Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - GIB Engineered Hardwood

Anyone have any experience with GIB Engineered hardwood? I really like the look and feel, just wondering about the durability. Installation is also a glue down versus floating, so considerably more difficult.

Do you have a web link to the product. I personally have not heard of that manufaturer yet. Let alone, had a chance to play with it.

I haven't found a manufacturer site, but here are a few sites selling it.

Diyflooring (http://www.diyflooring.com/brand_1397/GIB-Hardwood-Flooring/brand.html)
iFloor (http://www.ifloor.com/productdisplay.html?item_id=295154&N=0)
Floorshop (http://www.floorshop.com/productdisplay.html?item_id=295154&N=0)
Barefoot floor (http://barefootfloor.com/prefinished-hardwood-floor/gib-floors/Exotic-wood-floors/index.html)
Floor Kingdom (http://www.gibfloors.com)

They all say mostly the same thing about the product, haven't really found a detailed installation doc yet.

This might be the parent company, although their site doesn't have anything about flooring on it.

Link (http://www.gib.co.nz/)

The logo seems to be the same.

I do now have a sample of this stuff in my hands - is there anything in particular to look at? It's a 5 layer board with what looks like a 1/16" wear layer. I put it through a self devised torture test which consists of 1) Leaving a spot of water on it overnight, and 2) hitting it with a hammer to see how it dents. In both cases it did much better than the Kahr's did, which is it's closest competitor. It even surprisingly did better than most of the laminates.

I have two main concerns at this point - 1) It's a glue down, and I was really wanting a floating 2) Support from the manufacturer, since it's not as well known of a product. In spite of those concerns I'm leaning towards giving it a try. Our house won't easily take a real hardwood because of height, and I didn't like any of the laminates at any price.

Incidentally, where the sample was sawn apart the board did splinter a little bit. Is that a cause for concern or do they all do that?

It's similar to the BR111 engineered product in that it has a very thin wear layer. Cannot be refinished. Could last 10-20 years if taken care of. If not, expect to replace within 5 years unless you're happy with the appearance.

Probably a dull saw blade cutting up the samples.