@yosephahannah scroll back and look at wacokid's pictures about 12 replies back if you want to see the privas installed.

The Privas sample I had at home did not look pinkish- I had it next to the light travertine and it looked really nice. It blended well with the taupe-ish cast of the travertine. Yes, it is distressed. In fact, I wondered if it would be an issue with dirt and crumbs getting into the distressed spots? Anyone know?

See above (wacokid March 2015) for photo of Privas installed in front of vanity

L M Flooring Customer Service.

I hope everyone will find

this information helpful. Received from LM FLOORING Customer Service - ST. LAURENT MAINTENANCE:

Care and Maintenance guidelines attached below. Sweep, vacuum and use Bona cleaners as needed. When using the Bona floor cleaner with micro fiber mop head, don’t apply with aggressive force, as this can splinter edges of distressed & hand scraped planks. Light application of the mop head is sufficient to clean the floor.

Bona Floor Cleaner

https://us.bona.com/lines/hardwood-floor-cleaners.html

36 oz.

Bona® Hardwood Floor Cleaner

An effective, environmentally responsible and non-toxic formula for all types of residential hardwood floors. Specially designed to be safe for floors and families.

§ Nearly 100 years of heritage

§ Residue free

§ Ready-to-use

Safe for all unwaxed, polyurethane finished wood floors

Maintence information for St. Laurent eng. hardwood from their customer service department.

When your floors were installed, did you have any odor? I am concerned because of the formaldehyde.

I am considering the St. Laurent Montrose, it seemed very dark to me, at least the sample did. I know there are variations with all wood flooring. Then I saw posts about the Castellon, which I will get a sample tomorrow. How are you liking your floors? Cohrs101, Enia Titova and Briael? Do you have any more pictures? I am considering floors by Provanza, Fawn and DuChateau as well. Would love to hear from you. Thanks.

Cohrs101, how do you like your St Laurent floors now that some time has passed? I am a bit worried about our dog scratching the floor but love the product.

Linda, sorry, just saw your comment! Hope my response is still helpful. We are still loving our floors. We're now 2 years in, and have had them in our kitchen for almost 6 months.

These things are indestructable. We've had spills, dropped heavy pots, nothing seems to damage them. Our cats are very messy eaters as well, so there's constantly wet food drying into a paste on them, and it just scrubs off (after sitting for a few days, I have a crazy job so I don't get to clean every day).

Also, we use Swiffer Wood Cleaner instead of the Bona and are very happy with the results.

And here's a picture of the floors in our kitchen!

Thanks to everyone who is posting their photos of the floors! We are looking at the LM St Laurent flooring in Weathered Stone. Unfortunately, LM seems to have awful customer service and it is making me very nervous and hesitant to buy 4000+ sq ft of this flooring for my house. They don't have any samples and aren't in a rush to get any and I have yet to hear back from them with answers to my questions that I submitted via their online customer service inquiry. Anyone else have any suggestions? Thanks!

Find a retail flooring store that carries LM and get the sample from them.

We are in the middle of installing these floors in Toulon color throughout our entire first floor and a few other areas of the house. They are really wonderful looking and overall we love them so far, but one thing to note is that there are rather large 'cracks' / darker wide lines in the pieces than was shown on the sample boards. In some cases we don't love some of the boards and are pulling those out of the mix (2 - 3 boards per box), so we are ending up ordering much more flooring because of this. Just something to be aware of up front. I'll post photos once the floors are finalized and show some of the discarded boards.

Thanks, wacokid, I have called several and been to 5 local retail stores and not a single one will get me a sample. They defer to LM, who doesn't have any either.

Google LM St Laurent flooring in Weathered Stone and request samples from the flooring companies that carry it.

thanks, again, but I have done that. There are a few companies that say they can get samples and I have "order" from them, but they get their samples directly from LM, so no luck b/c they don't have samples available.

Thats pretty weird.

I have some wood left over from my last project, Privas, and thought I could use it in our small guest bathroom. The shower rarely gets used, would anyone not recommend using this flooring in a bathroom?

We've never used hardwood in a full bathroom with a shower, only in half baths. I don't know that I would use it simply because this brand of wood only has a 2 mm surface and if consistent water gets on it, it can lead to warping. I spoke to several professionals at hardwood flooring stores and that is what they recommended. Maybe speak to a professional and see what they say.

@wacokid...so long as the shower gets used 1-2 PER YEAR you should have a floor that will give you 7-10 years. Maybe more...possibly less.

I ALWAYS tell clients to keep 1-3 boxes of product in storage. Remember, you will NEVER match these floors in 12-18 months. If you have damage that needs repair in 5 years, you will thank yourself for being so smart.

I've seen entire homes need to be reinstalled because of lack of spare material. What should have been an easy 20sf repair (for $300) ended up requiring the entire 1200sf main floor to be refloored. $12K is not something you want to pay because you have 20sf of repair.

If you have 2-3 boxes left over then please keep them whole and in tact. If you have 5-10 boxes (and the bathroom takes only 2-3 boxes) then go ahead. You should get a quick, easy floor out of it that should offer 7 years of service (so long as the shower is used 1-2 per year).

That would be my advice.

Thanks Cancork, I will move that extra box up into my attic storage space and I think I will go with the tile that looks like wood. Just to make sure, the toilet goes in over the new flooring?

WK

Has anyone installed the St. Laurent Toulon? If so, do you have some clear photos(also some up close so that I'm able to see the detail, and also some clear pics in different lighting). It's kind of hard to tell from the pics posted. Also, your opinion on the variety in plank color-do you like it? Is it too much/more than you were expecting? Thanks in advance.

All done of these floors are beautiful! I'm looking at the LM Bentley line in the color Rattan. Has anyone installed LM Bentley.

Thanks for sharing your experiences everyone. Looking at new floors and this thread has been so helpful!

Trying to decide between the LM St Laurent Belford, Windsor, and Toulon.... does anyone have pictures of the Toulon installed?

I am looking at installing Natures Reserve, weathered oak, Silverado. Does anyone have installation images and experience? Thanks!

I have just ordered Nature Reserve Bison. It will be installed in a couple of weeks and can post pictures then.

Thanks, looking forward to seeing the images!

I'm continually surprised by how long these threads stay active... haha

Good to know we're not always wasting our time by commenting (as Pro's).

Heather M

My floor was delivered on Friday and will be installed beginning next week. Here's a peek of one box the installer opened.

Here are some pictures of my LM flooring going in. We love it! Our installer has this same brand in his own home and has been very happy with it. The color/look is true to the store sample board. Sorry for all the tape! Pictures are of foyer, laundry room, and great room.

Does anyone have any other photos of the St Laurent in Castellon? I love the distressed look of these floors, but do not want something that looks overly distressed or fake. So everyone has been pleased with the distress level on their St. Laurent floors? Thanks for opinions!

@cohrs101 @John Hooser @Enia Titova ... Would love an update from anyone on how the floors have performed now that it has been a couple/few years since install. We have a neighborhood full of young rough-housing kids and want to make sure the floors can withstand them! Thanks!

The small area that we have look like they were just installed. No problems, very happy with them.

We have had the St Laurent for 2 years now and love them. Our dog runs across them at break neck speed with sudden stops all the time and the floor still looks great. We get loads of compliments on the floor.

We have St Laurent Toulon in our entire downstairs and bedroom level foyer. 3 boys and 2 dogs with a TON of rough play for past 2 years. Floors have held up VERY well. No scratches from dog nails or anything like that. Only issue we've had is from the boys overturning barstools or other major trauma where slight dinging has resulted, that sort of thing which no flooring would withstand. I can't imagine another family being any harder on the floors and ours have really come through great. Would choose it again in a heartbeat. One thing to note - we didn't love the cracks/distressing being in quite as many of the boards as they were, so we pulled about 1/3 of the boards from being laid and then put most of the very cracked/distressed under places where throw rugs would go. That's just a matter of taste. We also ordered an extra 200 sq feet or so to store, since we have it in our kitchen, in case there would be any water damage down the road as we didn't know how long this line would be available.

Has anyone had this issue with LM coventry, belfort? What is the “acceptable amount of gapping?” We have at least 20-30 of these large gaps and the installer is telling us this is normal. We do have a humidifier on our furnace, and this is only getting worse with our Minnesota weather.

seanderson0909 , is this your first winter with the floors?

@Oak and Board yes, but the humidity has remained fairly consistent and I’m only concerned as the driest months have yet to hit and I’m concerned the gapping is only getting worse.

What is your humidity set to on your climate control? I would double check it with a Hygrometer <- link

We've had nothing like that. Looks like a possible installation error?

@Emily R, do you mind me asking what state you live in? And how long you’ve had your floors?

@ seanderson0909 How long since install? We’ve have LM St. Laurent for about 6 weeks and don’t have anything like that. I agree with Emily that it sure looks like install issue, but then again I’m not a flooring installer! Has LM customer service seen a photo yet? They could probably let you know if it’s an installation issue.

@seanderson0909 We live in Virginia and have had the floors for over 2 years. Mix of very humid or pretty dry in our house depending on season.

Cmshop55, we have been here for 5 months. I am hoping to have a few flooring professionals chime in to determine what is “normal.”

@oak and broad I just double checked it’s at 44% and I ordered a hygrometer today to verify, the flooring install instructions say 35-60% on the LM website and we can’t turn up too much as we don’t want condensation on our windows. I’m concerned with the number and size of these, have you seen this before?

@ John hooser do you work for L M customer service?

seanderson0909 , I am very curious to see what the hygrometer will show us. Plank floors do shrink during dry winter months. Its pretty common. Once the season changes they should move back into place.

@oak and broad, I have had the hygrometer since last tues (almost 6 full days) it is with 1% of the furnace, both above 40% humidity. Very disappointed with this flooring and even more nervous for the driest months to come.

Just my 2 cents worth... but typically, OAK flooring will shrink/expand ACROSS the grain... it's usually pretty stable end to end, as with most hardwood species. Unless you're certain the gaps developed AFTER installation, I'd suggest the possibility they may have been present all along.

Which possibly suggests installation issue.

Spaknitter- I know this is an old thread, but do you mind sharing the color of your Nature Reserve please?