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.

Typically, the harder the species, the more "Dimpling" will become problematic for the installer. What that means is that the installer will likely have to spend extra time adjusting their equipment till they find the "sweet spot" that doesn't create "Dimpling". This adjustment often includes; air pressure, fastener type(nail or staple), fastener gauge, etc....
Some species are almost impossible to nail without some dimpling (eg. Cumaru), but Maple shouldn't be one of them.
Personally, I'd be inclined to think that the use of a manual nailer is the likely cause. I can remember watching a very experienced hardwood instructor trying to install Bamboo with a manual nailer, and he couldn't do it consistantly enough not to cause "Dimpling". Once he switched to an adjusted pneumatic........no problem!

My suspicion comes from the installer saying he's never had that problem, but also mentioning that he's tried another company that has modified their product to correct the problem?!!!!

If there has never been a problem, why correct for it.....hmmmm?!!!!

Considering how hard Mirage's products are for their species, that is an indication of how good their stuff is.....not how bad.





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Thanks for the reply.

I contacted the Mirage rep and was told that this dimpling 'illusion' is caused by installation and not from the wood. It is even stated in their warranty.

In conversation with our flooring contractor, they could not guarantee me that the same thing would not happen again. What they had offered to do was install one box of the material and if it produced the same result, they would stop and have the client select an alternate wood for the floor.

We have decided to use another contractor. He will be using an air nailer. If we don't get the same result, I will have to assume that the first contractor's installation was not up to par. That being said, the first contractor also stated to me that they had just recently finished installing the same floor and none of this dimpling had occurred using a manual nailer and had suggested that it may have had something to do with the wood. (I am starting to get dizzy from the run around!!)

Unfortunately, I can see whewre this is going to go. There is no point in pursuing any legal action because I can tell no one wants to assume any liability, and I have better things to do then spend my time in court.

If nothing is done regarding the dimpled flooring, I guess we'll just have to move on to another contractor who will take care of our company much better.

Cheers