As of today we have had many people ask us about engineered wood flooring. Please don’t confuse this with high pressure laminate flooring. This product is real wood and the selection is wide. This product is very stable due to the cross laminations in the core of the flooring. The wear layer varies from company to company. This product is gaining popularity due to the stability and allowing for at least one sanding. Some can get two sandings if needed. You need to concern yourself with the wear layer and over all thickness of the flooring. You can have this flooring glued, nailed or floated. The choices of speices and colors has grown over the last few years. Hallmark in our opinion leads in quality and selection. Some say since 3/4″ is solid it will last longer and can get more sandings. Well the truth of the matter is that you can only wear the floor down to the tongue on a solid floor so the wear is about the same. Keep in mind the engineered flooring is more stable so contraction and expansion are reduced drastically. Hallmark offers a great warranty and is commited to high quality at very competitive pricing. They have Domestic and Exotic woods. For more information visit our web site at www.merlebsmith.com

We have had people call us and tell us their experiences with in home shopping companies. Let me just say this, in most cases you are over paying for the products they sell. Think about it, they have to pay a person to come to your home, and that means a salary plus a commission. If you think you are getting a great price then I would ask you to do this, call the nearest Hardood flooring dealer in your area and talk to them. In our opinion we do not think they have hardwood flooring people with a lot of knowledge. You may think you are saving money but here is what we know from our end. You pay $12.00 sq foot for a low line product through them and that same product that we look into would be $6-$7.00 per square foot through a dealer. Just because they come to your home does not mean they have better product and pricing. In some cases I would not put that stuff in a dog house let alone my house. Shop around do your homework. This is your money. Watch out for the big box stores and in home shopping companies. This is your money spend it the right way. You work hard for your money so whay not take the time to look at other options that may be better for you.
We get the calls after the fact and that is sad. There are some good companies out there and if you have any questions contact us and we will help you. We can direct you to a dealer in the Illinois area to help you make the right choice. Don’t settle for less and pay more. If these companies can afford to pay millions of dollars to advertise then you must ask yourself where do they get the money? I know you understand this and I feel bad for the people who were oversold on a lower quality product. We can tell you many sad stories that really happened to people when they dont take the time to look into this. We know people have paid for things they did not need or get. Remember the sales people are on a salary plus commission plus bonuses. You pay more for all of this and you get in many cases less. Watch out for the products coming in from China. Dealers are a good source and most of them are very knowledgable when it comes to wood flooring and high pressure laminate.