Engineered hardwood floors and quality

This episode is about engineered hardwood flooring. A real world contractor perspective on what makes a quality product or a junk product. The primary basis is serviceability and wear layer of the product.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• engineered wood floor
• hardwood contractor
• Portland
• Oregon

[CaptTambo]

What brand of glueless engineered flooring do you recommend?

[portlandfloors]

@CaptTambo Are you talking about a product that is floating and not glued down to the subfloor? If so, then Kahrs makes a great product. I also like Owens plank flooring and Shamrock

[CaptTambo]

@portlandfloors Yes, floating. Thank you for your quick response and your opinion. I've noticed Kahrs has higher positive consumer feedback. I'll take a look at the others as well. The number one complaint I see from floating wood floors is a crackling or popping noise people say they hear as it's walked on.

[portlandfloors]

@CaptTambo The popping and cracking is a product of cheap underlayment and poor quality subfloor. Make sure the subfloor is flat and this will help avoid the hollow spots. Best option is a "3 strip" product that has a real wood layer, snaps or glues together, and a plywood base layer. This product is really heavy in comparison to some laminates and won't bob up and down with foot traffic if the subfloor is relatively flat

[3radHill]

I agree with you on quality but in all fairness the one you got in the mail is a hand scrape and I don't think many people would want to try and sand that anyway. The finishes on both floor products are varathane and designed not to be sanded but scuffed to resurface again. The only reason to sand would be to change the colour of the stain witch as 30 years in the business I've hardly ever seen. What you do have to look out for with thin veneer is delamination.

[portlandfloors]

@3radHill The hand scraping was so minimal that I didn't even mention it. Honestly I've known a number of people who tried to recoat those products with all the approved products and have still had adhesion issues. I'm really not a fan of recoating refinished floors because the flooring still gets deep gouges that don't go through the finish and still look bad. I consider factory finished flooring generally a big mistake that will hopefully disappear in the next 10 years.

[Wesslic]

Thanks for posting this video. I probably would have made a mistake if i didn't see this.

[corollarn]

Another good job!

[WDFlooring]

Great Video. Thanks for Posting. We are seeing a ton of remodel from the begining of the housing crisis. This is when buidlers were looking for "Value". These products were 3mm 5mm products. Homeowners are coming back and putting in solid. Good stuff.