Hi All. I was just inspired by a thread that I read w/ someone who had a lot of short boards. It happens, and we see it a bunch of times...

It occurred to me that this could be a not feature to sell against (i.e. this is a good brand vs. that brand, etc. In fact, I now want to do a bit of research on some of the brands I use vs. those I don't and/or those I find that I'm in competition with.

I realized that we are not really competitors with each other given the geography and that we can all help each other out.

I'd love to know your favorite prefinished brands/lines. I'd also love to know the ones you dislike and why. Together, we can all help each other.

Also, what are the ones you sell the most of? (that might be the same or different from the your favorites as your favorites might be more expensive).

What do you think?

Debbie Gartner aka The Flooring Girl
http://TheFlooringGirl.com
Westchester NY

oh Debbie..

you're not playing fair.
when you make such a post, you need to reveal your hand first.

LOL...I wasn't trying to do that...my post got erased and I ran out of time before my appointment.

Anyway, I love Somerset color collection for oak. I love the color selection, and wood seems to be good quality both in terms of color variation and milling. Bevels are pretty small, too as that is preferred in my market (more about that later).

Lately, I've been using Nature for exotics. Reasonably priced and good quality.

I don't like Bruce as their finish is too shiny and looks cheap/out of style (esp for my area). I've been less crazy about Mullican for same reasons.

Background: My area really prefers unfinished hardwood that is finished on site for smooth look. Dark (ebony, jacobean) and natural most popular. And, almost always satin finish.

Debbie Gartner aka The Flooring Girl
http://TheFlooringGirl.com
Westchester NY

Hallmark, Anderson, LM and Mirage seem to be popular here.

I also sell a ton of Somerset. Actually went on a Mill tour about three weeks ago, very interesting. We only sell bruce when we are matching some existing. The hallmark line is a nice but they dont have a east coast operations and freight will kill most deals. LM/Versini as its sold under two names here is a pretty nice price point product, pretty nice milling also. Honestly I wish I could roll the clock back 20 years when we didnt have one prefinished display rack. Far less problems and far less people in the trade that shouldnt be. Of course that was also before the glorious internet, back then we didnt get all the overnight internet know it alls that are trying to reinvent the wheel.

Stephen - Thx. I do Anderson and Mirage from time to time, but our market is much more solid (most have plywood subfloors). I'm not familiar w/ Hallmark or LM - maybe they aren't in my area/maybe more regional?

Kevin D - ahhh...that makes sense about the freight. Cool to go on a mill tour. It's been a while since I've been to one of the factories. I did that in Atlanta. Oh, and yes, we seem to have less issues with unfinished wood. The funny thing is I had a customer earlier in the week who had some prefinished samples from Home Depot and said she liked prefinished because she knew exactly what she was getting. I almost choked...then I explained the concept of color variation and showed her the variation in her own floors. I explained if it's unfinished, we can test it on the wood and she'll see the stains on several pieces vs. the prefinished samples which can often be misleading not to mention dye lots.

All - which brands tend to have the shorter lengths?

I love it when I see samples from stores and they are all checked and have splits in them.

My first install was with my bosses brother installing Bruce 2 1/4 solid over concrete with that old nasty Franklin adhesive that would burn your eyes and throat, mostly all shorts back in 75 ish. There was some old timer who liked to use asphalt adhesive, lord what a mess.

I walk on Bruce every time I get up in the morning. But mines a waxed finish.

Ever try to remove a floor glued with that? Jack hammer only.

Stephen - Wow. Sounds like a ball.
Kevin - I'm sure you're right.

Hello Debbie,

Thank you for asking.

First, Hallmark Floors does have a distribution center in the NY area. PC Floors carries a wide variety of Hallmark Hardwoods and Hallmark Luxury vinyl products. http://www.pcwoodfloors.com/ Have you seen Hallmark's Alta Vista yet?

FYI: Hallmark Floors is coming out with a new product called Organic and it will be offered in solid and engineer. They will have it at Surfaces if you would like to check out. Hallmark has several new collections that you can view at Surfaces or go to their site. PC Floors is getting Moderno soon. They have Alta Vista now.
http://hallmarkfloors.com/

Thx so much, hallmark floors for stopping by. I will need to check it out some time.