Just want to share a recent experience with all of you.
We decided to install 600 sq feet of 3/4" red oak hardwood in our home.
Originally we were going to go with Vintage hardwood but based on someones recommendations we went and checked out Brampton Hardwood Flooring.
We saw their products and based on samples, decided we were going to order St. Lawrence red oak in wine berry, in select or better.
Well the sales guy told us we would be wasting our money if we went with select or better in a dark wood and we should save our money and order it in traditional grade... he said the darker color sort of evens out the board color.
Okay so we did that... ordered the wood in Traditional grade.
We pick it up, let it aclimate for 4 days and start to open the boxes.
We knew we were in trouble after spending a whole weekend trying to install the boards and not even finishing a 1/4 of a 300 sq foot room.
So many of the boards were cracked, many others had differing widths from one side of the plank to the other making it impossible to install nice a snug with such boards, we had to resort to gauging every single piece. There were still other problems, some boards had a strange finish where the board's grain was popping through the finish and was rough to the touch.
So we went and spoke to management at Brampton Hardwood, they came out and saw the wood and blatently blamed us for deciding to buy Traditional grade claiming we should have bought select or better... I was a little irked with this first off because their sales guy convinced us to buy Traditional, but secondly, we bought, traditional... not SALOON grade... which is what I feel the boards would be better suited for...
Anyhow, we're at a loss... no one at Brampton Hardwood is willing to help us out so we're more than likely going to cut our losses, pull out all the CRAP Brampton Hardwood sold us, and go with a hardwood with a better reputation for Quality... more than likely Vintage...
All we can say is, DON'T try to save with cheaper boards, Id hate to see any of you go through what we did.... save yourself the headaches and buy quality from the get go...