Let’s take a moment to talk about warranties.
Most wood flooring comes with some sort of warranty. Most often, I hear about warranties on pre-finished wood flooring or laminate flooring.
Lower grades of wood flooring may only have 5yr. warranties-, for example Home Depot’s Bruce Plano Strip line. Laminate flooring has a variety of warranty lengths, but no warranty seems better than the other.
The majority of all flooring is select grade. Lumber Liquidators has their running line of Bella Wood which has a 50yr. warranty and a seven coat finish.
Somerset flooring has 25yr warranty and ten coat finish. (go figure)- They use the same finishing technique. (your first red flag)
Read the fine print, and you’ll find that the list of exclusions on most warranties is taller than your house. You can void your warranty as easily as:
- A pebble from your shoe
- Sand on the floor
- Your shoes
- The wrong cleaning product.
- Wet mop
Also, reduction in gloss is not considered surface wear. There is a good chance the warranty may only cover the defective part of the floor. It may not cover anything at all if your installer uses a different technique than the manufacture approves.
The bottom line? Warranties don’t have much credibility.
Trust and respect an experienced installer.