The Ultimate Question..?

AcademyHardwood

Finished or Unfinished Hardwood.. Which is the one to choose. A good friend of mine (also a contractor) believes that there is no difference between prefinished and unfinished woods. For he insists that even if unfinished hardwood is cheaper, you will end up spending the equal amount on the labor. Whereas in buying a prefinished Hardwood, there is half the labor involved (staining, finishing etc.).

My question is.. is it better to spend more on prefinished hardwood and engage in less labor OR is it better to buy unfinished Hardwood for cheap and invest in twice the labor ?

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pgc555

A consideration you may need to look at, if you use unfinished and then have it stained, is if you have the ability stay off the entire area for multiple days while the floor is sanded and then poly applied. Unfinished flooring that is sanded does become a smoother floor. Based on the fact that it is sanded together. All pre-finished floors have to be engineered with an "eased" edge. Which means you are able to see and feel a small seam between each row of boards. One advantage of pre-finished is that you may move furniture onto it as soon as it's installed.Allowing you to move across the room without having to completly empty it. Your right about it being the ultimate question.

finaltouchfloor

Does your friend give a 30 year warranty on finish like the engineered manufacturer does?

Floordude

That is not a true statement.

There are many square edge prefinished floors. Your going to pay a premium for them, if you don't want some slight overwood.
Lauzon comes to mind.

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Cdat

It's easy to offer a warrenty you never plan on honoring. With normal wear and tear and depreciating value and whatnot, those warrenties are nothing but sales hype.

cbfx3

All the ones Ive dealt with are of the "eased edge" variety. Bottom line.. site finished ones look better to me if done by a really good floor guy

Floordude

Site finished or prefinished? Can you tell from a standing position?

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the big 12 inch

Those pics make it tough to tell...but I'll go with prefinished..If I was there live,I could tell just by feel..

finaltouchfloor

Its obvious its a sand n finish, no bevels.

CDAT , I've had bellawood,schon, mohawk, and anderson replace floors that failed & paid for installation.

Floordude

That is a prefinished engineered Hickory, square edge, and once installed everyone thought it too was a solid, sand & finish job, except the homeowners who bought the wood.

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Floordude

Prefinished, or site finished?

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Teetorbilt

It pretty much boils down to the $$$$'s and situation.

Site finished is a lot more labor for a small advantage, if any.

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Floordude

Prefinished, square edge Lauzon, engineered.

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fast pasquale

Good luck on getting the manufacture on board with that warranty.. Read the exceptions that void the warranty..

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