Hi everyone. Been about 6 months since I've posted.

My husband and I are finally getting around to getting our hands on some flooring. Here are a couple we looked at today.
http://realwoodfloors.com/products/chalet/meribel/
Maribel Walnut - engineered
Widths 3 1/4", 4", and 5" in each box (I'd prefer just a single width so this isn't necessarily a selling point for me)
Length 1' to 7'
Thickness 1/2"
Finish Sheen Satin matte
Wear Layer 3mm sawncut
Backing Baltic Birch
6 ply cross directional
Aluminum Oxide Urethane
Couldn't find specifics on the edges (obviously some sort of bevel)

http://andersonfloors.com/our-hardwood- ... rsham.aspx
Portabello Oak
thickness 1/2"
width 5"
edge profile Eased / Eased
surface Type Smooth
floor type Engineered
Cross-Locked Engineering - 5 ply
EnCore’s® ultra-high density coreboard (denser, more dimensionally stable and tougher - all make for a floor that's more forgiving)
Luster-Lock Ultra Finish - 50 yr residential warranty
Funny - because oak is about the last thing on my list I thought I wanted but these are pretty understated.

Any thoughts? This is correct to the best of my ability. I pieced things together off their websites.

I couldn't find anything specifically about the break down of the construction - whether the floors are balanced or not.

What would you expect a price on these would be installed?

There are 3-4 more places we're going to look at in the coming weeks. Figured we finally had to jump in somewhere.
Thanks,
Lara

Lara:

What happened to local places? Looks like you changed your mind to engineered as well.

I like what RealWoodFloors offers. I also consider the owner, Sam Cobb a friend.
He's not like many of these other Chinese brands that have marketing people running the show. Sam has wood in his veins. Been at it for a long time.

And Anderson? I'm seriously bigoted in long length hardwoods and I'm going to guess Anderson still has the short stuff in most of their engineered lines, but I haven't really paid much attention lately.

Balanced? I'm trying to figure out where that comes from.

Installed price? It can be all over the map, but I think you were in Arkansas. I would guess lower than a national guesstimate of $3.00 per square foot.

That means theres a particle board or medium density fiber board core in it. Which has not been an issue that I've seen or heard about unti it gets wet. A true quality engineered product can rebound from a water mishap, but not if its got a core like that.
Many manufacturers are producing this type engineered product. Shaw's been making a 3 ply like that for several years and I've seen nary a complaint. Just did a click strand bamboo like that with no issues so far - knock on wood....errr grass.

Link: http://andersonfloors.com/our-hardwood- ... ncore.aspx

Really? You should know SP as you do inspections. I'd like to hear more.

I didn't even think about that, but those fiber board products just don't get it for me, probably why they don't interest me in the least. It just doesn't come close to the real thing for me. But I'm sure that's what many thought about engineered floors when they came out years ago.

Thanks for the replies.

We did go to a local store - I just linked to the manufacturer for the information.

I've been on the fence about hardwood vs. engineered. Or I should say I'm open to engineered. Just turned out at this store these 2 things were what appealed to us. One of the places we'll be going to in the near future specializes as a distributor for some of the wood mills here in the state - so they'll be mostly hardwood and less engineered. This place yesterday was mostly engineered. It was recommended by a friend - that's why we checked it out. We may get more bold the more places we go to and actually go directly to the mills directly (there are a handful that don't have distributors) but for now we're just getting out feet wet.

I couldn't find information about the lengths on the Anderson floors.

The "balanced" thing came from this forum. Isn't that what everyone preaches - balanced construction is the key for the engineered floor?

Is 1/2 inch a decent thickness? The RealWood is a 3 mm wear layer. I couldn't find wear layer info on the Anderson. I'm pretty sure I've read on here 3 should be the minimum acceptable.

A caveat... we would be putting the floor down in the kitchen. Of those 2 we are leaning toward the RealWood - preemptively should we take the Anderson off the list because of that core board? I can't think of an scenarios that we've had an notable water situations to deal with. We have a mat in front of the sink and can put a tray under the dog's water dish. Or is that just asking for trouble?

Sorry - I didn't word my last question very well. I don't have the cost breakdown yet - free job estimate on Monday. But purchase/installation ballpark for either of those was about $7.50. Does that sound reasonable?

Thanks again.

Hello All,

We went by the lumber mill distributor yesterday - had a fairly protracted conversation with him. We talked about 3-4 different scenarios, wood prices were generally between $3.50 and $5.50 one was as high as $8.50. Then it would be an additional $2-2.50 on the install and another $2.25-2.50 for the sand and finish.
FloorMeInTucson - if you are reading, you'll be happy to know we did discuss/plan on using the Rubio monocoat ($189 for a liter of that).

Even after all that we ultimately we decided that where we are in our stage of life that prefinished engineered is most likely the way we'll go. As an aside - once it came clear we'd be going toward prefinished the mill distributor guy suggested a flooring place and it was who we already talked to. It was nice to have some independent (but industry) confirmation for the friend referral.

We have seen a few more things we liked:
A Columbia 1/2" engineered 5" plank from the Chatham line. Couldn't find anything about the wear layer or construction specifics. If anyone can help me with those details I'd appreciate it. http://www.hoskinghardwood.com/Hardwood ... ?pId=50224

Also an Armstrong 1/2" engineered 4/5/6 multi plank from the Artesian line. It's a seven ply and I think rotary cut but I couldn't find wear layer info.
http://www.hoskinghardwood.com/hs/Armst ... ?pId=59945

Any feedback on these would be appreciated.

We're going to talk to the store/man tomorrow that did my mom's floors in the past 6 months and maybe one other place and then make our decision this weekend.

At this point we are still liking the RealWood Chalet floor the best (actually more like $8.50 installed not $7.50 but it's still do-able) and the Anderson is out of the running. They also happen to only be 180 miles from us - so I consider that pretty darn local considering a lot of floors come from China!

I'll post again after tomorrow's outings.

Lara

Lara, I'm keeping tabs, been really busy though. Here's a good thread to read on here thats very informative and will answer all of your questions. Don't forget to read the second page!!

confused-about-engineered-quality-t8014.html

No worries - just wanted to you to know I have been listening when you mention about the Rubio.

Thanks for the link - good to hear what Sam has to say. Nice to have Ken's earlier endorsement of him as well.