I am redoing my finished basement. I have decided on engineered hardwood floors so I am looking for recommendations on brands of engineered hardwood floors or ones to stay away from. I do have subflooring with a vapor barrier already in place. Thanks

We've had the tile-style of Pergo (It went down as squares rather than strips, and looks like ceramic tile or linoleum) on the floor since we bought our current house, and the floor still looks great, even after 11 years of hard horse-farm-house living, with mom, dad, and two kids tracking the south jersey sand/mud/muck in and out. 

I just put hardwood floors in my entire house, I used the brand that is considered the best in the industry, from what I heard, Mirage, but it is expensive, around $9 a square foot.  Their engineered floor has a 1/8 inch layer of solid would so it can be refinished.

We just got 600 square feet from USA flooring in Bellmawr. (Bellmawr with a W in South Jersey) I for get what we paid but the stuff is awesome. Really easy to work with, goes down fast and is almost impossible to scratch and looks great. It's from a company called Inhous made in Germany. 

 

Do not buy anything from Lumber Liquidators. 

 

When you do buy it before you pay ask to see the box. If it says made in China or any of those countries do not buy it! I did a lot of research on this stuff before we bought. 

If it's made in Germany it's good to go. 

 

Home Depot has a lot in stock as well and has great prices on it. Getting ready to do one of the bedrooms right now and going with some stuff from home Depot made in Germany.  The kicker is the thresholds and T molds, they are pretty pricey... 

If you are not stuck on wood you might want to look into what is referred to as "Luxury Vinyl Flooring".  Looks like wood strip, it's about 1/8" thick and the good stuff has a pretty thick wear layer. The other nice thing about it is it has a little "give" to it if it's going down on a concrete floor.

I'm not a big fan of engineered at all. I usually steer people to Either hardwood or laminate. In a basement I'd do laminate all day long.

 

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Wood floor + basement = anguish

Wood floor + basement = anguish

 

I thought the same thing.  In the basements I've done, I used indoor/outdoor carpet...something like this:

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/TrafficMASTER-Jade-Color-Green-Texture-12-ft-Carpet-7A254860144H/205787786

 

if you have a flood, you can suck the water out of this with a wet/dry shop vac...never had a bad smell

dumb question? what's an engineered floor?

 

 i've been looking at doing a couple rooms in my house, but was looking at laminate, as it's what i can afford

dumb question? what's an engineered floor?

 

 i've been looking at doing a couple rooms in my house, but was looking at laminate, as it's what i can afford

Engineered floor is basically plywood.

 

From Armstrong flooring website:

"Engineered hardwood is a versatile alternative to solid hardwood. Unlike solid hardwood, which is one piece of wood milled from a tree, engineered wood flooring is actually made of several wood plies (layers) that are fused together under heat and pressure."

It's basically lock and fold plywood with a thin stained wood veneer. Can't sand or refinish it and it's more expensive than laminate

 

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Years ago I did mine with laminated for home depot. It's ok, feels plasticky, tough. Laid down the blue padding/vapor barrier and never had an issue with moisture

its not a wet basement, its never had water in it ever and I put down a vapor barrier and drylock sub flooring. so im not concerned with water. I definitely going with engineered wood flooring im just looking for recommendations on brands. I have been looking at Bruce/ Armstrong, Shaw, and Mowhawk. I appreciate the other product recommendations though, I have used pergo and LVT and they are ok but im just not a huge fan. 

Vapor barrier?  Doubt it.  Moisture Barrier most likely.  A lot of things that are labeled as vapor barriers, are not.  To be a true vapor barrier, the material needs to be somewhere below .01 Perms.  Most of the stuff you find at HD is closer to 0.1.  Really a vapor retarder. You will still get moisture in the floor.  And if a true vapor barrier is installed above the slab, you will have moist concrete in an enclosed space with no air movement.  You know what that means = mold.

 

You need to pick an engineered floor which is made to be installed over a slab.  Pergo is a great choice.  Also note, there are two grades of Pergo.  I have their commercial product in my kitchen and it is damn near indestructible.  Gets wet, no problem.  Drop a pot on it, no dent, no scratch.  Not sure how well the residential stuff will stand up. 

 

Otherwise, tile or carpet.

Alex- I used EDPM roofing material for my vapor barrier so I think im good there (got it for free from a friend who installs them). I also have a perimeter drain so if any water or moisture does get in it does have a place to go and I run a dehumidifier just in case. I don't need an engineered floor made to go over a floor because like I said I installed the "dry lock" sub floor which has another vapor barrier on the bottom of it. I know the pergo product well and like I said in my last post I done want it. I am not asking for recommendations on other products I an just looking for a recommendation of engineered wood floors that's it nothing else.