Hi All,

I'm planning on putting in hardwood floors and am getting in the weeds with choices. I have found an installer who came highly recommended, so that part is taken care of. But, what to buy?

I really like Acacia, love the wild grain and colors.

I'm wondering if anyone here has anything to say about these two brands:

NovaUSA - their Elemental Collection:
http://www.novausawood.com/ProductID1919 - I have a box of this
http://www.novausawood.com/ProductID1920 - might be closer to the color I want, I won't know until I get at least a sample.

or
Everbright Flooring:
http://www.everbrightflooring.com/solid_woods/page/1/collections/acacia
I just have a sample and I like the color.

The NovaUSA planks come in 1' - 3' long. Only 3 3' pieces in the box, more of the shorter ones. Not sure about the Everbright. I have read here that acacia planks tend to be short. I'm really not sure how much this should matter in my decision.

I am interested in solid acacia. The engineered samples I've seen have had very thin veneers (I got warned off Gemwoods from browsing this board, and it did look pretty flimsy to me). I'm looking at 3-1/2" wide boards, the wider ones are pretty, but I'm not sure how well they might hold up.

If there are brands that people would recommend over these two, I'd be happy to hear about them.

Any help would be appreciated! I'm willing to buy a couple more boxes of wood, but I'll need to stop at some point;)

Thanks!

-Susan

The Everbright acacia had a high moisture content, in the teens, as indicated by an MC reader with prongs, measured when I brought the box of wood to my installer's shop.

The installer came to my house and tested both the Everbright and the Nova with a reader that he laid upon each plank of wood, no prongs. The MC for both brands was about the same, still in the teens, after sitting in my house for a couple of weeks.

The Nova website says that their product is kiln dried to an average of 9% MC. So maybe this was a fluke? I do like the looks of their acacia bronze - http://www.novausawood.com/ProductID1920

We also like the looks of this one, an engineered acacia from Carlton:

http://www.carltonhardwoodflooring.com/products.php?collectionID=7#!prettyPhoto

They have changed the name from Laguna (which is the sample I have) to Malibu. Not sure what else they have changed.

So, the dilemma is, do we want the Nova solid and make sure the MC is correct, or is an engineered better? A 2 mm top layer seems thin. But we also don't want something that will shrink in the near future.

Any thoughts?

were the boxes opened when at your house for two weeks? If not then nothing much is going to happen MC wise.

Plus did the installers meter have a species correction table or built in species correction in it?

Personally I wouldnt use it down here in the desert unless you have a humidification unit. tuff needs to stay a constant rh and temp, within a few degrees of course but no large swings.

Hi FloorMe,

The Nova box was open for about a month. The Everbright was open for a week. I don't know about the species indicator on the tool. Something new to learn about.

In any case, we are leaning towards the engineered floor. Much as I try, I just don't like oak. I love my hickory kitchen cabinets, but don't want a hickory floor, and maple is pretty, but I'm not in love with it the way I love acacia.

It must be a sign that the shop doesn't have any solid acacia in their display area.

I guess the big question I have right now, is 2 mm enough? I suppose we will find out.

Thanks:)

-Susan

Hmm, decisions decisions...personally I like Carlton and know nothing about Nova or where it's made. I like made in USA. Often times distressed veneers are a low quality veneer. So if I was going to buy some and I had a wooden substrate like PLYWOOD not OSB to fasten to I would go with the solid. But then Carlton says they have a lifetime structural warranty. lol

And your installers meters must not be set correctly to the species if he is reading in the teens unless your humidity is up around 60 to 80% rh. Many capacitance meters read to 3/4 inches and will read whats below it. Pin meter is more accurate in many instances unless he hit a glue/bond line or his pins were not at an even depth in the plys of the engineered. The settings for my ligno SDM are based on specific gravity of the wood so acacia is 63

I'd let that stuff acclimate for at least three months since it is so wild.

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for your reply. Really great information!

We have plywood, so solid it is. I got a sample today and I really like the solid Novawood acacia. I really didn't like the idea of only a 2 mm top on the engineered samples I've seen.

I've already spent several hundred dollars on sample boxes of wood that we don't want, so I'm in the market for a meter. I'm taking it that the Ligno SDM would read the 3/4" boards accurately, as long as we set the specific gravity to 63.

I actually called up Novawood and got a call back from them. Very helpful. Mike was recommending letting it acclimate for two weeks, testing it every week, and when it didn't change, it was done. The people I ordered the sample from told me that Nova has a guy on site in China, doing quality control. The wood is from China, of course, small leaf acacia.

Anyway, thanks for the help, we've finally made a decision. Now I just have to be patient for a little while longer:)

Cheers!

-Susan