We have had Regal Engineered Hardwoods (Su Vino- Lombardy) installed two times now. We have a new home (6 mo) and the builder chose these floors. They say they are better for humid regions than traditional hardwoods. When they are installed properly, they feel like silk on the feet and are very nice with a dull contemporary look. They do not look like "Home Depot" snap together floors, which we also had in a different home. They are very classy.
All that to say, they are very, very delicate and hard to care for. Dust mopping them is impossible. We had to have Dyson make us a special attachment to accommodate their delicate nature. Vacuuming with that makes life much easier. But should caring for floors be this much work? Um no.
When our movers brought inout furniture, although the flooring was covered with matts and cardboard, the fridge scarred the floor pretty bad as well as a few other heavier items. That was very disappointing for a 1450 Jenka rating! Upon move in we had no access to the "rules" of the floor which state plywood needs to be laid down for move in/out. Later a fridge repairman did use a clear plastic office under chair matt successfully though. So keep that in mind if you own these and need a non plywood option.
Regal is very, very specific about how to care for these floors, and if those rules are broken, the flooring fails terribly. Splitting, cracking, lifting, etc. And, yes, as another said in this forum, these floors are disposable, if they are mistreated, they blow up and must be thrown away... thus we have had them installed two times.
In the first round of flooring, the maids who cared for the floors prior to our purchase of this brand new home used "Orange Glow" on them to "make them shine"... wrong answer! Orange glow voids the 50 year warranty as well as created a new problem that even a national flooring inspector was baffled by. After we moved in they were impossible to keep clean, foot prints everywhere, and then as weather changes occurred seasonally we got spiral ring shaped cracks everywhere. There was also a terrible haze all over the floors. It was like looking through a white plastic lens to the flooring. The builder also wrongly recommended that we (all of us in this community with these floors) use "Bona" another poor choice. Bona triggers a terrible haze and voids the 50 year warranty. Regal ONLY allows their subsidiary brand Pro-Care Citrus to be used on their floors for cleaning. Anything else voids the warranty. (And makes life awful).
When we were going through the process of figuring out what was wrong with the floors more than half of the floorboards shifted color. Everyone involved thought this to be from the wrong products being used. Many of our "black coffee" colored floor boards turned a "soft latte" color. Instead of true dark hardwoods, they looked like a kid spilled the "browns" out of a box of 64 crayons. Multiple shades of brown for sure.
We are now 1 month with a builder paid re-flooring. An awful process that I wish upon no one. The first few days were very heavenly. I smiled an awful lot, and enjoyed the smooth texture on my feet. But, 2 days after installation some of the boards began to "silver" and then raise away from the glue. The installers came back for a "drill & fill" trip and replaced the silver boards. By 1 week we have had about 1/4 of the house raise away from the glue, and about 1/2 of those have "silvered". At the 2 week marker about 10% are turning "latte" instead of "black coffee". I no hope at this point that this is going to end well.
To add insult to injury when the builder hired movers went to move our furniture back in they scarred the floor terribly with the china hutch and the fridge. Deep ruts and scratches that could not be played off as "hand scraping". Those boards had to be replaced the next day. (about 24 boards) The floors are not allowed to have water, oil or spills of any kind on them. (Sounds practical for a home don't you think??) Cooking in a kitchen with these floors is very high stress. We keep a towel on the floor and are continuously wiping up little drips. It is like living in a museum. We currently (for the first time in life) do not have a dog or toddlers our kids are a bit older thankfully, but I can only imagine the stress with toddlers and dogs.
I am not sure if Regal is selling a terrible product or if the installers are not very good at their job. The installers do have to be watched like hawks, they try to use other products that will void the warranty, (official Regal glue, mineral spirits and Pro-Care are the only OK products), they simply do not know better and the language barrier is difficult at best to keep them on track. However, after 6 months of a nightmare, and it looks like we are walking into yet more nightmare as another inspector is expected today to "explain" the intense fading.... I would implore you to consider ANY other flooring. No one should live through this kind of frustration, irritation, inconvenience and terrible performance of a product. If you go for it... take lots of photos the day the instal is complete... they will prove handy later.
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I suppose you could call a sandwich maker an artist, but the end product at MCD's looks like a bun with a bunch of squashed stuff in between.