That's what I heard from a local guy. Says there was trouble at one location so they don't offer an installer list anymore. This doesn't suprise me. People wonder why I stopped doing it. All it takes is one clown to ruin it for everyone. I actually ran into two clowns and some of you know who one of them was. No reason to mention names please

Ken, does this apply to all their locations throughout the country?

Gary:

I don't know, but possibly. That's why I was wondering.

You know, that's fine with me, in a way. The one nearest me wanted me to come down and sign up as an installer. I never did. I know a guy who did and all he got were the cheapo customers. He tried to talk me into working with him installing, sanding and finishing a 3/4" x 2&1/4" #2 common crap wood for a measley $3.00 a ft. Of course, this guy has NO Licsense, pays NO TAXES, and it's an all cash deal. I course I declined. All this guy uses is the cheapest finish he can find at HD and thinks it's great. As far as I'm concerned, he can continue to service all those bottom feeders at LL.

That referred installer list has bit them in the butt here, more then once.

In San Diego the LL did supply me with a 3-contractor list, on a page with a big disclaimer like, We're happy to give you this list. . .but we don't know anything about their work habits or quality. You know.

I did buy the Bellawood, thinking I would install, but realized my job was too tricky for me to do. After having 4 or 5 installers come look at it, I finally got one who:
1) will acutally work with Bellawood (couple guys said, "We don't install that crap"),
2) does the work himself (not just a deal closer, then send in the kids),
3) would never glue-down 3/4 solid pre-fin over wood sub (one guy, all he does is glue--no nailing),
4) bills for subfloor prep by the hour, because, "you never know with these old houses what you run into, so we take it as it comes", and
5) actually walked every inch of the job envisioning the process and options.

And this was one of the three names on the LL referral list. He starts in a couple of days. . . .

-Brad

Sounds to me that you latched on to a good one Brad. I install that brand whenever people call me... I would prefer not to... it takes more patience and effort to do it in my experience.

I see posted all the time... I had Bellawood solids installed and it looks great. Well... that's because the installer made it look great, it just don't happen by accident. We can make anything "look" great, but we charge accordingly too.

I have some photo's showing what your installer has to watch out for. I cull out alot, but some boards do get by me until the morning light hits on them... then I spend 2 hours replacing them . http://picasaweb.google.com/jwt253/Bell ... 1519371106

I would prefer clients purchase quality flooring as is offered here, as opposed to a lesser quality flooring that cost me more in my time and labor to get it looking like a quality floor.

A lot of culling. Normal is 5% overage for waste. The local LL tells its customers you need 20% overage for waste.

He ain't lying!!!!

The photos were a good heads-up for what to look-out for, thanks. My installer starts tomorrow. I'll mention some of this in case he's familiar, but should be, since we was on the referral list. . .

Our local LL said plan on 10% waste, which is what we got.

In looking through one box, I noticed a couple of boards with shipping dings. One was on the bottom of the board, the other on top.

Color mixing, I hear, is something else to watch-out for.

Maybe I'll see if I can post some pics and let you know how it comes-out.

-Brad

The finish is big concern to me, alot of boards, in the past, have had sort of an orange peel finish texture. Hard to spot those until reflective light hits on them. I think the main overall problem is they need better quality control.

I figure waste at 15 - 20%, depending on the layout.

i deal with LL on a regular basis. i dont know how to refinish floors so i stay away from those jobs so i am forced to do pre-finished. i keep hearing( reading) you guys say" getting flooring on here"? where is on here? internet? or from someone hooked up with this site? i live in between baltimore and fredrick maryland. any suggestions on where to buy better flooring?

Welcome Barefootfloors. Ken Fisher, the owner of this site, used to be an online retailer and also had a brick and mortar store located in Florida. He no longer does that....... smart guy