Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 16

Thread: Prefinished hardwood flooring

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    McKinney, TX
    Posts
    2,063

    Prefinished hardwood flooring

    We’re thinking about redoing our bedroom with prefinished red oak flooring. I don’t know much of anything about different brands so thought I’d start my education here. Thanks
    Steve Jenkins, McKinney, TX. 469 742-9694
    Always use the word "impossible" with extreme caution

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Posts
    1,561
    Blog Entries
    1
    Have you considered vinyl?
    Quality has increased significantly in recent years.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Mountain City, TN
    Posts
    573
    We bought flooring made by Mullican Flooring. We were getting ready to sell our house, so I had someone install it. It looked beautiful.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Lancaster, Ohio
    Posts
    1,346
    did master bedroom, bathroom, hallway and other bathroom floor with prefinished red oak in 2008. Used an air flooring stapler to fasten it down over top of special paper on top of plywood. Very happy with it, different wife last 10 yrs, grandkids and dogs looks good, gets vacuumed maybe once a month.
    Was easy to put down, layed out 3-4 boxes at a time to get good color mix. Had to concentrate on mixing different lengths together as I naturally would grab long boards first and work down to short boards last. Don't recommend buying top grade wood, way too boring for me. Want to see variants in boards, even some small tight knots that #2 has. Look at gym floors if you want all wood same color, no pattern, perfect then buy top of line.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Cincinnati, OH
    Posts
    924
    We have it installed in our kitchen. It is very attractive , IMHO, although the installers left a few minor problems. A wide variety of finishes are available but I do not know the details. Our Bruce product has a 50 year guarantee on the finish. There are a few spots of crazing that I keep an eye on.

    As with most flooring, oak can be damaged by dropped items which may be more common in the kitchen than other rooms and is certainly becoming more frequent as aging continues to take its toll.
    Rustic? Well, no. That was not my intention!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    NE OH
    Posts
    2,615
    Don't have a brand recommendation for you, but be aware that many of the higher end manufacturers won't warrant the flooring on DIY installs, since so much depends on proper installation. When I installed the flooring in our dining room, I was careful to follow the installation instruction to the letter, including monitoring humidity and temperature during the install. I documented everything with photos during the install so would at least have a chance should a dispute arise. Thankfully, no issues so far.
    --I had my patience tested. I'm negative--

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    Culpeper, VA, USA
    Posts
    64
    I led a gang of volunteers installing Bruce hardwood on about 1500 sq ft at our church. We had a LOT of pre-damaged boards, but we just made up some “bad boxes” and Lowe’s took them all back for a refund.

    That was two years ago and I casually inspect the floor weekly (on Sunday) and it’s holding up great to all the traffic it sees.

    I have a few of the off cuts in my shop and I use them as aux fences and other jig pieces and they’re nice and stable. The finish is good and thick and looks great.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
    Location
    Los Angeles, California
    Posts
    961
    Prefinished is great, but ...

    The substrate has to be dead flat, like a 16th over 8 feet flat.

    In my old homes, that kind of flatness is impossible.

    So I opted for ordinary flooring which can be sanded to make it flat.
    Regards,

    Tom

  9. #9
    I've installed normal 3/4 finished, 3/4 unfinished, and 3/8 finished and unfinished. I think unfinished that has to be sanded and then finished makes the nicest floor because you eliminate all the little V grooves that trap dust. But I did a large area over our 3 car garage with pre-finished hickory so it would be done when I was done. No smells and further waiting. More recently, I needed to finish the landing on a stairway with oak treads and hand rail and a new coat closet under the stairs. So I used pre-finished oak. I just used what home depot had. At least some of what I installed is Bruce but I've used other brands.

    I put the 3/4 down with a Harbor Freight nailer/stapler. I used cleats in most of it but now believe staples hold better after removing it installed both ways (during demo). The think stuff I installed with a special stapler for thin flooring. The big stapler is easier to use but also heavy and requires more air. But even my smallest compressor worked on it I just had to wait for it to catch up. In the closet/landing project that wasn't an issue. Lots more cutting than installing.

    IMHO this is an easy project for a woodworker. You just have to be a little careful to get the staples into the flooring right above the tongue. Where the flooring stapler will not fit you want to do the same thing with a 15 gauge finish nailer. I tried a 18 gauge but it would not hold the flooring where it wanted to warp. Most cuts are easily made with a CMS and the ones that aren't only need a jigsaw.

    I got the hickory from southeast salvage. They buy odd lots so you have to be careful about the quantity you get - they may not have more if you come back. Best to get extra and then take it back if you don't use it.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    McKinney, TX
    Posts
    2,063
    Thanks for the info.
    Steve Jenkins, McKinney, TX. 469 742-9694
    Always use the word "impossible" with extreme caution

  11. #11
    We have quarter sawn solid oak wide plank flooring throughout our house but when we remodeled the den, we removed the carpet and put in wood. Since the den is on a slab, unlike any other room in the house, we went with engineered, prefinished flooring.

    A couple of notes:

    1. There is no v-groove or gap between the boards; it is indistinguishable from the solid wood flooring.
    2. It is quarter sawn oak and matches the rest of the floors perfectly.
    3. The den has a door to the garage and that path gets a lot of traffic. It’s been 10 years and there is virtually no sign of wear.
    4. The oak layer is thick enough that it can be sanded if necessary at some point.
    5. They had to do a little grind/fill on the slab to level it but even though the house was built in the 40’s it was pretty level.

    Manufacturer was Owens Flooring. The extra box says “PlankFoor” on it.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    Longmont, CO
    Posts
    810
    i put down about 1200 sq feet of the bruce pre-finish hickory from HD. only had about one box of really bad stuff out of almost 2 pallets. I was impressed at the quality for the price. lots of long pieces, great finish quality. we used cleats. I think the V groove adds a little interest to the floor, did not find that it cought a lot of dirt/dust but we really took our time with the floor so everything was very tight.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    2,758
    We had 2 areas done with 3/4" Oak. The subfloor is not real flat and you can feel it a bit if you look for it. Putting a golf ball on it shows the unevenness big time. But unless you notice it there is no downside.

    The engineered flooring in another area is not nearly as forgiving. It breaks under foot. I would not use that again.

  14. #14
    Some comments from a flooring manufacturer retiree:

    Substrate prep is critical. Flatness specified by the manufacturer is relative to the type material. For certain success, follow th eguidelines closely.

    Correct type fasteners is critical - use what is specified.

    Fastener spacing is critical, follow what is specified - if warranty covers DIY, do what it says. An inspector investigating a claim will scatter small magnetic steel balls on the floor, which will go to every fastener and clearly show where the fasteners are located.

    Above all, condition the wood in the environment for the time specified, yeah its a pain, but it matters. And don't do it like some we saw, condition it without removing the plastic wrapping ! Yeah, you would not believe how many times we saw that happen with "professional" installers.

    Advice for those who might think about using some of that beautiful wood in the shop - today's prefinished woods, especially the higher end stuff, has a layer of microscopic silica particles in the surface of the wear layer. Its there to impart wear resistance and it works. However, it is hell on tools, so, if like a friend who decided to plane the finish off, expect to replace the blades in short order.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Granby, Connecticut - on the Mass border
    Posts
    350
    I used Mirage https://www.miragefloors.com/en-us/hardwood-flooring/brand flooring. At the time I tried to read up in pro forums, and this seemed to be a brand felt to be high quality. My experience with using this brand twice was that the boards were largely straight and true, which made the job pretty easy and really a lot of fun. I used what IIRC was called "natural" for both the yellow birch floor and the beech floor. Knots, curly grain (especially in the birch - some pieces were flat out spectacular), mineral streaks, lots of character. It was really gorgeous wood, which as a woodworker was what I wanted. I have not felt that the "v" grooves are a problem or detract from the appearance.

    I took my time and laid out the boards so that grain and color matched, mostly. It's been 15 years or so, and I still love the floors in these two rooms.

    Ken

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •