We built a home last year and had Mirage Classic 3/4" x 3 1/4" maple, exclusive grade, Sierra colour hardwood flooring installed. The floor was installed using a manual nailer. The floor looked great. After a couple of weeks I noticed that if you stood at one end of the home and looked down the entire length of the flooring, you could actually see a slight differrence in the finish of the flooring making it seem like there is a bump at each nailing location.

I accessed the Mirage website and in their warranty they maintain that this 'dimpling' is not covered under their warranty and in their testing it has shown that there is no evidence of any increase in the thickness of the wood in the nailing location. They describe the effect as an 'optical illusion', a compression of the wood grain.

The flooring contractor, (family company, reputable and has been in business for many years) stated that this was the first incindent that he has encountered. He has also used another flooring supplier (Superior) which has modified the profile of the plank so as to lower the location of the toungue. This has lessened the effect, but still noticeable. I have also searched the internet for some answers and found that there are descrptions of using improperly adjusted nailers, angle of the nail, striking the nailer with excessive force and Mannington Floors even goes as far as to reccommend not to use manual nailers on maple floors.

We are now in the process of re-building the identical home for clients who want the exact same floor and we do not want to have any complaints regarding these visual imperfections.

Has anyone any experience with this 'optical illusion'?? Thank you in advance for your replies.

improperly adjusted nailers, angle of the nail, striking the nailer with excessive force sounds about right to me.


Are these pimples in on the tongue side or the groove side?

The bumps are on the toungue side of the board.

I have heard of this phenomenon before. Curious...can you feel the dimples?

I would get some of those small round magnets and locate the cleats and then stand back and snap a picture showing the magnets and dimples together. Please post a picture of this somehow.

Does it occur mainly on the longer length boards? Just curious.

Seen often in nail down. Installers in a hurry, using too much pressure.
Perry has seen it too, it appears, or has made the same mistake

I have seen it on a gluedown only product that was stapled. I have looked at 4 floors with this concern. No Ray, none were mine.