Hardwood floors

[JohnMickish]

For you guys "in the know", what is the difference, if any, between the flooring sold at the big box stores and the flooring sold at flooring stores?

I am specifically talking pre-finished hardwood and pre-finished engineered products here, not laminate. Same name brands and same warranty. Is there a real difference in product, quality of pieces or is just the price different?

Thanks.

[Chad Peterson]

John, there is no difference in either way you buy them. The flooring store knows more about what they are selling and maybe the price will be a little more.

[Tom7227]

We just spent a lot of time shopping at real flooring stores plus one of the kids is an interior designer and dealt with flooring. From what I was able to learn yes there is a difference. The easiest to see was the thickness of the top layer in the various products. Then there is the issue of snap together or ones with a tongue and grove. A big issue is how you intend to install it and what it is going over. If you hire out the installation the glued down is more expensive. We were putting it over concrete in what was a former garage. Ton of issues about whether the floor was flat enough and a major pain finding someone to fix it.

For what it's worth we ended up with a product made by Mirage and putting it down over a mat. It got spendy even with the discount the designer daughter was able to negotiate.

[buckeyes08]

We just spent a lot of time shopping at real flooring stores plus one of the kids is an interior designer and dealt with flooring. From what I was able to learn yes there is a difference. The easiest to see was the thickness of the top layer in the various products. Then there is the issue of snap together or ones with a tongue and grove. A big issue is how you intend to install it and what it is going over. If you hire out the installation the glued down is more expensive. We were putting it over concrete in what was a former garage. Ton of issues about whether the floor was flat enough and a major pain finding someone to fix it.

For what it's worth we ended up with a product made by Mirage and putting it down over a mat. It got spendy even with the discount the designer daughter was able to negotiate.

I agree as a contractor I have seen and know that companies make a lesser product for the big stores and more quality for other stores. I've seen it in other products too. Just have to decide if you can live with the lesser or not?