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I am definitely staying away from Bellawood. I have heard too many bad things about the warranty by people that tried to get them to honor it.
Try rating a warranty from a contractor that installs and finishes unfinished flooring in your home. Seriously. You're going to get the same run around about not being liable for damage done by your dogs. I'd park my butt on site during the finishing process for days and days to make sure they are putting on as many coats as you're paying them to put on your floors. Otherwise, you really have no idea what you're getting. You have to do it yourself or supervise the entire process to be certain.
Try rating a warranty from a contractor that installs and finishes unfinished flooring in your home. Seriously. You're going to get the same run around about not being liable for damage done by your dogs. I'd park my butt on site during the finishing process for days and days to make sure they are putting on as many coats as you're paying them to put on your floors. Otherwise, you really have no idea what you're getting. You have to do it yourself or supervise the entire process to be certain.
Well, that doesn't relate to the flooring, subflooring, and floorboards. You are grasping at things that are frankly out of your control when you hire someone. I am sorry that you feel we are attacking you by shooting down your choices, but I like to avoid as many mistakes as possible and according to many ratings, Bellawood especially is something that should be avoided. Thanks for your advice, but it looks like I won't be going with your recommendations but thanks for taking the time to make them.
We put down semi-gloss "natural" stained oak hardwood T&G 3/4" made by Mirage 20 years ago in living room, hallway, closets by ourselves, last year had the same flooring [they still make it] put in all the bedrooms by a professional, felt we were getting too old to take on 3 bedrooms and their closets, etc. The new bedroom flooring butts up against the 20 yo hallway flooring and you can barely see a difference, it looks like it was all put down at once. 2 sets of dogs ran those floors for 20 years, I wouldn't call them scratches because it still has the semi-gloss finish, it just looks like normal wear and tear and actually gives the floor character. Mirage puts 8 coats of finish on their wood, I don't think you can beat a pre-finished floor. Dark finishes, especially if you do it yourself, will be the most vulnerable to dogs and I would go with a lighter pre-finished wood for durability. The laminate looks great new and the newer laminate looks more real and is less prone to scratching, easy to install, but I've seen in buckle and it's just not hardwood. We wanted the real thing and you can always not only refinish the floor but repair the floor if there's damage, staining, mold, cracking, warping easier than any other product in my opinion. You should always buy a small room size amount of extra wood to put aside for future repairs because these floors last forever. Good luck with your decision.
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