Hi

I am having a Mirage engineered floor installed in a couple of weeks. The boards have been ordered. However, the prices of the stair nose, t-moulding and reducer were outrageous. And I already thought that the price of the floor was outrageous.

An installer told me that I don't have to order these pieces from Mirage. I can just buy them from another vendor or at a lumber store. The flooring is hickory, so there is already a lot of variation in the color.

So, do you think it is okay of I buy cheaper transition pieces from someone other than Mirage? Are the transition pieces engineered or solid?

Thanks!

No reason why not, except the stair nosing may not fit exactly right as there could be a slight variation in the thickness or groove profile. Easy to fix with a table saw/shim for the most part. Have to see it.

I learned this business from an out fit that never supplied prefinished manufacturer moldings. All but the stair nosing and quarter round were either finished from their own unfinished stock or you milled your own (table saw) and had the shop guy, sand, stain and put a matching finish sheen on it.

By way of milling your own, this was done with the supplied hardwood (if it was a 3/4" hardwood) for the job or we would just grab some unfinished leftover 3/4" material from warehouse stock.



Should be solid, but nowadays one never knows what one manufacturer to the other may have. Most should be solid. I recall Kahrs at one time didn't have solid trim moldings for a few rare species of hardwood. Unknown why. Perhaps they didn't or could not buy thicker stock material in that species to make the moldings. Instead they were laminated.

You should try moldingsonline.com

Most manufacturers don't actually make their own transitions. They buy from one central place that makes them for almost all the manufacturers. But, this is the place. There is another name for it (I forget it), but the online version of that place is moldingsonline. You can even call them up and ask them for the mirage transitions for the species/line you are ordering.

You will have to pay a bit for shipping but this is substantially less all together vs. buying direct from the manufacturers since the manufacturers put a mark up on it.

Debbie Gartner, aka The Flooring Girl

The only problem I can see besides what Ken said is the stain and finish may not match perfectly.

It was fairly easy back in those days because wood floors were not the color of the rainbow as they are today. But it was only a matter of time before some began demanding matching manufacturer moldings. Also a time hardwood floors began to be put under a microscope.

These guys learned the ropes from the older days when site finished floors was the only work they did. I guess they figured why buy 'em, we've been making them all this time. Could also be that at one time some of the early prefinished manufacturers didn't offer them. I don't know, before my time.

Thanks everyone - this is really helpful.

I contacted moldings online. For the Mirage natural hickory floor that I am getting, they have a pecan natural that they use. These moldings are solid hardwoods just like the ones that are in the Mirage line. They are SIGNIFICANTLY less expensive - yay!

As far as finish goes, the Mirage moldings only come in one finish (semi-gloss). The moldingsoline pecan come in "cabin satin", which I am hoping isn't too far off from the semi-gloss.

I am assuming that the moldingsonline pieces are all cut to fit with the Mirage boards since they have you specify the manufacturer of the floors. I know that the thickness is the same. I will check this with them before I place the order

If I am forgetting any other details, please let me know. Again, appreciate the help.

Of all the Pecan floors I've seen, they're more uniform in color variation than one would expect because they're sometimes used in the same breath as Hickory. One exception was a Hartco product a few years back I think was called a wild Pecan. Even still it did not have the common characteristics of Hickory in what appeared to be more mineral streaking than anything that offered the rustic look.

I'd seriously ask for them to lay out a half dozen pieces (stair nosing), take some pictures and email them to you. Considering they don't even have Hickory I'm doubting their expertise in the manners because Hickory is quite common with engineered flooring today. It could prevent the start of some serious disappointment. Hopefully I am wrong.