Re: [A/S] Help with wood flooring

["Terry O'Neill" <woodfloor@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Bob

3/4" solid wood flooring weighs about 2.3/4 lb per square foot if oak (3lbs
maple) and must be nailed down, engineered wood flooring is about 1/2 the
weight and can be glued down. Some engineered wood floors can be floated if
you prefer. Typically if the engineered wood floor is in single strips
2-1/4" or 3" wide it is a glue down and large panels that are 3 strips wide/
panel can be floated.

Home Depot likely has "Bruce" flooring which in my opinion is of marginal
quality in consistency of milling. Some glue down alternatives in real wood
are Mannington, Anderson, Columbia and Lauzon.  Most of these manufacturers
also make laminate flooring so make sure you are looking at their wood
product if that is what you want. Some good "floating" wood floors are
Kahrs, Harris-Tarkett Longstrip, Award and Karelia. Avoid cheaper floating
floors from Asia as they do not have a good track record with delamination.
American or European made products stand up best.

Laminates do have some advantages to wood in scratch & dent resistance but
they are not real wood. They are a photographic print of wood with a
melamine overlay on a HDF core. It's a matter of personal preference and
lifestyle whether to go wood, laminate, carpet, cork, vinyl etc.

Here are some web sites that might help:
Engineered glue down:
    
http://www.lauzonltd.com/install/c_inst.htm

http://www.columbiaflooring.com/products/enghardwood/index.html

http://www.mannington.com/residential/floorOptions/default.asp?breadL2=FLOOR+OPTIONS&business_unit_id=1


Floating wood floors:

http://www.kareliaparketti.com/

http://www.harristarkett.com/options.htm


Good Luck
Terry O'Neill
Calgary
66 Trade-Wind Double
WBCCI 4786
VAC
http://pages.sprint.ca/Streamsite/main.html