I’m no flooring expert by far, but have done a lot of research in my quest for flooring. There are a couple companies that make a thick veneer engineered product. Uptown floors is one of them. They have a 5mm wear layer and offer both prefinished and unfinished I think. I have very limited experience dealing with them, but remember they were one of the few places I looked into. I did talk to one of their salesmen on the phone, he was very nice, not pushy at all, and seemed to be knowledgeable about wood flooring in general.

If cost is not a factor, I would go with the thicker wear layer. That way you never have to worry about not being able to refinish them. The thicker wear layer allows you to refinish as many times as a solid hardwood.

There are a few companies that offer the same, google “thick wear layer engineered hardwood”. Good luck!!

swhughes:

That was me you spoke to. Also me in the video above. Uptown is a very small company and I'm the only 'salesman', but dislike the title. I've handled practically every facet of hardwood flooring going back to the early 90's. Or a time when there were only a half dozen prefinished manufacturers. Yes, you could count them on ten fingers.

I'll be frank. Although I do offer a higher quality engineered, it is accurate many do not need a thick wear layer engineered. However, I find the majority of my customers are looking for higher quality and resist buying the 2-3 mm stuff because they're actually priced the same or higher. Reason? High retail markup.

"They claim the factory UV aluminum oxide finish is so hard and strong..." Don't let these comments fool you. Anything will scratch. It's a wood floor.

Ken Fisher

Custom color matching can be an option.

Thanks all! To Aayers and Uptown, the "look" we are liking best is the Shaw Floors Gramercy Park in Vanderbilt. Our biggest problem has been we don't want to go wider than 5" planks, we don't want a rustic finish with lots of knots, and we like the matte look. Do either of you have anything similar? Of course when I google Shaw, I get lots of negative reviews, probably due in part to the size of the company and range of products.

Din you look at Mirage: https://www.miragefloors.com/ENG/hardwood-flooring-white-oak-white-mist-light-character/ ?

Or Lauzon: https://lauzonflooring.com/hardwood-flooring/chelsea-cream-white-oak-flooring-designer-urban-loft/?

Or Owens? https://www.hoskinghardwood.com/Hardwood-Floors/Owens-Plank-Flooring/5-IN-Engineered-Planks-Prefinished.aspx?sId=2945

If money wouldn't be an issue I would select one of these brands.

Thanks, Oana! None of the stores in town carry these brands. It's looking like I'll either need to specially order a different brand or roll the dice with one in town...

What about Du Chateau?

DuChateau is oiled I think.

CF, I feel your pain. I have not been able to find even ONE brand that I like, carried locally. It looks like I will be ordering mine online.

I think www.hoskinghardwood.com lets you order samples too, both for owens and lauzon. And Mirage lets you order samples from their website: https://www.miragefloors.com/ENG/samples/

Mirage -$20 for five samples I think. Craft floors - 4 samples free. Nygree Floors - 2or 3 free I think.

"we don't want a rustic finish with lots of knots, and we like the matte look"

Have that. Harder to find these days with the rage for character type hardwoods.

3 to 8 1/4" width, you choose. Choose the sheen level too.

3 1/4" White Oak

4 & 7 1/4" random - kind of different

Stair treads and any other mill work too. This one is shown in character.

"Have that. Harder to find these days with the rage for character type hardwoods."

I am the same. I can't understand why anyone wants open knots and such in their floor. :-( It really has made finding a floor quite difficult when you also factor in the desire for something on the lighter side. I looked at your selections (and I do see a few that I might like) and your engineered prices are higher than the solids...I have not seen that before. Is that where pricing is headed now?

Chess, we have the rustic-style site-finished hardwood right now, and the knots seem so gross to me. Stuff gets in them and you know it's never coming out... I do like how well the "character" hides scratches and dirt though!

There is unfinished engineered flooring available. You can have it site-finished with polyurethane or oil in matte. Unfinished flooring allows more customization in finishing compared to prefinished flooring.

"engineered prices are higher than the solids...I have not seen that before. Is that where pricing is headed now?"

• Likely because you haven't seen a 3/4" engineered hardwood and it's not mass produced. Most of what's out there is 3/8" to 1/2 inch overall thickness creating a lower cost to produce.

• G&S mentioned unfinished as an option for some.

Ah...didn’t think about the total width. Good point!

Good quality engineered has always been more expensive than solid. It has more man hours in production. And it’s a much better product. Just because something is solid doesn’t make the quality at all good. That’s the wood snobbery and prejudice bit that uneducated consumers eat up from hacks trying to sell them garbage that isn’t suited to their site conditions.

You need to be shopping at the stores where your professional installers shop. They don’t go to Homey Despot. Find s great installer and have him send you to where he shops. He will want to purchase the floors in order to maintain the warranty chain and ensure quality control over a job. And that includes the required prep. A great installer will talk to you about the needed floor prep on the front end.

Only the low rent bottom of the barrel “floor guys” guys will show up, do no moisture testing, no prep, and install seconds garbage from seconds retailers like Gloor and Decor or Limber Liquidstors.