OK, I looked and talked with you about laminates. I have one I like. But while at Lowes on a return trip today to look things over again, I spied 3/8 engineered hardwoods, this one made by Bruce, that does not require glue, nails, staples, etc. etc. You simply snap it together and it floats, just like the laminates. It also has a 25year finish warranty, very close to the top laminates. Have any of you used this? It looks interesting. I played with an open box and snapped several pieces together. Each board is 3" wide. It seems to me that it would take some time for each of these pieces to seat themselves as they are small and do not have an attached underlay. It lookes like roofing felt etc. is used for this much like the 3/4 board. Interesting concept.
Engineered flooring
- Thread starter HRSx2
- Start date
- Views: 2233
Cottonhawk
Gold Member
I double checked our laminate floor. It is Wilsonart Estate Plus carry a "Lifetime" warranty. We liked it over hardwood or engineered wood floors. Here is the web site Wilsonart Flooring - Homeowner
Bird
Rest in Peace
I've no personal experience with the "engineered" stuff myself, but I saw some of the material that my son-in-law was installing for a client. It looked good and he said one advantage is that you can even sand and re-finish it if you want to in the future.
Red55
Gold Member
HRSx2 Come on ya almost there go for the 3/4 prefinished 50yr wear warranty hardwood flooring. BTW if you go for that bolivian rosewood (absolutely beautiful) use a airnailer for install. I have a hand nailer and that wood was so dense that if I didn't drive the nail home on the first shot it would bend in place. -Ed
Not there yet. Just ripped the old cheap wood out of the foyer and dinning. Dang staples are a pain to get out. Two rooms to go before I'm ready. One more with carpent and the kitchen with wood. Tile will go in the kitchen so that old wood is going too. I got some kind of workout today.
Paddy
Veteran Member
HRSx2,
I put down some eng 3/8" flooring from Lowes. It was not Bruces but a cheep China Knock off. Mine is toung and groove. The instructions stated glue OR nail. I did both. Feels soild. I think the glue is critical if you want a soild feeling floor. The "floating" floors sound holow. One thing to note about eng floors, the ply backing is a soft Asian wood. Droping soming heavey will leave a dent. The stuff I got was on sale for $1.30 sq-ft. I'm selling the house so I went cheep. But if I was looking for a perminant floor, go solid 3/4". If you are tring to save money, go with Rustic oak. This has a lot of color varriations and comes in short lengths and is not pre-finished. But in the end, you get just as tough floor. Stay away from the laminates...
Patrick T
I put down some eng 3/8" flooring from Lowes. It was not Bruces but a cheep China Knock off. Mine is toung and groove. The instructions stated glue OR nail. I did both. Feels soild. I think the glue is critical if you want a soild feeling floor. The "floating" floors sound holow. One thing to note about eng floors, the ply backing is a soft Asian wood. Droping soming heavey will leave a dent. The stuff I got was on sale for $1.30 sq-ft. I'm selling the house so I went cheep. But if I was looking for a perminant floor, go solid 3/4". If you are tring to save money, go with Rustic oak. This has a lot of color varriations and comes in short lengths and is not pre-finished. But in the end, you get just as tough floor. Stay away from the laminates...
Patrick T
QRTRHRS
Elite Member
I have Pergo laminate in my kitchen, living, dining and the hallway in our ranch house. It is the glue together kind. I don't recall that the snap together style was available in 1998 when I put it down.
Other than a few dents that are hard to see unless you are down on your hands and knees cleaning it, it has held up well. In fact, we are in the process of selling and the buyer had a home inspection. The inspector felt that it looked very good.
We have dogs and "live" in our house, ie; we don't treat it like a museum. One problem with dogs is that the floor is very slippery and we end up using throw rugs everywhere. Perhaps that is why it is still in good condition.
With laminates, you need to use the best underlayment available to minimize the "hollow" sound.
I would never use it in the kitchen again either. I would go with something like the embossed Perelli tiles that have some give to them.
Other than a few dents that are hard to see unless you are down on your hands and knees cleaning it, it has held up well. In fact, we are in the process of selling and the buyer had a home inspection. The inspector felt that it looked very good.
We have dogs and "live" in our house, ie; we don't treat it like a museum. One problem with dogs is that the floor is very slippery and we end up using throw rugs everywhere. Perhaps that is why it is still in good condition.
With laminates, you need to use the best underlayment available to minimize the "hollow" sound.
I would never use it in the kitchen again either. I would go with something like the embossed Perelli tiles that have some give to them.
Diesel-ME
Gold Member
I'd be skeptical about non-nailed 3/8" wood.
I have used 3/8" engineered stapled-down hardwood over radiant floors - VERY nice indeed. No issues with seasonal expansion/contraction. And they are supposed to tolerate one or two sandings over their life.
I have used laminate non-glued and glued floors in some rental houses that I used to own - they wore very well. But over time you will find little chips and dings along the edges. But it is imperitive to install floating floors over a fully flat plane, else you will have movement and flexing. So if your floors have lots of dips you may need to use some floor leveler and/or more drastic measures.
~Paul
I have used 3/8" engineered stapled-down hardwood over radiant floors - VERY nice indeed. No issues with seasonal expansion/contraction. And they are supposed to tolerate one or two sandings over their life.
I have used laminate non-glued and glued floors in some rental houses that I used to own - they wore very well. But over time you will find little chips and dings along the edges. But it is imperitive to install floating floors over a fully flat plane, else you will have movement and flexing. So if your floors have lots of dips you may need to use some floor leveler and/or more drastic measures.
~Paul
Well, I went floor shopping today and found a five inch wide engineered board by Robin Wood. Looks great and is available with the V lock system as they call it. Snaps together quite nicely. I've got a box coming to try out. So the laminate is on hold. Still haven't taken it back yet. Will probably keep one box of the laminate and set it out side-by-side with this engineered wood before I decide. But its been fun. I'm excited. As stated earlier. Either that I go with will be an improvement over carpet. I lived with the ugly rug for the past ten years, and I'm glad it will soon be replaced. Can't wait till next week.
GarthH
Silver Member
I just made the big purchase 800 ft of Torly's engineer hardwood. It has the clic locking system. I had a posting about a month ago on whether the locking system would hold up and generally whether it would be a worthwhile decision. I visited three retailers - one knocked the clic locking system but did have an engineered product that had a simple lap joinery which needed to be glued. The boards had more hardwood although in our application I had concerns that the expansion / contraction would be too much.
The other two retailers both recommended Torly's even though they had a number of other engineered products to recommend.
The floating floor has been around for a while. I was told by several retailers that the ones that are having trouble are the ones that the poorer grade MDF as part of backing material. The better flooring will have a treated HDF that will prevent spills from being absorbed into the wood.
In my instance real wood was not a great option as I will be having radiant heat under the floor.
I asked the mfg about the Clic joinery system and was referred onto the Clic company itself. The've been around since 96 and appears are still gaining market share. There guarentee is pretty agressive - guarenteed not to separate more than 1/100 of an inch - for the life of the first owner. The famous question can millions be wrong - yes but hopefully in this case there not.
We ordered the Teak - a very nice looking product. If it was 100% Teak I doubt if I could afford the costs.
Garth
The other two retailers both recommended Torly's even though they had a number of other engineered products to recommend.
The floating floor has been around for a while. I was told by several retailers that the ones that are having trouble are the ones that the poorer grade MDF as part of backing material. The better flooring will have a treated HDF that will prevent spills from being absorbed into the wood.
In my instance real wood was not a great option as I will be having radiant heat under the floor.
I asked the mfg about the Clic joinery system and was referred onto the Clic company itself. The've been around since 96 and appears are still gaining market share. There guarentee is pretty agressive - guarenteed not to separate more than 1/100 of an inch - for the life of the first owner. The famous question can millions be wrong - yes but hopefully in this case there not.
We ordered the Teak - a very nice looking product. If it was 100% Teak I doubt if I could afford the costs.
Garth
Cottonhawk
Gold Member
Sounds like whatever you decide will be an improvement over the old carpet.
Good luck to your new project.
Good luck to your new project.
Couldn't help myself today, I just had to play. Here's what I did. Took all the Pergo back. I found a 5 inch plank laminate at lowes, Swiftlock (Seems like each time I go, I find something new.) I purchased a box of that since I really want the broad plank look over the more narrow look. While I was at it, I went ahead and picked up a box of the Bruce fold-and-lock 3/8 engineered. Both were natural in color. The laminate had a underlayment fastened to it, the natural did not, so I picked up a roll of 2-1 underlayment for it.
Once home I started with the Swiftlock. It all went together by hand rather easily. I "Installed" (whole 1 box) in the living room. Stepped away from it and thought, Wow! that's as pretty a floor as I ever seen. Stepped on it, tapped on it, racked my nails across it. It felt just firm and sounded fine.
Then I rolled out two ten foot runs of the underlayment for the engineered right beside the laminate. An extra step. At this point I'm thinking this hardwood had better be good for this. Then I layed it out and snapped it together. Now this board is not as wide as I want, just 3 inches, but I wanted to see in the natural was actually "warmer". It's probably about $1 more per square foot for the engineered over the laminate.
Nice! Very nice. I thought after snapping all the "wood" together. Both are simply beautiful! I'd be happy with either. The engineered does, of course, have the "real wood" look a little better mastered than the laminate. But this is side by side. Remove either and the other will have you saying, That looks great!
Then I went and brought the little sample of the Robin Wood over that the floor company had let me borrow. Remember, they did not have a box of it. Will be sometime next week. I was shocked by the difference in the two "woods". The Robin actually measured by tape at 1/2 inch wide. The Bruce was a true 3/8. Looking at the layered construction, the Robin looked to have at least 2 additional in its ply construction. Maybe this is why it was advertised at nearly a $1.25 at this store over the engineered I'm playing with. Yet another example of the old saying you get what you pay for. Increased quality cost extra $$. So now I'm really interested in getting my hands on a sample box to play with. Hate having to wait.
In conclusion. I Will be thrilled with either of the products. They are all beautiful. They each have the look of quality. So it is just a matter of how much money I'm willing to spend.
Once home I started with the Swiftlock. It all went together by hand rather easily. I "Installed" (whole 1 box) in the living room. Stepped away from it and thought, Wow! that's as pretty a floor as I ever seen. Stepped on it, tapped on it, racked my nails across it. It felt just firm and sounded fine.
Then I rolled out two ten foot runs of the underlayment for the engineered right beside the laminate. An extra step. At this point I'm thinking this hardwood had better be good for this. Then I layed it out and snapped it together. Now this board is not as wide as I want, just 3 inches, but I wanted to see in the natural was actually "warmer". It's probably about $1 more per square foot for the engineered over the laminate.
Nice! Very nice. I thought after snapping all the "wood" together. Both are simply beautiful! I'd be happy with either. The engineered does, of course, have the "real wood" look a little better mastered than the laminate. But this is side by side. Remove either and the other will have you saying, That looks great!
Then I went and brought the little sample of the Robin Wood over that the floor company had let me borrow. Remember, they did not have a box of it. Will be sometime next week. I was shocked by the difference in the two "woods". The Robin actually measured by tape at 1/2 inch wide. The Bruce was a true 3/8. Looking at the layered construction, the Robin looked to have at least 2 additional in its ply construction. Maybe this is why it was advertised at nearly a $1.25 at this store over the engineered I'm playing with. Yet another example of the old saying you get what you pay for. Increased quality cost extra $$. So now I'm really interested in getting my hands on a sample box to play with. Hate having to wait.
In conclusion. I Will be thrilled with either of the products. They are all beautiful. They each have the look of quality. So it is just a matter of how much money I'm willing to spend.
GarthH
Silver Member
Maybe try spilling some water over each and leaving it for an hour. It would be interesting to know if the laminated backing material will absorb the water. The sales people I was talking to indicated that this was a big issue with the laminate flooring - the cheaper ones started to have waves in the boards caused by the water.
I did a basement floor - about 800 ft with a laminate from Costco. We recently sold the house but after 5 years the floor looked the same as in day 1. I did not know whether it was good laminate or not it just worked out.
Garth
I did a basement floor - about 800 ft with a laminate from Costco. We recently sold the house but after 5 years the floor looked the same as in day 1. I did not know whether it was good laminate or not it just worked out.
Garth
