I know Bruce still makes a 3/8 3 ply and Anderson sent out a chain sample not to long ago as well. Nice thing about that stuff is it matches up height wise to a lot of ceramic tile set on concrete very well.

Nice blog Kevin.

it's a work in progress but its coming along, ive written probally three times the number of post then I just trash em because I start editing them then get fed up with trying and trash em.

Hi Tucson,
Probably the best product with almost no history of 'issues' would be a Solid Sawn by Vintage. You can research the solid sawn online http://www.vintageflooring.com. Stability is always an issue when it comes to the exotics. The engineered products with a plywood backing 'cups' because of lack of moisture and is not as stable as the solid sawn product. Again research them online see if this product will suit you hope this helps.

Here is how I look at it goddess. 3/4" solid, multiply eng. with sawn wear layer and solid sawn products all have different benefits. Stephen is right in thinking that the solid sawn is probably the most stable of them all. Our testing is still in progress pitting it against the other two, but initial results show that it will at least handle extremely dry conditions better than the other two. They all have benefits and drawbacks, which is also why my company makes all of them. Kevin is right when he says you definitely raise your manufacturing costs when you use hardwood throughout the construction. So if solid is $2.50 and mutliply is $3.50 and solid sawn is $4.00 then you know you can upgrade based on budget knowing the extra benefits the higher end products will give you. For extremely moist conditions, the multiply backed products with a 5mm sawn face has proven to be vastly more stable than solid 3/4" goods, not only in lab testing but in our experience of selling millions of feet of it over the last 6 years. That being said, that same product in an extremely dry environment will not hold up nearly as well as the solid sawn product, but again you will have to expect to pay more for that product. We don't shy away from being completely upfront about the limitations of what we make, if you told me you wanted to put a multiply backed sawn faced product with a hickory face over radiant heat in St. George, UT I'd tell you that you're bound to be dissappointed with the performance UNLESS you can add enough interior moisture to keep the environment above 30% which is not an easy task.

"the multiply backed products with a 5mm sawn face has proven to be vastly more stable than solid 3/4" goods, not only in lab testing but in our experience of selling millions of feet of it over the last 6 years. That being said, that same product in an extremely dry environment will not hold up nearly as well as the solid sawn product," I'm a little confused, could you please clarify?

When you say "multiply eng. with sawn wear layer and solid sawn products all have different benefits" does solid sawn products refer to what I hear some people call "balanced" engineered?

I'm grateful for your response, there is a lot to learn here.

Sorry I should define the terms goddess. Our multiply backed products have a 5mm sawn wear layer attached to 11.1mm baltic birch plywood, they end up at 5/8" thick. The solid sawn product we make is 3/4" thick and is comprised of a 9mm Gmelina fillet that is sandwiched between two 5mm sawn hardwood wear layers. Some people refer to this as balanced product as you have the same wear layer on the back off-setting any movement of the face.

gottcha. Can you comment on relief cuts? I've heard from some that they are necessary because uneven floors, and from others that the boards are more likely to shrink or cup if you have them.

Ants, you got me confused with the goddess who is asking the questions. The picture of the 3/4 3 ply I posted is fromTEKA and is called....solid sawn engineered. Love that term.

Oh lets talk about grading now that we have the manufacturing down pat. lol I could tell you about the Mullican STANDARD GRADE PREFINISHED 3/4 SOLID I am installing right now but this forum does not allow curse words. Mine is a milling issue besides two different run numbers in the 1600 ft shipment. End joints are off a sixteenth or more. And I thought I was this would be a cake walk being Mullican.

quail hollow by chance?

No Kevin, it's the Buckingham 5 inch mink brown. If you see it run for the hills. I still cannot believe they make a standard grade at all. If your out there bragging about your hardwood being the best in the world why even bother to make such a POS?

Oh, I just thought of the answer, so HD can sell it to unsuspecting people.

I would call this stuff LL grade. ho ho ho

Sorry bout hijacking the thread. But it's all a good learning experience.

ahh beech gota love that stuff, Mullican is about the only folks I know of that will still run that stuff u talk about instability. A lot of the 1940's government houses near hear in Oak Ridge all have beech flooring in them. They sent all these houses in on rail cars for the folks building bombs back then. Oak ridge was the largest city in Tennessee that didnt exist! Still a lot of top secret stuff going on out there to this day.

I split the room in half with spline and left a large gap around the perimeter.


Man do I have some great pictures to show of this junk. I was about to bail on this job but the wife keeps sayin, employed is good. I have to agree. I like doing jobs over the edge. So even if I only can get a hundred ft a day installed so be it. Beats sitting at home or in jail.....kinda. This stuff is pure chit. Luckily I bid it high. And you can bet I will be posting pictures of the horrible milliing, filling and why the heck do they call it "standard" grade if it's beech..

Mullican did a huge dis-service to themselves selling this junk through HD.

Responding to one of the posts in this thread regarding cracking of engineered flooring. I had professionally installed per manufacturers specs the Owen Plank Select. AFter a couple years, more and more boards are cracking and I can see more areas that are a hairline but will end up growing in to a crack like all the other planks. One spot even split to where there is a chunk out of the board on the side. I spent about 11,000 dollars on the floor with installation. Owens was bought out in 2010 and even though they are still using the Owens name on this product, their web site says they only warranty from 2010 on so I am out of luck as my purchase was a couple years prior. In hindsight, I would not put down any engineered flooring again.

Painter, there are reasons for that besides quality. Are you in a dry or very wet zone?