Well just got done with a 2000sq ft install and finish. Heres the kicker- the home owner would buy and provide all the materials and such. The only thing I was to provide were the staples and my own equipment.
Our original aggrement was that he was to buy 3" #1 or #2 common maple, you know something on the cheaper side.
I was thinking around $2.79- $3.69 a foot was about right for maple, well he pulled a fast one on me and his lawyer wife. They went and got the Lumber Liquidators "$..99 sq ft." deal!
Well I have worked with this $.99 stuff before about 4yrs ago and swore Id never do it again. Milled wrong, no tounge & groove the widths were different, knots and holes galore, cracked boards, tons, and I mean tons, almost 90% of the wood were shorts too! I was never o happy to find a board that was 4ft or longer! I pointed out all the bad things about the wood and the owner told me to stop whining about it and put it all in.
I have worked with alot of select % better, #1, #2 common, tavern and utility grade stuff that was never as bad as this stuff.
I told the owner that this wasnt to our agreement but his lawyer wife pointed out that in the contract it didnt specify to where or what grade of wood would be used.
So I installed it all, knots and all, I filled few but it didnt state in the contract I had to fill em all. There were some holes that went clear to the sub-floor!
I did use the best stuff for the living room and entry way since thats what you would see first, plus the longer boards too. The shot is of the better stuff so it looks nice but check out the lower half of the pic and you can see the knottier stuff that I had to use every place else.
So this is a warning too you guys Id like to pass along, check every detail!
I had to hire 2 extra guys to help install and it took twice as long to do too. My forearms still are sore from trying to bang that crap together, just imagine the worst board youve found and couldnt get in and times that by 10! I have never felt so tired im my life, this wood just sucked the life outta you!
Included a pic of finished floor, remember I did the whole house about 2000sq ft. Turned out pretty nice due to the fact it was crappy wood, I wouldnt put this $.99 stuff in my outhouse! LOL I did get $3.00 to install and finish though but ended up with less profit due to hiring extra guys to help install.
Heres pic of the downstairs, not bad but for any other job/customer I wouldnt of been satisfied.

Let me hear any horro stories youve guys have had. Also let know what ya think of the floor.




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Fishy,

I hope you ment to say you got $3.00 to install and $3.00 to sand and finish.

We would have charged at least $3.50 s.f. to just sand and finish a .99 cents a s.f. Lumber Liquidators floor natural, maby more for all the extra filling.

Last floor like that I did we used rustic maple (had the same look, but there were no 6 inch boards lol) didnt get it from LL didnt pay .99 a foot either , It had all the knots even through the entire board almost, we epoxied everything. but LL I HATE that place. Last experince with them was prefinished Bloodwood, customer bought it for 6 or 7 a foot, had mis milled boards, different sizes and more finishing issue I could stomache. After opeing 9 boxes and installing 20 fett I had them look at it and showed them all the bad wood. At wich point I told them either its going to take alot more wood and money for me to dig through it, or he would sign a waiver for all imperfect boards. He signed it, I still wasted a bunch of time digging when I didnt have to, but their wood just makes me sick!

Sorry you had to go through that, but for what you had to work with it looks good

Pictures don't show that many shorts, or is the best part of the job? Looks pretty good except for the large bunch of darker boards in the bottom of the photo. Is this when he said stop whining?

After reading into the story I thought I was about to hear they may have tried to short change you.

I have not had the priviledge of installing Lumber Liquidators .99 stuff, but I remember a dance floor I did many moons ago. Shorts out the yahoo, must have been close to a #3 Red Oak.

Hey all,
No the photo shows where I put the best stuff down, I was thinking if they had company over at least when they came in the floor would look good. And All the longs you see where it! LOL Used them all in this room.
I ahd to go thru about 40 bundles to find the "best" pieces I could to put donw inthe entry way and living room.

Buddy- and no, all I got was $3.00 to install and finish, had done work for the couple before with no problem and thought this would be an easy go. Thought they were going with select and better grade, didnt know they were going to pull this on me.

Whats funny is that they are going to live in this house, not to sell or rent, I would of gotten a better grade for my own house, dont ya think?

Yea, he said to stop whining when he saw how much easier it was to lay down the stuff I had to hand pick and sort outta the crap wood.

Yea, as for the brown spots I just laid down the wood as I had it, I wasnt putting any real effort to make this a #1 job, I wasnt gonna take anymore time trying to configure the floor to what would of looked best. I couldve thrown alot of it out but they wanted it all installed. They informed me that they would not be buying anymore wood, lol. Cause they know best! LOL

I dunno, 6 grand to install, sand and finish 2000 ft seems very cheap to me. Who paid for the finish and sandpaper?. I understand sometimes you take funky jobs like this when times are slow. Hey, I'll be installing an LL floor in a few weeks. Some engineered 5" plank. I'm sorta leery of the job but have covered my butt.

Gary, let me put it to you like this.
2 years agoi my old boss and I would fly out to cal. install 2-3k and fly home in a week. After we paid for flights, hotels, and food we still made 20-30% more than we did doing jobs here.
Theres tons of companies who charge 4.95 to supply install sand and finish out here. (It looks like a 5 dollar floor, but too many people put quality last and price first)
and sanding LOL .95 a foot some places

Be sure to provide a review for us too Gary!

This site is changing and so is hardwoodinstaller.com

I have been using the LL .99 red /white oak 3/4 by 3 or 3 1/4 for my cottage.

It is a cottage and therefore I don't mind the rustic look.

Originally the first 600 sq contained mostly shorts and cut edges. The longer boards were severely warped.
The width was all 3". This took forever. Hard to keep straight edge as some of the pieces were off by an 1/16 or 1/18.
I'd get excited finding a 36" piece or longer and the would have to beat it into submission.

A year later as I progressed through the other rooms I was able to get 3 1/4 boards. The lengths increased too.
It was as if I won the LL lottery.

As I am finishing my last room I hit the jackpot. I have boards that are routinely 4-5 feet and the longest was
76". These long boards were not too warped either but had wavy black lines through them.

My waste factor was low because I kept the boards with knot holes. The split boards I glued then set down.
The warped boards I got in place with a $20 floor jack from Harbor Freight. The cut boards went into the closet.
Any questionable boards would go where the beds would be.

I broke the bundles apart and separated them. Firewood, missing tongue or groove and then into about 6 or 7 length
piles. I never had to cut many boards due the variety with last purchase.

It is a crap shoot in what you get for this price. I would not have attempted this if not for the price. 1200 Sq feet. Can't really find any fault with LL. They tell you what you are buying and make you initial the waiver. They helped me cut the bundles down and load it too. They even warned me when they thought the weight was too heavy for my vehicle.(it was a rental... sssh don't tell anyone I said I didn't care.)

Now I just need help/ advice with the finishing.

Just watch a few youtube video's and you'll be fine.

Floor looks good. I have had plenty of horror stories. I thought yours was gonna go on to say, you then got screwed out of your money. At least you got paid I guess. Note to self, never install the $1 crap from LL.

Yes it took forever to fill the knot holes. Ask for premium if you do as it is a crap shoot from the quality of boards you get.

That pretty much goes for all tavern grade hardwood, not just LL's. What do you expect for $.99 a foot, it's all shyt.

I installed some bamboo that a customer supplied from LL.

It came in wet, really wet. I was lucky because at that time I didn't check moisture routinely if the wood had acclimate for a week or more, but this stuff was so wet you could feel it when you picked up a board. Checked the moisture content and it some of it went off the meter at 24%. Most of it was about 18%, subfloor was 8% so that was a no-go.

I was lucky again that the homeowner was understanding (was a tradesman himself) and agreed to pay extra handling for helping LL pick up the bad bundles and deliver new stuff. LL would not refund the money but gave the homeowners store credit to buy more of their wood, which I installed at a home they purchased several years later. It was the Bella Wood which wasn't that bad, though I still don't think they consumer is getting a good deal, because the price on the decent wood isn't cheap enough to warrant buying from a liquidator, which limits their liability. They can always say we told them we are selling junk cause we are a liquidator.

Jamy Spencer