Hi all,

I am so glad I came across this forum! You all have saved me from making a big LL mistake!

So in my search to find a quality engineered product, a salesperson directed me to "Regal Hardwood authentic handscraped flooring". I cannot find *any* reviews, positive or negative, on this product, and was wondering if any of you have any experience with it. I don't want to take the salesperson's word alone before I shell out 5 grand on floors.

We are reflooring our living and dining rooms (450 square feet total), and I have 2 small children. Plus, we live along the gulf coast, so humidity is a huge factor and the main reason we aren't doing solid hardwoods.

According to the back of the sample, it is a 2mm wear layer, 7 ply hardwood core, 8 layers of titanium shield, 3/8 thickness and a 25 year warranty. They have a website and are based out of a suburb of Dallas (Flower Mound), but like I said, I can't find anything other than that!

Any insight, good, bad or ugly? And thanks for taking the time to steer someone who knows NOTHING about flooring into the right direction!

Love that name jillybean ha ha

Do a search on here there's plenty of our members opinions on the best engineered floors out there.

Ah, thanks Stephen. Believe it or not, I think I've read nearly every post on engineered flooring and what y'all like and dislike (in fact, another option we're considering is a Bruce). I just thought maybe I'd give it a shot and see if anyone, anywhere has heard of this brand.

::sigh:: Back to the drawing board. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Well, I have never heard of this product, but in reviewing their website
( http://www.regalhardwoods.com ) it SEEMS to be a decent quality floor. Although the hand-scraped surface seems to be over-done. Don't think I would ever want to re-finish this particular product.

Sounds pretty good just keep in mind handscraped 3/8" eng floors are pretty much a disposable floor once its served its time. It may last forever but if its toast in 10 years then there is no refinishing this type of floor. You have a chance on refinishing a smooth faced floor with 1/8" top like the Bruce Glen Cove plank if the subfloor prep is done correctly prior to installing.

I just had a Regal Hardwood product installed yesterday. The guy that installed it is a friend and suggested it. I have 5 kids and 2 dogs. It is beautiful. It does have a dull finish and it is the hand scrapped finish. He brought it to my house and let it sit in the rooms that it was going to be installed in and let it "adjust" I guess you'd say to the rooms humidity and temp before he installed it. I don't have a lot of money and this product seemed the best for the price.
Just for extra info, we ruined two sets of Pergo floors, they couldn't hold up.
Hope this helps!

Thank you everyone for your input.

I'm finding that the stores I go into (I'm currently staying local) all try to guide me to flooring from companies I've never heard of. Regal, Woodlands Flooring, and Southern Traditions are all lines that several stores around here carry...and lines I can't get a review one way or another about!

And mind you, I don't give my budget when I walk in (maybe something about me screams SHOW ME SOMETHING I'VE NEVER HEARD OF! lol), and I think we have a decent budget in mind, but perhaps I'm wrong. Maybe we need to save a few grand more to replace a measly 500 square feet!

I'll tell you one thing....shopping products, taking home samples, scheduling appointments is exhausting.

Guess I got spoiled doing that presanded unfinished wide long plank I put Rubio monocoat on. Everything else seems so mediocre now. Not a fan of the twenty ply engineered with the 50 year warranty. Not that I doubt them ha ha

I have seen the product and it looks good but I do not know anything about performance. I understand the statement about the exhaustive properties of shopping for flooring products. I am with a company that makes house calls with real savings and not just promised savings. We do no advertising and have no showrooms. Carpet Direct is a van sales, nationwide company with salespeople in the Dallas area. Many of my clients tell me how much easier is was to shop at home. We carry mostly large name brand manufacturers and would be glad to help you.

Private Labeling may be what you are running into.
Even flooring distributors are buying product and placing their own name on the boxes.

The purpose? So you cannot shop the price.

Stick with major name brands, made in america, and always ask who manufactured the floor and where manufactured.

These importers are very clever at hiding point of origin.

There are two sides to that story Ray. Distributors and importers do have the benefit of not getting shopped on "like" products with private label programs but across the country people are realizing they are not only getting better pricing on imports but in many cases they are getting better pricing and quality. My company has never "hidden" anything about where we produce our engineered flooring. We make product in China and Mexico. We produce solid flooring in the US but the engineered products we make overseas. We have had some product manufactured by US engineered manufacturers and I can tell you the product we make in China has always surpassed the US made product in quality. I'm not saying there are not well made US products but I am saying there are bad products EVERYWHERE just as there are well made products from places outside of the US. 50 years ago Made in Japan was a negative thing, today the story is different and the same will be true with China and then Vietnam eventually. Quality is defined by conscientious effort and integrity to quality, not the geographical location where something is made. I have had products made at the factory in which Regal produces flooring and we had great success with the product in terms of quality and value.

Ya well my input on that is that everyone manufacturers on price points. Your typical all round floor is generally Ok but if you want high end quality you have to pay for it. And how can you tell unless your actually installing it?

If I had my druthers I rather fight with an American based manufactuer than any importer. But lots of importers have names that sound like any ole American manufacturer. Got to do your home work

Sam, great to see you chime in!

IMO your 100% on point. I believe there is a certain unjust mentality, especially these days, when a product is said to have been "made in China". I will be the first to admit being guilty of this in the past due to a few factors. When all products from China first started pouring into this country I do believe there were quality issues, this is generalizing, but my belief. In these first days I believe "made in China' became synonymous with poor quality. At this time when hardwood flooring started entering into the picture, the quality was definetely marginal. Infact I remember one of the first Surfaces,( sorry I missed you at this last one), I observed numbers of asian folks taking numerous pictures of product. In short time... walla....hardwood from China. For some reason it was coming in almost secretely labeled, and IMO poor quality. This stigma has stuck in the minds of some, due to these first entries. But I have seen a drastic change in quality over the years,( comparing apples to apples). Infact like you mentioned, in a lot of cases, better qualities. I have seen your product, put it to the test, and it is top notch, infact impressive. I will reiterate what you stated "Quality is defined by conscientious effort and integrity to quality, not the geographic location where something is made".

With no question infact with integrity I recommend your company to anyone in search of quality Hardwood Flooring at a competitive price. http://www.realwoodfloors.com

Sam, Look forward to seeing you at NFWA Convention in San Diego, with the latest Sawn Handscrapped !