Engineered wood flooring

A question I have for you, gut_reno. Why are you going for engineered wood flooring? Is is for relative ease of installation, compared to hardwood flooring?

I have found the engineered wood flooring in my new condo to be a pain. They scratch easily and marks readily show up when walking around with regular shoes or shoes with heels (the last really murderous for the flooring(,

We are going for engineered wood flooring because we need prefinished wood floors due to the co-op board requirements (they don't want us to finish inside the building). I think if it's oak it shouldn't have the scratching problem, no? I have heard scratching problems arise with bamboo flooring.

I hate our engineered floors, scratches all over and as rlr689 suggested, they mark very easily. We bought our condo with the floors already installed (they were original from the new construction in 2004) and after 2 prior owners I couldn't believe the shape they were in. I was tempted to replace them but couldn't stomach the time and cost. With a very area rugs (that we intended to have either way) it doesn't bother me as much, but if I could do it again no doubt I'd go with hardwood.

I did have one of our furniture delivery guys say "damn those floors are hot," so I guess they do have that sex appeal...

most oak floors come pre-finished just like the engineered and cost approx $3-5 per sq ft

OK, so can you recommend any brands?

gut-reno pre-finished hardwood flooring is readily available. I'don't know where you got the idea that only engineered wood flooring is prefinished. As far as brands are concerned, I suggest you focus instead on the store. I would suggest you try Lumber Liquidators, they have a store on West 20th street, off Fifth Avenue. I was skeptical myself, until I wondered into their LIC store a couplke of months ago. They have high quality hardwoods at quite reasonable prices. You can also inquire about installations costs, or if you're a DIY'r, what supplies you'll need.

By the way, my understanding is that most most coops and condos will not allow you to nail down to concrete hardwood flooring. But the person I spoke to at Lumber Liquidators said what many apartment building boards will allow is for a plywwod floor to be glued to the concrete floor and THEN the hardwood floor can be nailed to the plywood. Hope this helps.

i recently had my floors replaced w hardwood oak. They were prefinished and installed w a plywood base floor underneath.

I considered engineered wood, but went w hardwood for the reasons stated above. I've also heard that hardwood oak ages nicely, and is more resistant to scratches than most other woods.

fager1, that is correct, nailing down onto concrete is not allowed, but I was also told there is a chance that I'd have to glue it down anyway because of the existing mastic. thanks.

any other suggested vendors?

Have you considered endangered tropical wood from Coney Island?

I would look at Mirage.

I am not saying I am for or against engineered floors, but the top of surface of engineered flooring is the same exact material as hardwood flooring, its real wood, ...it makes no difference for scratches and marks hardwood vs engineered. The difference will be the species of wood and the finish. The brands mentioned have good products. If you do go with an engineered, i recommend at least a 3 millimetter wear layer, that's the layer of real wood. The thicker the wear layer the more times it can be refinished.

Eastside Floor Supplies
124 East 124th Street, New York, NY
(212) 426-8500

I bought beautiful hardwood floors from Eastside floors. They were very helpful. Much better quality than lumber liquidators for similar price.

Carlisle Wide Plank Flooring will prefinish true hardwood planks (vs engineered). Both all-wood and engineered wood flooring have benefits and detractors. If you can't finish ever on site then, you should just get the cheaper option.

Carlisle is an excellent flooring mill but it is very high end of solid and engineered hardwoods and is suitable for custom quality projects. Mirage offers a top quality engineered flooring product at a fair cost for the discriminating customer on a typical budget. Has anyone ever seen Shaw engineered hardwood floors in NYC? They seem to offer a nice variety of eco-friendly flooring options but not sure who distributes their products locally.

I'll look up Mirage, I think I have seen samples before. Thanks.
Carlisle is beautiful but very much out of our price range....Haven't seen Shaw, but I think the place I'm going to look at the Mirage products seem to offer Shaw floors; http://www.nywoodfloor.com/products.html

wood flooring nyc recommended mirage or other brand name engineered floors. The most important to use name brand, if in the future you have problem you can get matching floor boards. No name floors disappearing and if you need only one board you can not get because the company dissapeard.