This is my first post on here. I am loking to purchase some wood flooring for my living room and wanted opinions on quality and or possible problems with my choice of floor. I am presently looking to buy Armstrong Valenza Brazilian Ruby Ironwood Engineered. The job is approx 350 sq/ft. I plan to float it on a concrete slab using a moisture/sound barrier underneath. I am supposed to glue the planks together. It is supposed to be extremely hard wood. Here is the one in question:

http://www.armstrong.com/resflram/na/ha ... ineId=2077

Anyone ever install this particular flooring. Can I expect any problems with installation/durability/stability with this flooring? Are there any other problems I may incur? What kind of glue should I use to glue the planks together. Thanks for any input!

kevin,

i think ironwood is technically a walnut species. It should be hard and durable from what I've read. Brazilian Walnut, brazilian cherry and santos mahogany are all quite hard and durable. That floor looks like it's been stained red to look more like brazillian cherry or santos mahogany if indeed it's a walnut species

You'll have to get a sample and see how it looks in person, or you may already have. I'm installing engineered santos mahogany in my house right now and gluing it down to concrete.

If you're looking for that rich red color, you might consider getting a real santos mahogany floor.

And if you've never glued engineered wood down to concrete before, you're in for some work. It's very hard for a 1st time DIY project.

jperryrocks:
Thanks for the response! I do actually have some samples already and I really like them. I think the Santos Mahogany is not quite as deep red, but I could be wrong. Do you have any pics of it? Is it real hardwood, or engineered?

Also, you mentioned gluing it down to concrete. I actually planned to float the floor instead of gluing it down to the concrete. It will however require gluing the planks joints together though. It didnt sound to hard, but maybe I'm mistaken and in for a world of work and dont realize it. Is floating it and gluing the planks together a bad idea? Thanks!

Brazilian Ruby Ironwood is a natural (not stained) bloodwood. It's much harder than Santos Mahogany. It will darken and brown over time (like Santos and many Brazilian species). As a 9-ply, 5/8" thick engineered floor, stability shouldn't be a problem, but humidity control is important for any exotic wood.

treelvr:
That would probably explain why all the samples they sent me were not as dark of a red as the 18x18 sample board in the showroom that stopped me in my tracks . The sample board has probably been sitting there for a good while and darkened up.

When people say it darkens up, how long does that actually take?

Is floating this floor a bad idea for any reasons I should know?

Kevin,

It depends on how much light is coming into your house. it may happen a lot sooner in a store showroom where the lights are bright all day long.

Your floors will change quite a bit in the first 6 months to a year. That's why they don't recommend putting laarge rugs down, or at least rotating them often.

OK...thanks for the tip. I did not know that. I'll make sure to keep the rugs off the floor for a good while. We dont have a ton of light coming in that room though, so it wont be as bad as in some homes I guess. We have to keep light down a little due to the plasma screen and reflections.