Hey guys, for those who have experience with the Royal oak, can you please elaborate on the problems and whether there was any resolution? I am looking at it right now too. Photos would be great, I am also concerned about high color variation. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Has anyone installed and lived with Hallmark Floors (Alta Vista Collection, in Coronado) flooring? We've fallen in love with our samples but are wondering about how it wears, etc. Can anyone chime in on this line from Hallmark?

eastbaymomof4, carynia, or anyone else... did you end up putting in the Hallmark Alta Vista Coronado? I've read some mixed reviews about scratching and would like some more input! Thank you....

We knew of several people who installed the Alta Vista Coronado and had issues with stain rubbing off under protected chair legs after just a few months. They look beautiful initially but we didn't want to take a chance on having problems so we changed our minds and went with the reputable Canadian Mirage hardwood in Knotty Walnut Savanna which turned out so lovely. Our contractor still has protective paper over it and we're not moved in yet so I can't give any feedback on how it wil wear but so far we like it a lot. Mirage is costlier but we managed to get it on a promo deal so that helped, and we like that we're purchasing goods made in North America instead of China or Vietnam which are two current sources for Hallmark floors even though they have a main office in California. Just something to consider, but the quality concerns were a big deterrent and influenced our final decision. Good luck with whatever you do! I'll attempt to post a pic or two here.

Here's a pic of Mirage Knotty Walnut Savanna in solid hardwood, kind of a medium/dark brown. The finish is actually a matte they call Cashmere and it has a nice non-glossy look and feels good underfoot, just looks a little shiny here due to the bright sunlight sunlight pouring in! Hope this helps :)

carynia,

Thank you for addressing my exact concerns. Your floors look beautiful. I am in South Florida; and though engineered wood is recommended, I see Mirage has the same finishes in both solid and engineered wood. Funnily enough, the store I am going to today carries Mirage, Duchateau, and Anderson... but not Hallmark. I will certainly check them out. Why did you decide to go with solid wood? I am so tempted, but don't know if that would be a problem here in Florida.

We've always liked the idea of solid wood because it's the 'real thing' and lesser quality manufacturers often produce engineered wood with toxic stuff in the glues, etc. In researching we learned of the benefits of engineered wood and wouldn't hesitate to go that route if purchasing from a high quality manufacturer meeting all the 'green' standards. This time we went with solid hardwood mainly because Mirage had it priced a little less expensive than their engineered product. If we were in Florida we wouldn't hesitate to use an engineered wood product from Mirage. Good luck to you!

So the follow-up... fell in love with Duchateau Seine. It is really beautiful. Now the question is... glue-down or nail? :)

If you can nail instead of glue I would definitely choose nail. The glue tends to get on the floors and can be messy. Plus a good glue costs a small fortune. Hope this helps!

We did glue down and no matter how hard we tried that glue was left somewhere in many spots throughout the house. It is a pain!

Hope to see photos!

@mojoro Congrats on your decision (the hardest part)! Be sure to post pics once it's installed, DuChateau makes beautiful floors! :)

Thanks for the advice aktillery9 . We'd have to put in a plywood subfloor if we nail down, so I'm guessing that might even be more $ than the glue? I'll get the breakdown. Any other advantages/disadvantages either way?

I will definitely post some photos, though it may be awhile since we are just breaking ground!

carynia, I liked the DuChateau originally, but somehow got sidetracked with the Hallmark - thought it was almost as nice, and I would save some $$. But the quality issue and worry about it scratching was too much. I went in to the store yesterday with an open mind, but turns out that my first love was my true love :)

I just saw the D&M Royal Oak and am seriously considering for our new place. The Terra Cotta is what we're leaning towards. Love the look and think it will wear well with our dogs. Where should I look to find it more in the $6 range?

Found this YouTube video of the royal oak canewood floors. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8B3W7KdJ88A

We have a sample of it at home and love the colors. I read on a site that the durability is only 3 out of 5 which concerns me a bit since I have two young kids. Anyone who has this flooring installed have issues with scratching or chipping?

We've decided on a Johnson Hardwood (won Best in Show) It's a french oak, wire scraped, 7 1/2 " wide and just a truly beautiful floor http://www.johnsonhardwood.com/products/alehouse/blonde.html

aktillery9 and others, How is the Cabana Brown Royal Oak Flooring working Out? I am curious to see if you are happy with the product and what issues you are having?

We love it! its held up to a lot of mess too! I would definitely recommend it!

Here is a photo...

gw · More Info

Aktillery9. Thank you for posting about your floors. Can you please share the regular maintenance you do on them? My contractor is recommending we stay away from oiled floors.

I wouldn't put engineered floors in my home now. I put engineered floors in one rm about 20 yrs ago. They scratch very easy and do not stand up to heavy traffic very well. I had them sanded down to bare wood and then restained with a better, more durable finish. Hardwood floors are an investment. Spend the extra $ and get something that is tough and will last. You won't be sorry that you did.

DuChateau, Hallmark, Palladio, Castilian, and Johnson are all made in China. And they are all good!

Michelle, we didn't end up using Royal Oak, I was spooked by some of these comments. We ended up installing a Shaw product, it's call Argonne Forest Oak. The wood itself cost $5.80/sf, I thought it was pretty reasonable. We've had it for 2 years now and I really like it.

I have had the cabana brown in my house for over two years now. There are some places with the white side streaking that you mentioned. However, those are from the crappy installers in our closet. Other than that, the floors look fabulous.

Update - we purchased Duchateau Riverstone Seine and have had it in for about a year now. We installed it in all the bedrooms but not the high traffic areas, and it still looks perfect!

I just looked up your flooring mojoro. It is gorgeous! Glad to hear it is wearing so well.

I have had Canewood installed for about two years and I love my floors. It's held up pretty well with 2 kids (4 & 7) but we are fairly gentle inside the house.

Here's a picture taken at night with standard canned lighting.

I bought most of it from macfloor.com and then a small portion from hardwoodbargains.com

I hope this helps. The first website sold it for less than hardwood bargains.

we used the Royal Oak Urban Gray and it looks great. Color does not show dust. Texture is nice under foot. Easy to install. I would definitely use it again

Beware! We had the DM Royal Oak flooring installed and even asked at the time of installation if we should apply additional finish. We were told no. The finish started failing after only about 6 months. We are a two-person household with no pets and take our shoes off at the door. Since our flooring was the Khaki, which has whitewash in the grain, we are now undergoing a complex refinishing job that is costing us many thousands of dollars. I wish we had bought something else.

We installed Royal Oak Canewood about 4 years ago and it's gorgeous. Doesn't show dog scratches at all from two labs. Unfortunately, I think there was a little bit of glue residue after it was installed (all over the house) and dirt has accumulated in those spots. Does not come out! Also, one of the dogs got chicken grease out of the trash and all over the wood floors. I'm currently looking for someone who can maybe absorb it out of there. Looks like grease paw prints all over.

Has anyone installed Royal Oak’s Monte Carlo European Oak floor from their Luxe Line? How do you like it?

@chriztineh I’d love to know how you fixed your floors. Our D&M floors look like yours. We got a quote of almost $7k to clean and reoil them with no guarantee they will look mich better. help!

The guys who came and refinished our floors wire brushed the areas where the whitewash had come out and then applied a white paint? which they then squeegeed off. I think that was the hardest part. There are some areas where there is a bit of a whitish cast on the floor, where presumably they couldn't get all of it off. it's very faint, not that noticeable, and looks much better than it did before. Then they did a light sanding (has to be light, otherwise it could remove the whitewashing) and applied a Bona finish. See attached picture.

We had bought extra D&M flooring originally so we could use in our yet-to-be-built addition and it would match the existing floors. We had two coats of additional finish applied to these floors and they have held up just fine. it's just unfortunate that you have to do that with a "pre-finished floor." In fact, when we originally purchased it i asked if we should apply an additional coat of finish and they said no, it doesn't need it. As you and i both know now, it very much does. I hope this helps.

@chriztineh Did the extra finish change the color of flooring at all?

No it didn’t, and it seems to be very durable. I wish we had done this to begin with. I mean I really wish we hadn’t bought the flooring, but it looks nice now!

Anyone put in Royal Oak Luxe Line? We're thinking of Cantebury or Monaco.

@Marla Fields We are considering the same Royal Oak Luxe Line floors; Cantebury & Monaco. Would love feedback on them!

@christineh Christine which Royal Oak Floor line/Color did you buy? Considering the Luxe Line in Canterbury or Monaco. Thanks for sharing your experience.

The one we bought was called Khaki, but it’s the quality of the finish and workmanship and the dismal customer service that’s the issue. In that case it won’t matter which color you order. Instead, why not buy something from a reputable company that takes pride in their workmanship and stands behind their products?

Be sure to read earlier posts: finish wears off within months and company totally unresponsive

@chriztineh we are getting ready to install new D&M floors. We are looking at going the same route you did to be safe. Do you know if they did anything to prep the floors before applying the finish? I'm worried it will fail if we just apply directly to the factory finish.

Yes, they had to sand it lightly and then carefully remove all dust and residue. I don’t get why you are buying this flooring to begin with though. I would never have bought it if I had known how poor the finish was and that the company didn’t care or stand behind their product. In the end, we spent much more than we would have if we had just bought a better product. There are quality wood and engineered floors out there. Why don’t you give them your business? I posted my experinece so that people could learn from my mistakes, not repeat them. 🙁

@chriztineh we would go with different floor but we have the same situation as you. We already installed them a couple of years ago in one level of our house. We haven't had any issues with those but that level gets very light use. This install is going in on the main level so we want to be sure we don't have any issues. If we had not already purchased and installed the other level, we would probably go with a different floor.

Chriztineh, thank you for sharing your experience. We are looking at the Royal Oak line as well. We have been scouring the internet so we can determine if we will have issues with this company - and again, we really appreciate your comments. That said, I am wondering if they have changed something. It seems that old posts about their products indicate an UV cured oil finish, while the product we are looking at has UV cured polyurethane. Do you know what you had?

@chriztineh, thank you for sharing your experience. We are looking at the Royal Oak line as well. We have been scouring the internet so we can determine if we will have issues with this company - and again, we really appreciate your comments. That said, I am wondering if they have changed something. It seems that old posts about their products indicate an UV cured oil finish, while the product we are looking at has UV cured polyurethane. Do you know what you had?

@amykath, thank you so much for sharing your experience. there are so few posts about this company. We love their Royal Oak floor and are hoping to purchase it. It sounds like some people have had an issue with the finish. I was hoping to find old posts like yours that would tell me how the floor does over time. However, I am concerned that some of the older floors perhaps had a UV cured oil finish, and the new floors are using a UV cured urethane? I'm not sure, but I know that the floor we are looking at uses urethane. Do you know what your floor uses? How is it holding up?? Do you live in an area where humidity drops? We are in Chicago and it easily will drop to 20% in the winter. We do use a humidifier to keep it above 30%, but curious how this floor holds up.