I understand the sense of caution. Callbacks are not good and can eat away at your profits. To answer your question: I have used products supplied by flooring distributors, and have included products from Ardex, Mapei and Fritztile. They were all used with an appropriate primer to facilitate bonding to what they were placed over. Additives were included to make the product less-likely to break apart and powder. I especially like Ardex SDP (Self Drying Patch)...because the PSI (pounds per square inch) rating is lower than some other products. Self leveling formulations can achieve a very high PSI and can be very difficult to nail into, even with pneumatically assisted fastening tools. When I used a product with a high PSI, I sometimes would have to drill pilot holes and manually drive in hardened spiral flooring nails. I never had a floor patch crumble. I figured...if I used a good patch, and if the substrate was well-fastened and didn't move much, I believed the installation would be OK. I believe that you have to have significant movement to get a decent patch to fall apart under a finish product. I came to wood flooring out of a family business that specialized in resilient flooring materials, so I learned a lot about what you can and cannot do regarding floor patches and their application. I will say in closing here (for general consumption) , especially for the DIYer,... if you try to use calcium carbonate patches (usually white in color...and I won't mention brands) ...you will experience quick breakdown of the product, because they are fragile and will crumble easily. If it looks like plaster of paris, it is not a suitable floor filler or patch...my opinion.

If you are going to drop stuff on a wood floor and expect it not to dent, you should either get a harder wood, a textured wood that doesn't show dents as readily, or get something that's not wood. If you're getting a wood floor and expect it not to scratch, get something else. I've been doing Mirage for maybe 15 years and have no problems with the quality of their products. My major complaints would be that long ago they had quite a lot of short boards and their smooth products are so smooth that the look a bit fake and show dents and scratches more readily.

You can have your cake and eat it too. You can have the 5" wide plank but you MUST have GLUE ASSIST! MUST! That means more money for glue and more money for installation. There is NO WAY around the GLUE ASSIST! That being said, if your CONTRACTOR (ahem...NOT a flooring professional...not even close!) is hesitant to do this, it means they have had BAD experiences because they do not use flooring PROFESSIONALS on their crew. They use "guys with hammers" to do ALL the work. That's why your GC is hesitating here. That's fine. At least s/he knows the limitations of their crew. You can ask the GC to REACH OUT to PROFESSIONAL flooring installers (you will agree to pay for the UP CHARGE for doing this) so that you can have your 5" wide maple. So...you will be looking at the glue-assist up charge (can be $1.50 - $2.50/sf MORE for the install) and the up-charge for the PROFESSIONAL flooring company to come in and do the install (can be $2 - $4/sf more). If you have a GC coming in, you might want to have your HVAC (heating/cooling system) inspected to see what is needed to maintain a constant humidity level. Your summers are HUMID (dehumidifier and/or A/C required) and your winters can be humid AND dry (because of all the heating required indoors the air becomes very dry = whole home humidifier). At worst, the $6K up grade to the home's HVAC will be money well spent. And just to be clear, 3 3/4" wood needs the same humidity requirements. Nothing will get you out of the need for humidity control with wood flooring. Nothing. So....ask yourself if all the up charges are worth the 5" plank (could be as much as $6.50/sf added to the build). The HVAC will need the up grade no matter what type of solid flooring you have in there. Even laminate and vinyl require this level of stability.

So far, so good. We’re a little over a year with them. We have a few places that are knicked around the kitchen table from the chairs. We did have one board that splintered just a little at the end and I caught my sock on it and lost a little piece of the finish. I think we’re pretty hard on them overall and they hold up well to small dogs, water, and I’ve dropped some pretty heavy things without damaging them. Hope that helps.