Completely and utterly disappointed in our new hardwoods

9 years ago

In March we had Somerset Hickory Ember engineered flooring installed. Beautiful looking product. However, I'm very disappointed with the quality. We have a yellow lab whose nails are cut often and I know scratches will happen, but our ENTIRE flooring is covered with surface level scratches. In the light you can see them... they go all different directions. Apparently the Somerest flooring is "scratch resistant" but it doesn't appear that way.
In addition, whenever I wipe my floors with water or (Somerset brand) cleaner, the paper towel is completely "dirty" looking and I don't think it's dirt, but rather the finish coming off.
Does this sound like a quality problem? I reached out to the vendor I purchased from (True Hardwoods) but my sales guy is out of the office but when he gets back, he can get in touch with Somerset.
It's so hard to look at our floors... almost 1800 square feet and $22K worth... and not be disappointed every time I walk in the house.

Featured Answer

PRO

Cancork Floor Inc.

9 years ago

The Aluminum Oxide (AO) UV cured finish is one of the best "scratch resistant" floors out there. Scratch RESISTANT is just that...resistant not "proof". It helps REDUCE scratches...not get rid of them completely. I would say that AO finishes reduce scratches by 90%. The fact that you see the scratches in a "certain" light tells me they are doing their job. We call them, and you describe them as "surface scratches" - that's exactly what they are...surface scratches. The "go in a different direction" is because the golden lab was running (or scrambling) in a "different direction".

This surface scratching is normal. It is supposed to be there. It tells us that the finish is taking all the abuse yet the wood underneath is happy, happy. No damage...just 'surface' scratches.

And the "dirty" cloths are just that. Dirty. The colour of your floor (charcoal gray) makes it feel like the blackish/brown colour on the cloth is the stain...but it is not. It is dirt.

I know you don't feel that way, but AO finishes SEAL the stain into the floor. These are not Oiled floors where the oil can be rubbed off. These are fully sealed (ie. the stain is locked in underneath MULTIPLE layers of UV cured aluminum oxide...as many as 9 layers for some floors). The chances that you are "rubbing off" the colour is EXTREMELY low (lower than 0.001%...like obscenely low).

I'm sorry you don't like how your floors are reacting...but everything you describe is normal for both hardwood, Aluminum Oxide and dogs with dirty paws. I'm sorry but this is not a quality issue. This is normal for hardwood.

Good luck. I hope you can learn to enjoy the floor - scratches and all.

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Comments (8)

Cadyren
9 years ago
We installed Homerwood Solid Natural Hickory back in 2012. I had 2 and now 1 -36 pound Springers & we too have the surface scratches in many places. We installed the busy floor to hide scratches & it does just that, but in a certain light I can see the scratches. Much worse are the gravel scratches in the walkway made by 2 people whose shoes are clean!!! Hickory is super hard, but the AO finish does scratch & we have learned to live with it. I mop with Bona periodically, but if I wipe something up it is still dirty. I hand wiped the entire dining room & kitchen with Bona & I bet it will still show dirt when water is wiped up. Still would take this over hard tile floor or carpet that traps all kinds of stuff. Love the wood!
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glennsfc
9 years ago
Surface marring of a film-forming finish over wood is to be expected. It matters little is the product was finished at a factory with a state of the art material or finished on site with a quality material. Any floor made of any 'hard' material will show marring from use...nature of the beast.
dchall_san_antonio
9 years ago
My floor from 1939 was 3/4-inch thick oak. We had it resurfaced and refinished (for the first time) in 2009. In the areas not covered with rugs it shows indentations from dog toenails and anything else that went through. I would not call these scratches because the surface varnish was not removed or damaged. It was just the wood underneath has marks.
glennsfc
9 years ago
dchall-san-Antonio... A complete sanding ought to be able to remove indentations, scratches and other surface damage to wood flooring, except...perhaps...serious and deep pet urine. I only occasionally would work a wood floor where deep scratching or other damage remained.
PRO
mdln
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
A major reason I went with site finished HW was because scratches are not nearly as noticable. While AO finish helps prevent scratches, when they occur - they are so much more noticable. I scratched many sample wood floors before making my choice. ✂
PRO
User
9 years ago
We always recommend a dry swiffer and ammonia-free windex to clean just about every floor we install. We've honestly never had an issue with that product. As far as scratches go... being that your floors aren't solid, but engineered, I wouldn't rush into sanding any time soon. Depending on the wear layer, theres [most likely] only one time you can sand and refinish them. There is, however, always the screen and re-coating option. Thats where we don't sand any of the wood, but rather remove the surface-finish [the poly, or in your case, aluminum oxide finish]. The only thing about that is a site-finished floor with regular polyurethane, isn't as durable as the pre-finished aluminum-oxide finish that you currently have now. So the scratches are still going to keep coming back as long as your planning on keeping your pet. There are such things as doggy booties/socks, that many pet owners use when they have hardwood floors installed. Amazon even has them. That might be a good idea for your pet. It would greatly reduce the scratching. This way, if you do decide to screen and re-coat your floors, you won't run into the same issue so quickly.

Well, I hope this helped! Good Luck!

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Lori B
9 years ago
Erica L, Possible for you to post some pictures? I'm considering engineered hardwood with either normal or oiled finish or a nice luxury vinyl plank. I also have dogs, and about 2.8K of flooring to replace so taking my time with this decision and the $'s add up quickly.