Hi All,

I'm fairly new to hardwoods. I've seen several places that are selling their "cabin" grade engineered hardwood for less than $2 per sq/ft. Can someone please advise on these discounted wood. I was told that it's just a visual problem such as line streaks, mineral streaks, color uniformity, and not a problem with the milling process. Is this true?. Has anyone bought "cabin" grade wood and would you recommend buying them.

thank you

Usually it has pretty bad visual defects, If it is a reputable brand it should not contain much milling defects. You need more overage to account for some defects usually an additional 10% above the standard 10%.

Thanks for replying. There's a local carpet company that is selling value grade engineered hardwood. It's 3/8 X 3 with 5-ply. It still has all the warranty(10 years) except for the visual warranty b/c it has the line streaks. It's being sold for $2.25 per sq/ft. From what you guys know, is this a good deal?. I can't afford anything more than this price and have seen cheaper prices online, but most of them do not carry a warrantly, it's sold as is. Please advise.

Thank you

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Cabin grade could be a little bit of anything. Wide color differences, from lime green/white to brown/black, knots, mineral streaking, bad finishes, poor milling. Perfect for the cabin.

By the way "it's sold as is" means no warranty in my opinion.

A few months ago I bought a pallet of $6/ft tile in "builder grade" for $1.45 a foot with the stipulation that I could return any pieces I didn't like. I returned a little over 10% of it and the dealer had no problem with it at all. Perhaps your wood store may make you the same concession to move the product. I'd check it out.

Don