I think you are talking about engineered flooring that floats like laminate over a pad. It pretty much sounds like laminate does when you walk on it, accept it has a wood wear layer.

I'm not aware of solid hardwood product available as a 'click" flooring. Engineered flooring and laminate do come in 'click" versions. Solid hardwood is generally nailed and sanded in place. I much prefer a real hardwood floor if it is in the budget.

It is totally real hardwood. The bamboo is also solid bamboo. Both are click. I also considered the engineered hardwood click for the basement, as I read it is better for areas where there might be slight dampness (the basement is dry, just being cautious).

Any suggestion? Should I get the nail/glue hardwood or bamboo instead? Or is the quality comparable?

http://www.lumberliquidators.ca/can/c/Castle-Park-Oak-Easy-Click-Virginia-Mill-Works-VMCP5/10022497

Looking at the material on the lumber liquidators website, I have to say it is sort of odd in appearance. The "planks" are made up of much smaller pieces and have a very defined edge that bears no relationship to the pieces in the field of the plank. The edges of each plank seemed darkened, creating a striped effect. Although it is solid wood, the hand scraped texture will reduce possible refinishings substantially. In fact, I have a hard time differentiating this flooring from an engineered product. If it was substantially lower in price I might consider it...but I doubt that to be the case. If you are in love with the look, my apologies...it is only my opinion.

Generally, the "click", or pre-finished hardwood is a less advantageous option than unfinished product. Reason being is that pre-finished hardwood has chamfered corners, which means a tiny 45 degree slant on the edges. If you had to sand that floor in the future, it will present problems with this chamfer getting bigger with every sanding. So if you're planning on staying in this house for over 10 years I'd say, go with unfinished wood. Otherwise, either option is fine.

All floors that are "click" in place are engineered.

Strand Bamboo is an engineered product, that has the qualities of a solid one too.

As such strand bamboo can have a click or floating design that allows refinishing down to the subfloor.

the engineered hand scraped hardwoods? well good luck refinishing those, many are just a couple of mils thick.

prefinished woods can , have some of the best toughest coatings on the market. When done correctly they out class and out last all site finished jobs. the process can allow the finish to be heated and cured much better than a site installer using the same materials.

I know that annoys site finish people, but they have the advantage of refinishing , resurfacing and creating an extremely smooth surface you just cannot get with prefinished.

If you actually go to Lowe's - they have two types of Bamboo - one for $2.19 per sf that is a nail down version, and a tongue/groove, click together to install version for $3.29 per sf. While they don't seem to consider Bamboo hardwood, it will outlast any engineered laminate. The bamboo in either of these examples had the same quality rating - but does the Click together type, float/expand in heat and cold, and or bend when you walk on it, vs. the Nail down version ? Does anyone have his Tongue/groove Click version of this Bamboo installed that can comment on it ? Exotic 5.35-in W Prefinished Bamboo Locking Hardwood Flooring (Natural)

• Easy locking installation; no glue, staples or nails required 3.29 psf

But for 2.19 psf, the other Bamboo is not as wide, but has to be installed by Nailing

Update to the update, there is such a thing... http://www.homedepot.com/p/Nuvelle-French-Oak-Mystic-5-8-in-Thick-x-4-3-4-in-Wide-x-Varying-Length-Click-Solid-Hardwood-Flooring-15-5-sq-ft-case-NV4SL/206634220

Does anyone have experience with installing and living with the prefinished true hardwood click together? Obviously stores are selling it, but I'm a little skeptical of it staying put. Can anyone with experience comment on it? The home depot Nuvelle french oak caught my eye.

Check the Home Depot website for the most reviews on Nuvellelock flooring that I've been able to find on the web. Mostly positive, some negative.

The primary cons have to do with board separation at joints and creaking. It is more expensive at $4.89/sqft, about $76/box which covers 15.5/sqft per.

I've purchased about 900 sqft of the French Oak Cognac. Wanted solid, not bamboo, didn't want to glue or nail. Really hoping this product works out...some trepidation...

Well, brooks_berardi, I gave it a shot. I opened several boxes and started to put them in place. Got about 60 sqft down and decided to stop. I won't recommend this product.

In my opinion it appears to be made from grade 3 oak planks due to the number of knots in it. This may be good for character on the surface, but many of the boards had knots on the locking edges, which left holes and gaps that would compromise the connection of the boards.

Also some of the long edges aren't straight, making visible gaps between the boards; every step creaks or pops and I believe my concrete slab is within the required 1/8" tolerance for the most part.

I'm contacting my retailer about returning it. I'm sure they won't be happy about such a large refund, but it is an inferior product.

My wife and I started laying this down in our upstairs November 2017. We are using Diamond Super Fast Click 1/2 Hardwood Amber Oak "Floors of Distinction". We ready mixed reviews on it and we haven't been a full year with it yet. My wife is in her 50's I'm in my 40's neither one of us have much home improvement experience and we found this product Super Easy to put down. We purchased about 750 square feet of this at a little over $4 a square foot from Menards. We got 2% back for using our Big Card and bought it on a day with 11% rebate so take off about $.40 a square foot in rebates. We had a bit of a disaster that I don't want to go into that forced us to remodel most of our upstairs and the insurance settlement didn't really afford much in the way of labor. So every contractor we talked to do this for us said it was too small a job. For 2 non-handy people to completely remodel 3 bedrooms 2 baths and a hallway ourselves that is a HUGE job to us. We were forced into it, we didn't want skimp on the floor quality, but we needed something we could "Figure Out". Turns out with some tips from You Tube , the People at Menards, and just thinking things through we are pretty good at it. It took us about a week to do the first room in small increments. We had to figure out the tools we needed, purchase them, how to take out carpet, tack boards, get staples out, lay the padding, cut door jambs, and get around closet door hinges, and do it all with a couple of yellow labs in our way constantly. We left the necessary expansion gap. We did defy the rules in one way. The majority of the suggestions are to use transitional pieces (thresholds) in doorways. We wanted the wood to flow through the whole floor. Our floors are relatively flat with a bit of slope in spots. There is unevenness but within the 1/8th per 10 foot tolerance etc. Anything that wasn't we used felt shingles or extra padding to flatten it out. We weren't perfect at it. The second room took us 2 days, because we figured it all out in the first room. The room was a bit larger, but also a bit complicated. When the boards would not click in place we figured out how to slide them in from the side and use the tapping block or flat bar to get them slid down and click. We LOVE the look. It's a butcher block style for sure, and yes you can see where the seems of the boards come together. What people call real wood is slimmer, but you know what, WHO CARES. REally all of the wood experts out there wax too nostalgically about laying the narrowers strips. The floor is Gorgeous, the seems were tight when we nudged them them into place. This is indeed real oak. It's just put together in butcher block strips and the key to the installation are the tongue and groove with a special Lip to grab on lips to hold the floor together during expansion and contraction. You can sand this and refinish it we checked into it prior to purchasing. It's not engineered, it's pretty much just the way they cut the tongues, grooves, and lips around the 4 edges. We read reviews about the finish being easily nicked, we haven't found that to be the case. Infact I think it may be because they either improved the finish, or we bought the oak product. I did see a lot of people complaining about the Bamboo more than the oak version we bought. The Bamboo complaints for Floors of Destinction seemed to be centered around separation, moisture, humidity. We're going with a theory on our installation. We live in the Midwest and we are installing this in the Fall and Winter Months when the house tends to be dryer. When the humidity comes and the wood expands it will be outward. Hopefully when it dries back up again in the fall and winter the contraction is back to the original installation positions (if the lips work the way they are supposed to). I did read that the ideal installation is a humidity level somewhere in between but during the summer we run the air conditioner and tend to keep things dryer anyway. Time will tell. It is indeed 1/2 - 5/8 inch real oak wood. It is indeed easy to install, ( chop of miter saw, jig saw for the odd cuts, utility knife for the padding, some painters tape perhaps, "FAT MAX" pull style jamb saw don't mess around with a saw you have laying around get a pull jamb saw or reciprocating saw, flat bar and tamping block, plastic spacers). That is what you need, an old lady (she did 60% of the work btw) and a middle aged guy can do this. Take your time, if your frustrated take a break or finish it another day. We took our time because you are able to use the floor right away. You don't have to wait for settling, drying or anything. Once you line up the first row your off and running. you can sand it up to 3 times before your down near the tongue and groove. We love the look, we even love the feel walking on it. One thing we noticed is all of the little hills and valleys over time the wood seems to form to it. Again, don't panic, we didn't install wrong, it floats, there is a tiny bit of movement when putting all of your weight on a seem or something similar, but we don't find it noisy. We don't find it moving around too much. If anything the seems got tighter over time and it's still dry wintery. It conformed to our flooring and the padding seemed actually quiet our room. We had carpet prior and a squeaky floor. We did drive screws to quiet things up a bit but the heavy pad and floor seemed to quiet things a bit further. No complaints yet, none at all. Hoepfully I can comment in a year, it's been 5 months so far and we are on the hallway and last bed room (it's a complete remodel, we did crown molding paint etc.). Floor is easy like advertised.

61tbird The Floors of Distinction added plastic/wax film to the grooves to help the boards slip a little to help with expansion and contraction as well as popping/cracking. Did you see that on the Nuvelle product?

I have had the timberclick cognac oak for 3 years now. I have seen quite a few complaints. I have to day I have not had a problem and love it. I am oosting pictures but please excuse the mess as we recently experienced a major flood in our home.

Do Not use click n lock flooring! Engineering nightmare ! There are so many installation rules to follow in order for the locking system to not fail. It can Not be laid by a diyEr . We had it installed in our home and the locking system is failing every where also the squeaking of the floor is herendous. We bought as it was marketed as EASY to install! BUT the floor must be able to FLOAT in order to keep it from failing sonifnyou have a room where you have no furniture in it maybe it will work for you or if you don’t mind having 1” gaps all along your walls then this floor is for you.