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I'm planning to install solid prefinished hardwood for around 1600 sq ft (not on concrete). I can't seem to decide on a brand. Some companies say do not go by the brand and just pick a color and warranty you like. Is that true? I know Mirage is too expensive for me. Mohawk, Bruce and Somerset, Great Lakes are some that have been offered to me.

Then I see some links like this made in china? and I hear Bruce does the same for some of their wood as well. Do I need to worry about this? It is a big investment and I don't want to deal with any hassles later on.

I know each brand has good and bad quality wood. If I go with say 25 years or 50 years warranty ones, can I assume they will be good quality? I know lower quality wood will have more knots etc etc. Is there any benchmark that decides which wood is lower quality? how to tell. Any help is appreciated.

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It's weird, but we now live in a time where it's cheaper for us to chop the wood down in North America, ship it to China for processing/manufacturing, and ship it back to us. So, I don't know that 'made in china' is necessarily an indicator one way or the other of quality. FWIW, in my limited experience, I'm not a fan of prefinished floors (I personally do not like the slight bevel in the seams and the propensity for a slightly off-kilter install to create raised edges). – DA01 Dec 31 '12 at 21:17
yeah, that sure is crazy. Its too much of a hassle and more expensive to finish the unfinished wood in place. – coder net Dec 31 '12 at 23:06

closed as too localized by Niall C., Steven, woodchips, Tester101♦ May 2 at 18:31

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I know that your question is more of a shopping query and not really one of the normal types for the DIY site. But none the less the stress on pre-finished flooring does indicate that you plan to install it yourself - how much more DIY can you get than that.

Personally I would recommend that you check out a retailer called Lumber Liquidators (seeing from your profile that you are in the USA). In your state they have stores in Annapolis, Beltsville, Edgewood, Frederick and Windsor Mill. I have purchased from them in the past and had great luck with the floor that resulted from my purchase.

Installation of hardwood floors is a lot of work but results in beautiful rooms. Subfloor preparation is critical to getting a nice job.

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LL has the worst reviews online. Its great that you got good wood from them, may be recently the quality has decreased. That is definitely not a good option. Thanks for the tip about the subfloor. – coder net Dec 31 '12 at 23:07

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