Why I Would NOT Recommend My Floors
I get a lot of compliments on these floors.
And I get it, the colour is gorgeous- it's raw white oak in a brushed texture. The variation is pretty awesome. It's not too knotty but not too plain either. I thought I had picked the perfect engineered hardwood.
Now before I start spilling the tea, I want to preface this by saying that I am not a flooring expert nor am I a designer by trade. I'm a home owner who loves home decor and have had only one other experience with ordering engineered hardwood. If you have technical questions regarding floors, I am sadly not the person to ask.
I'm just here to share my personal experiences regarding the floors I ordered and to give my review.
I debated for a few months whether to even share my woes because I don't want to give a terrible review publicly to a company but I DO want to warn my community about using them. So here's my compromise, if you're ordering floors and want to stay away from what we got, shoot me a private message and I'll share the company.
In thekwendyhome 2.0 I proudly shared where my floors were from (they were Hickory floors by Mercier Flooring) because I loved them and would actually recommend the company and the floors themselves. (We ordered those in 2017 by the way.)
We initially wanted to order Mercier Flooring again for the new house because of how beautiful they are and they were such great quality. But when we walked into the showroom, we were informed that they had stopped carrying this brand and recommended one that they said were even better.
After shopping around and comparing quality and prices, I settled for our floors in the colour I like in raw white oak. The sample we got was solid and looked great. After some shipping delays our floors arrived. (I have no issues with companies delivering later due to shipping delays- it is entirely understandable in these unprecedented times.) .
However, the first red flag for us was the unrealistic timeline we were given. They said our floors would be ready in a few weeks because it was a more expensive range and therefore less people order it and they had stock. And because we were working with a tight timeline, we ordered the more expensive option to avoid this. This turned out to be completely false and we got the floors in the same timeframe as we would've if we had ordered the cheaper option
The second red flag came when it was time to install our floors. Our floor installers informed us that they had never worked with such terrible quality before. He showed me how the boards underneath the hardwood was peeling off. It looked like really poor quality wood and he was able to just shred it with his finger nails. I was appalled. They had already installed 50% of the floors at this point before I was informed. (I don't know why they didn't tell me sooner but what's done is done. Truth be told, I just wanted to move in and be done at this point anyway.)
But even if I was told sooner, what could I have done? Our renovations were so far behind at this point- our lease was ending and winter was coming. Plus we wouldn't be able to return the floors and I would have to wait another 3 months or longer for our floors.
They kept installing the floors and I kept hearing my team of guys remark on how bad the material of the floors are. They said in all their years of installing floors they have never encountered anything like this. When they held up a floor plank, it bent so far back I thought it was capable of snapping!
And before you think that this is normal for engineered hardwood, I know factually that it is not! I did research on it back in 2017 when I first ordered it and never had this problem or complaint. It is important to note that this is the SAME group of contractors that I had hired for this house too! So I completely trusted them and I know their workmanship.
When we were 90% done the floor install, I was informed that there was not enough. Even with the extras that I had ordered, we were still missing a good portion of the dining room. I was told by my installers that because the wood quality was so poor, a lot of times they would make a cut and the hardwood or the floor plank would splinter to the point it was not usable so they had a lot of waste.
So I ordered another two or three boxes to compensate and it took another few weeks to come in. By the time the floors were all laid, I was very unimpressed with the brand we chose.
But to make matters worse, our general contractor levelled with me and said that he didn't think these floors would last as long as we would hope. Now I don't have a crystal ball and can't tell you how these will hold up but that declaration does not have me in high hopes. Who knows how long these floors will last.
Our working theory (my contractors' and mine) is that due to the supply chain issues and lack of man power during the pandemic, the company that was once known for its good workmanship might have had to settle for lesser materials. They still charged the same prices (actually I'm pretty sure the prices rose but neither here nor there and to be honest, I can understand that too!) but I was given a sample in the show room and one to take home that did not reflect the current product quality or what I received in the end.
K and I always try to pick good products that will last and to support local/ Canadian companies even knowing that it will cost a premium. So I am quite disappointed in this experience and feel horrible for spending so much money on floors that are not good quality. What a waste of resources for a subpar product.
I tried to never make mention of my floors but I have gotten daily direct messages on Instagram requesting the brand, make, colour of these floors. And I get it. They LOOK beautiful. But it's the only consolation I have.
I pride myself in only ever giving my community great recommendations and would never want anyone to spend money (let alone tens of thousands of dollars) on something that I cannot in good conscience recommend. So next time anyone asks what my floors are, this is the blog I will direct them to. I feel like I'm coming clean with a confession or something even though I didn't do anything wrong. I'm not gate keeping a product or withholding information, I was just trying to share in a way that was prudent, informative and not bash a company publicly. It's just not who I am.
So yeah, thanks for reading about my woes on the tale of my floors. Now you know.
Love,
