floors with no issues. Most houses had a mudroom, backdoor, or garage entry that was used by any people/pets that arrived covered in snow!
bacochrane thanked chispa

Engineered hardwood - anything like Hallmark Laguna but more durable?

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JAN MOYER

Patricia Colwell Consulting

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