I've also wondered about Toklo, and BuildDirect. Have posted a couple of times asking about BuildDirect, but didn't hear from anyone who had used it. Anybody know anything about Toklo or BuildDirect?

I'm considering using Toklo from BuildDirect, too. I ordered and just received samples of the 14mm in three different colors, and from the small samples, it seems decent.

However, I'm not comfortable placing an order for 1600 sq.ft. based on those tiny samples, so just today I ordered a box of each style. (I also ordered a box of 10mm KSwiss laminate.) I want to get a better idea of the color and see how well the boards click together. Everything should arrive in a couple of weeks, so I'll let you know what I think once I get the boxes.

Pierreone, I liked the samples i got. I look forward to hearing about how larger pieces fit.

I also got some Lamton 12mm samples. They don't fit together as well, but it could be that the machining on different style finishes varies. One thing I like about Lamton is that they come as single plank strips.

mrs517

In the 4th paragraph I meant to type 3-7/8" not 3-3/8".

Hi,

I am considering Toklo 12mm (sumba teak). I would appreciate any information on this brand.

Pierreone, you mentioned that boards were crushed in one corner. Did you have the same problem with the pallet order? Thanks

- PK

So what is the trick to getting them to send some individual boxes ... I was looking into buying around 1700 sq ft, but I wanted to buy an individual box first to get a better feel. They said I couldn't order an individual box. WTF? I understand why they might sell at a much higher price for an individual box, but gheeze, do they really expect me to buy their product based on a tiny sample?

Pierreone - We too are looking at the Tokyo Espresso for the home we are building - love the dark tones. I'm anxious to hear what you think once you take the plunge - keep us posted!

Anyone tried this yet? Would love to hear any feedback on the Toklo brand.

Just a couple of observations about the Toklo product at Build Direct...

I was considering ordering the Toklo product, as well. However, I just checked their website and it says that "most containers take 8-10 weeks from time payment is received." Has anyone ordered a full floor instead of samples - and if so, did it take that long? Seems like an awful long time. If that is the case, that may be your determining factor (as it is for me - I need the product within 2 weeks).

Also, I find it interesting that there are so few comments from consumers on this independent website, but on their website there are tons of "5 star" reviews... hmmm...

The product may be good - and I'd be willing to take a chance, but the time frame does not work for me. I would still like to hear from others about the product.

Just to note that a container is close to 17,000 sq ft. A pallet only takes 5-15 days from what I'm reading.

Hey everyone,

I helped to launch the Toklo line and have been with BuildDirect for three years.

As nevea pointed out, if you want an international container than you will be waiting a couple of months. But, if you're looking for a pallet or two, it's about two weeks depending on availability of the product you've chosen. That difference between container and pallet confuses a lot of single buyers, we've found. We're working on how to better communicate it.

Thanks for the discussion here, folks. It's been interesting to read it.

Cheers!
Rob.

Here is a link that might be useful: More laminate flooring from BuildDirect.

We just ordered the Toklo 14mm Tokyo Espresso. Ordered about 800 s.f. on a THursday, it was in town at the delivery terminal on the following Tuesday, much faster than we were expecting or prepared for actually. The flooring itself looks good, good quality, no damage. We haven't installed it yet. We plan to lay the floor Labor Day weekend.

Only issue we have had so far is that the standard "end-molding" was not available in the Espresso. T-moldings, reducers, quarter-round, but not end-molding. We'll be using reducer or t-molding where it would normally have called for end-molding.

Would love to hear from anyone who has had experience installing and living with Toklo.

Rob - where is Toklo manufactured? Just curious.

Hi t-mac-mo and others,

Toklo is produced in Malaysia using German equipment, with factories set up and overseen by German engineers who want to keep quality high. So effectively, it's a European product at an Asian price.

One aspect they focus on is resistance to moisture in every board, which is kind of helped out by the fact that the locking system is licensed by Pergo. It's the locking system which is the most vulnerable point in a laminate floor, so tests have been done to make sure that it performs exceptionally well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Toklo laminate flooring product information and testing

Has any of you folks that ordered this for your home, installed it and lived with it yet? I would sure like to hear more about it if you have.

I like the Honduran Teak, but after reading the reviews, I am leary. Everyone seemed to say that the flooring itself is FAB, but that the moldings/trim don't match, that they're not made specifically for it. The last comment about this issue was in 2007, so I emailed Direct Build and asked if the issue has been resolved. I have not rec'd a response as of yet.

Thanks,
Boxie

Here is a link that might be useful: Honduran Teak Toklo

We just finished installing 14mm Tokyo Espresso from Toklo. The flooring itself was great, very high quality and out of the 800 s.f. we received, there was ONE damaged board. Excellent quality. Between the extra thickness of the board and the upgraded underlayment that we bought locally, the floor does not have the hollow,plastic sound that laminate usually does. We love it. It was more difficult to install than we thought it would be - mostly due to the water-resistant wax coating on joints. The coating is supposed to help with moisture issues, but it does require more force to get the joints to lock in properly.

The only issues that we had are what's noted above - the moldings just do not match, and the order form on website is very misleading in that regard. When you order, you're ordering Tokyo Espresso molding - but what you receive is "dark walnut." That was disappointing. It will work, it just picks up the lighter streaks in what is overall a very dark floor, but I would have preferred a match.

The customer service at BuildDirect is excellent and very responsive - we had an issue with the quarterround which was more off in color than the t-moldings and reducers - they sent "borneo teak." The supplier said they could not provide anything that was a closer match, so the customer service rep refunded the cost of the quarterround so we could try to find something better locally - while letting us keep what we had too.

Hello

I installed Toklo 10 mm in Siam Teak in a contiguous area including living & dining rooms, hallway & a closet in November 08.

Delivery was great, with no damaged pieces so far (I still have more for the upstairs, to be done later.) The sections clicked together nice and tight. Depending on the perspective it is often impossible to tell where the parallel joints are.

With a sharp blade, there is absolutely no chipping. The floor looks as good today as the day I finished the install (I have 2 young children). In my personal opinion, TOKLO is an excellent product. I would buy it again anyday.

Hope this helps anyone considering TOKLO.

Towtruck

Any pictures of the floors the above posters installed and are living on and any updated reviews? Does the product look like the samples? Was the shipping a lot? How many square feet are in a pallet? Does the floor look as real in person as in the pictures someone else posted of their Toklo Tropical Ginger floor that I found very pretty?

On the BuildDirect website, there's a PDF of moulding information. The T-moulding, stair-nose and most others are described as having a laminate, but the wall-base is described as "decorative paper".

I have visions of sliding a dresser along a wall (on felt pads, of course) and scraping off the paper.
What gives?

Thanks,
Infohound

PS. The colors that look good to me are the Siam Teak and the Natural Cherry. Both are on clearance. I'd love to see any photos of them installed, ...and any updates on how you like them.

Deckdude, Are there any manufacturing issues with those lines, that they're on clearance?... and how much extra do you think I should buy, assuming that line won't be around to repair any future damage. This will be for a 3,200 house.

anyone got pics?

this sounds good - I'd like to put it down in my den but that'd only be about 120 sq ft and their minimum is way more than that...if i liked it enough I'd probably put it in 2 bedrooms, LR/DR. that'd only be about 700 sq ft tho.

maybe I can find a smaller amount locally.

Greetings everyone.

I'm reviving this thread to see if anyone is willing to update their thoughts on this product/their install.

Any job pictures to add or link to?

I'm specifically looking at the Meranti color and I want very minimal transitions between this laminate flooring and my granite/travertine floors.

Thanks in advance!
Pepper

I don't know what flooring these other people got, but the Toklo flooring I got is junk.

The boards don't lock together tightly, and board height is inconsistent. I've already got several chips from furniture hitting against uneven planks.

You get what you pay for, IMHO.

@Bob-I am in total agreement with you. This floor is junk. We are laying 1200sqft and the locking system is absolutely terrible. The boards are all uneven and if you slide anything at all on it it will chip the raised board. We have had to use laminate glue to keep the majority of the board together because the boards won't lock together, but that doesn't help the uneven parts. The color of the boards are beautiful, but the appearance is awful.

DO NOT BUY THIS FLOORING!

Have just installed 1000sq/ft of the Toklo 12mm Antique Copper from Build Direct. Service there is good - nothing misleading. Flooring arrived on schedule(5 days)with no shipping damage. Laminated boards matched the samples I had recieved and evaluated.

I have never installed laminate flooring. This is the first I have used. I like them overall. They are 12mm thick. Have a nice feel and sound. Are very durable. Durring installation dropped tape measure, pull bar and hammer from waist high and no marks on the floor. They were laid on a not so even plywood subfloor and so far seem O.K. and somewhat forgiving. I agree with Bob that some of the end joints will not lay well and could chip up. The long side joins go togather well with a good amout of tapping.

Here is the reason I am glad we chose this floor. When we began the install, we disconected the washer and dryer and moved them out of the way. It took us 5 days to lay 1000 feet in 2 rooms, 2 closets, hallway, living and dinning room. We left for one week and came back to install mouldings. Upon our arrival we found the washer shut off valve had begun to leak. When I stepped in to turn off the leak, water came up through the boards. Sick - We vacumed all the water we could get to then raised one end and blew air under the rest. We just new we would have to take it up and start over. The next day - it all looked fine. No swelling, splitting or buckling.

Overall: happy with Build Direct and the 12mm Toklo flooring.

I too had ordered flooring from Build Direct. The flooring does chip easily as well as easily gouged if you drop something on it.
I bought these "furniture markers" and it helps covering up any scratches, dents, etc.
Was short on a few cartons (our fault with measuring) and called Build Direct. Was told since I bought from them already I could buy the 3 cartons I needed for a little higher than what they had been originally. However, they wanted almost $260.00 to ship 3 boxes. I told him that was ridiculous and would they ship it using my UPS acct. I was told "No problem" and he took my account number. 2 hours later I got an email saying that I need to either drive to PA to pick it up at their distribution center(6 hour drive from where I am at)or set up the shipping myself with UPS because (now get this people) "UPS picks up from us daily and they will charge us for your cartons" I replied with how could that be possible since they scan the labels put ON the boxes and it will be my account number on them? I also said how all of this was a load of crap and someone was dishing out a bunch of baloney. So I went ahead and set it up. 64.00 shipping charges from UPS. What ended up being sent to me from B.D was fully taped up old boxes that had nothing but reject pieces in them. Some even had dust cover. I sent Build Direct pictures of the garbage they sent me and the reply was "Looks like UPS damaged your boxes" (??!!) UPS could have DROPPED KICK THESE all the way here and those boxes would have been in better shape. They knew exactly what they were doing from the start with me. Since they couldn't make any money off of me from the shipping, they got it in another way. They told me that they would send me 3 more cartons but I had to pay for shipping again. Really?! They also said that this is why they NEVER ship flooring via UPS and warn their customers not to do it as well. Funny, I wasn't told that. I was told to just give my account number.
I ended up doing a search on the flooring. CSN stores online were selling exactly what I had for 40.00 shipping on 3 cartons. After I paid for it online I got a bit nervous and called CSN. I talked to a wonderful young man there and told him my concerns and the nightmare I've been having with B.D. I asked him where the flooring was shipping from, and YEP! coming from the SAME exact warehouse. I then told him that B.D told me how they refuse to ship their flooring via UPS (AND I have this in their email to me)and the guy was dumbfounded saying how that was not true at all and B.D out and out lied to me.
Bottom line. This flooring and Build Direct is JUST not worth the hell you WILL IN FACT endure if anything goes wrong. They could care less that they were going to lose a customer if they had to spend one dime. I am seriously thinking about starting a blog showing all the pictures I have taken of the crap they sent me trying to blame UPS.

James here from BuildDirect, I am the Director of Sales for the company and wanted to thank you for your feedback, and apologize for your negative experience.

Shipping through a courier such as UPS or FedEx is certainly more cost effective when shipping out in smaller quantities (2 -3 boxes). Unfortunately, due to the weight and box dimensions involved with transporting individual boxes of flooring, shipping in these smaller quantities often results in damaged product. As such, we do generally recommend that the product be shipped out via common courier to avoid risking damaged product and delaying customer projects. The bad news here is that couriers operate similar to taxi cabs in that they have a base minimum rate, which goes up incrementally dependent on product weight and pallet dimensions. We realize this is not a cost effective approach however it does generally result in product being delivered safely.

As a wholesaler we are set up logistically to ship out in large volume. Occasionally however, customers will fall short and need additional product, which we are more then willing to accommodate. Unfortunately in these instances, high shipping costs is a necessary evil.

If you have any further questions on this or any other matter, please feel free to contact BuildDirect at 877-631-2845 and one of our customer service representatives will be glad to assist you.

My own personal experience with builddirect involving another product has been terrible and ordering from them will have been the most expensive mistake I have ever made. Even after obtaining an opinion from a certified flooring inspector that my flooring was defective builddirect refuses to replace it.
They do not support their products even after a certified inspector has found it to be defective.

a serious problem with toklo laminate is there moulding/base/staire parts.i am a general contractor and it blows my mind that the length of many of the stair nose and misc.mouldings are only 78 inches long .even base board wooow!i was very interested in there products but with some costing $50 a piece and you would like to utilize the lin ft .at least in increments of 8 ft.what are they thinking??? i will not patronize stupidity .this does not happen with other products.gloss or no gloss.

Build direct seem to have a problem with out of stock! The toklo was NOT pattern was not evenly distributed in the boxes and with much diligence ended up with a dozen identical boards and now they are our of stock. Each boxc had at lease one of this pattern and some as many as 5. impossible to make random.

We've had 12m Toklo in our house since 2008 and it looks just as good now as it did when we put it in. We also had 2 100 lb dogs until late last year. We are getting ready to put it in the master bedroom. Wouldn't use any other brand.

I have some for sell.