HawthorneVillager.com

Can you elaborate.....we feel we are getting a really good deal for 4 1/4 red oak in Superior. We obviously want to stay away from the Chinese made wood and the sales guy said that Superior is a great product and Canadian made.

Thanks again!

You have to be very careful when getting 4" solid. Your humidity in the house must be very stable. Comparing to Vintage, which is pretty much perfect, some other manufacturers like Superior, etc. tend not to be.
Stain & finish may not be uniform (looks like textured finish), milling might be off sometimes & then other times it is fine.

The price diff. between Superior & Vintage will be around $1 or so. Money well spent IMO. What is the approx. square footage you need?

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Hi patrob,

Thanks for your response. We need approx. 1200 sq feet and have been quoted $4.50 per sq ft as a home show promotion. We have been told that that it usually retails for about $6.50.

Can you please let me know how much Vintage would usually go for?

Thanks

They must have been a little mistaken because Superior never retails for $6.50 sq. ft. That's Vintage pricing territory & they are nowhere close to Vintage in terms of quality.

I will PM you more details.

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very informative thread.

do you have any feedbackopinions on Royal Image Hardwood?
http://www.royalimagehardwood.com/

we are trying to match existing stain and their Red Oak Coffee Brown is the best we have found so far. seems to be good quality. made/finished in Canada. 25 or 30 yr warranty (can't recall). some type of diamond coat scratch resistant stuff.

we are doing about 350sq/ft on our main floor.

also, we were considering of doing it on 45 degree. any drawbacks with putting hardwood this way?

thanks in advance!

Honestly, never heard of them before.

What stain are you trying to match (name/brand)? Now every company offers 25-30 yr. warranties.

The diagonal installation depends on the room layout, sometimes it may look odd. The cost to install is little bit more than straight & add more
to your square footage for waste. Over the last couple of years & hundreds of houses, only a handfull have been diagonal installations.
But if you like it & it goes well with your layout, go ahead.

In some cases if you have a double room with joist transition, it may be better to run the floor on diagonal.

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Has anyone dealt with or heard of Kultur Flooring?

http://www.kulturflooring.com/target.php?id=2&iid=3

according to our Mattamy paperwork, the stain is Bruce Walnut.

If you have a joint living/dining & each of the rooms have joist in diff. direction, sometimes it looks odd if you split the direction of the floor in both rooms.
You are supposed to install the floor across the joist.

So installing it on diagonal solves the dilemma of crossing the joists. Make sure you pick the right direction of the diagonal (left or right).

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I would def. stick with locally made wood & a well known manufacturer.
It's a lot easier in case of problems or future add-ons.

We haven't had a chance to work with their wood yet.

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Vintage Red Oak Mocha is a very close match to Bruce Walnut.

Here are both stains side by side

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Hi patrob, wondering if I could get some advice from you.

We're finalizing our upgrades are are strruggling with the hardwood before-vs-after decision because of the tile in the foyer. Here is our floorplan: http://www.mattamyhomes.com/communities ... sp?id=2153

We'd like hardwood on a diagonal from the front door through the dining and great rooms. So the foyer (including the part around the corner and closet) flowing on a diagonal through the dining room past the stairs and into the great room to the back window.

If Mattamy does it we won't have to deal with tile ripouts so that would be easier, although probably costlier and perhaps not as high in quality. But if we wait until after closing, we'd need to somehow pull up the tile in the foyer without wrecking the tile in the powder room (since we don't want to deal with removing the toilet & sink to retile there if we can avoid it).

So my questions are:
1) How hard is it to tear out tile after the fact ... is it something a moderately handy diy'er could do?
2) If we chose a different tile for the powder room vs. foyer -- which would guarantee a clean tile break at the powder room -- how likely is it that the foyer tile could be removed without affecting the powder room tile?
3) If the tile would need to be professionally removed do you think it would be very expensive? Mattamy's cost for Mirage oak in the foyer+dining+greatroom is approx $7500 taxes in. Would it still be cheaper to do hw after the fact considering the tile issue? (we'd want the hardwood professionally done either way; but are unsure how much the tile removal would add if we can't do that part ourselves).

Thanks for any advice!

I understand your dilemma & hopefully I can help.

What bugs me the most, is why will Mattamy just not install carpet in the hallway & foyer if that is what you prefer
But I think I already know the answer to that & that's a whole new thread topic

Regarding the tile removal, I would have to inquire. Perhaps Universaltile can help I know there are a few people on here that are planing to remove some of their tiles, so maybe they could give some pointers if they have done it... But either way it is doable. Perhaps you can get a few friends over to help & pay them back with some beer & BBQ

You mentioned that you want the hardwood everywhere but the study, correct? What stain did you choose? What plank width would Mattamy supply you with? Either way, you will still be saving money by doing it after.

And don't forget, you will be able to take advantage of the Renovation Tax Credit

I will PM you with pricing details.

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Thank you patrob for the detailed (and speedy) reply. Much obliged!!


Yeah, exactly.


That's good to know. Though I'm still a little leery of our skill level re. not destroying the powder room tile. I wonder if mattamy would at least put a transition between the powder and foyer tiles -- won't hurt us to ask I guess.


Correct, everywhere except the study. We like the Nevada stain, and prefer the thinner plank width for the diagonal look. (Btw we do also want to do something with the study, perhaps a darker wide-plank hardwood straight across or perhaps a darker cork ... something different to break up the look anyway, just not sure exactly what yet.)



That's great. Thanks again patrob!

I am wondering if anyone has any thoughts on hardwood staircases in regards to safety?

There will be adults living in my home but some friends have said that if I plan on selling my house in the future, hardwood staircases might be a turnoff for families with young kids who might slip and get hurt running up and down the stairs. A friend who has a five year old has not had a problem with her son going up and down the stairs though.

I would not personally install a runner to get the hardwood look but also be safe. And as they are expensive to have installed, potential buyers might not be interested in incurring that cost, too.

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