Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - New here, with a few floor ?s

Hi everyone, I'm obviously new here and have a couple questions about hardwood floors.

I'm going to be having a modular home built in the upcoming months and will be putting hardwood in the living room, dining room, foyer and kitchen (about 800 sq. ft.) all on/slightly above grade (plywood subfloor).

1st question - I'm looking at Harris-Tarkett Longstip vs. 3 1/2" solid plank. Longstrip seems to have an edge on ease if installation if for no other reason that wider boards = less to nail/staple/glue down. Solid is nice because it's solid though. Anyone have any feedback on either product? benefits drawbacks etc...

2nd question - I'm really into the Brazilian Cherry. I love the look and the super hardness. 2 young kids - 18 months and 9 months and a 100 lb. German shepherd will put alot of wear and tear on a floor. My question is how dark will it get, anyone have pics of an aged Braz Cherry floor?

3rd - If I go with the longstrip, what's the best method for attaching to the house - staple or glue or floating? I will have conventional baseboard heat, so I don't "have" to float it.

4th - I hope everyone is still reading :D ) - Should I, or do I need to do anything special in the kitchen? Potential water damage is a concern. Can I do something to seal the joints between the planks?

Finally - (I hope) - Any personal opinions on how this wood would look with conventional natural red oak cabinets in the kitchen?


TIA

Sean

A prefinished hardwood floor has a factory appied Poly-Urethane finishe with aluminium oxide. This is great is some instances. Traditional on-sight hardwood floors have the stain and finish applied at the location. It is much easier to repair the tradiontial floor finishes than the engineered floor finishes. The protective finish on engineered floors will sometime peal or scab if a sharp object gets under them, cat claws, dog claws etc. If you are going to install prefinished hwd floors with a german shepard they will look like crap in 4 to 6 months. I have a 50 lb brittney spanial who will dent my red oak floor when he gets to jumping, obviously your shepard weighs more. I would go with floating in a modular home since the foundation is not as stable as others, for instance a concrete slab. If you go with floating and the installer does not glue the entire seam and your dog wets on the floor guess where it goes, between the planks and under the floor, if your baby spills milk, guess where it goes, under the floor. Some manufactures require a complete seam of glue some do not, but no contract installer I know of will glue the entire seam, it makes for a difficult installation due to glue lock. You have to tap alot before the excess glue purges and you get a tight seam.

Hardwood floors, water, pets, kids do not mix well. Water, pets, kids mix well though.

Best of luck

I'm not too concerned about foundation stability, the foundation will be a conventional 8 foot hole in the ground type. the floors are 2x10 josts 16" o.c. with 34" plywood subfloor. Really not much different that a stick-built house, just stick-built in a climate controlled factory and assembled in 4 big pieces on site, rather than one 2x4 at a time.

I'm curious why you say a pre-finished floor will be crap in 4-6 months, is the finish really that weak? How much longer would a conventional finished floor last? I have oak hardwood floors now that had a crappy re-finishing done (as in I did it in a hurry, and didn't leave it alone long enough before moving in) when we moved in 2 years ago, and the heavy traffic areas look kinda shot, but the rest is decent, in a few spots even good.

First hand experience, my brother has a shepard (great dog) and his nail dented the floor and put tons of "micro scracthes" on them, he just sold the house. He used Bruce Glencove serious, I used Mannington Montana oak Gold series. I believe they will both scratch but the traditional floor will be quickly and easily repaired, for example with a wipe of stain. For an engineered you will have to dig down to the wood through the finish, they do not take the stain as easy. I misunderstood your foundation. I beleive your only logical choice is staple/nail down. Floating is usually good for going over ceramic tile, where it is to hard to bust up the old floor. Glue down over wood, I do not think is possible or not practiced often so you do not want to do it.

if it was my house and I had a 3/4" plywood subfloor I would go w/ a 3/4" solid nail down product. you can get it prefinished or raw(unfinished). I would recomend a prefinished product. they cost a couple more dollars per sq. ft. but you wont have to sand/ finish it so it comes out to about the same cost. I wouldnt suggest you sand/ finish floors yourself, not that you couldnt do it. just that it would be different if it was an old floor or say a rental property or something, but not a brand new floor in a brand new house. go w/ the prefinished, install it yourself.(rent staple/nail gun) check out www.nofma.com braz.cherry is harder than oak. also much darker. either one is going to get scratched w/ dog. (keep in mind its a floor not piece of furniture) some people freak out if they get a scratch on the floor. with a 3/4" solid prefinished product you can sand/refinish it several times depending how agressive(deep) its sanded each time.

Texas Wood, get you some laminate strap clamps and glue all you want. Beating on a floating floor then using blue tape isn't going to cut it in the long run, if you stand behind your work for the life of the materials used, as I do.

Ever see a craftsman woodworker glue something and tape it? Not in your life. It gets clamped and set aside. You can't rush perfection.

Carpet Done Wright,

I can assure you, noyone would ever install the floor like I did, as you suggest clamp and wait until it dryes. My rate was only 40ft^2 in 8 hours, including floating the slab, laying the vapor barrier and foam underlayment. I would lay 3 rows, glueing the entire seam as Mannington requires, clamp and proceed the next day. I will stand behind my work since it is my house, it was my time and it was my money. I photographed the entire installation process, the leveling of the slab showing flatness with an 8' straightedge, the installation of vapor barrier, underlayment and the blue 2090 tape Mannington suggest to hold the planks together while drying. If the floor ever has a problem a judge can decide who is at fault.


I welcome and encourage people to inspect my floor and even use a flashlight at the seams since I have a micro-bevel. The floor looks perfect, I ran a string between rooms since it was a multiple room project to ensure the starting plank was trimmed appropriatley so on the most visual walls the planks were the same width along the entire wall. I calculated the width of the first plank to ensure the minimium width of any plank next to a wall was at least 2". My first plank was 2.75" wide and the first row tapered from 2.75" to 2.375" over a 9 foot wall.

I have yet to see ANY installation that looks as good as mine, even so called professional installations. I am a professional, but that requried 4 years of Mechancial Engineering, 4 years of documented engineering experience and then a state administered test before I obtained my Professional Engineering License. It appears to me the requirements in the flooring business as to who is a professional are not as strict. I have to stand by my work or people/property gets destroyed.