ive written about this many times before.

I always tell people Not to buy a floor based on the fact that it comes with a 30 or 40 or 50 yr warranty. simply because I feel like some think "well, shoot, in 39 years, we'll just get a new floor" well that's not how it works. or they think " we got this 100lb dog, when he tears it up, we'll get a brand new floor" That's def not how it works.

When you get the warranty info its really important to understand EVERYTHING it says.

dog scratches, not covered, dropping anything on the floor, not covered. used a bad cleaning product and it left a film? warranty voided. Didn't have a qualified installer do the work? warranty voided. Installer didn't install it to NWFA standards? warranty voided.

that's just a small list, theres many more things to read about.

Now on the flip side, where the warranty does come into play. say you do everything right and follow the instructions to the T. and 6 months after you install the floor, and the finish on the wood starts to peel off. THATS when the warranty comes into play.

Now you're gonna play a long game with the manufacture, as they are going to try everything in their book to make sure they don't have to pay for a new floor.

Warranties have been successfully used. so its not impossible but it turns into a headache really fast when trying to file for the warranty.

Read and understand all the small print on the warranty and ask lots of questions before making the purchase.

Also one more thing, If at all possible, get your disposit back and go to a real Hardwood place that ONLY deals in hardwood.

HOM is good for furniture. I didn't even know they sold HW. and the fact that they don't have a warranty booklet available right there is a red flag.

gregmills, when I am looking at warranties, I have it in my mind that a longer warranty means a better floor, even if it doesn't mean a better warranty. Like a floor with a 15 year warranty won't last as long or be as durable as a 25 year warrantied floor. Am I mistaken in thinking this? (and I wonder if others think the same thing ... ?)

@jellytoast: The warranty is a contract. There are many terms and conditions that can be written into a warranty. So maybe a 25 yr contract is so restrictive that it won't cover anything.

Most engineered flooring has a limited lifetime construction warranty and in general it covers things that rarely happen without some sort of outside issue.
A longer term finish warranty might confer that a product has a better quality finish but finish warranties are somewhat useless. They're so restrictive that they're rarely used. It does give the buyer some comfort that if there's truly an issue with defective finish that it will be fixed but overall, prefinished floors have few problems that are covered by warranties. Problems with finish are most often cause by poor maintenance and warranties stipulate that there is no coverage if the floor isn't maintained properly.

Thank you guys for info!
Well..once we requested to see the warranty they scanned and emailed me the warranty for 'Casabella hardwood'.

So I am guessing that HOM's home brand Charles Bay is just used for grabbing hardwood from different companies (including Casabella hardwood) and selling it under Charles Bay trademark. Why? no clue...

but now I am wondering if anybody has Casabella hardwood experience. There are a couple threads I can find on Casabella hardwood but not recent ones

JellyToast.

That's common thinking, but doesn't always hold true.
Durability of a finish is completely dependant on the lifestyle of the owner.

If you hold massive parties in the harsh cold of winter, and nobody takes their shoes off, on a 25 yr finish warranty that floor finish is gonna last about a month.

where as a quiet older couple with no pets and are stringent with caring for the floor with a 10 yr finish warranty may not have any issues for 20 yrs.

Everyone has made good points. Bottom line is don't buy a product solely based on the warranty and don't do anything intentionally to void it.

I always laugh at warranties, Especially the "guaranteed for life" ones.. Any business can go under...

If you buy some hokey hardwood you can't find any info on and in thirty years you have issues, you think that same company will be around? I mean, it's possible but.....

I bought solid hardwood birch floors. Couldn't afford hickory that I wanted. I used a good contractor and so far no issues.. But believe me, the dogs nails definitely give a whole new meaning to "handscraped" and not in a good way. Floors dent and ding , I dont care how hard the wood is, this stuff happens.

I would look around and get prices from other stores/companies. I always tease my husband that the if there are hardwood issues in our house, it will be the next owners issues lol

Well..
Just to give this post some sort of closure.. I decided to go with this product BUT bought it from different middle man (a hardwood floor joint rather than HOM Furniture). He was able to beat the price and to give me a 30 y warranty meaning that he will support the product if anything happens and it will be his job to go after manifacturing
I do agree that warranty does not mean much these days but.. if floor finish started to peel - thats when I would want the warranty to work

Maryna,

Which Casabella did you end up with? We have been looking at engineered floors and just saw the Handscraped Pompeii Hickory today from them.

Pompeo birch! We purchased it but have not installed yet. Still in drywall stage of remodeling. So our burch is sitting in warehouse but i am very excited .

Androni
CBHRGHG977
Distressed Engineered Hardwood
Pompeii Birch

I'm in the Twin Cities and looking at buying CasaBella hardwood. What hardwood dealer did you use?

I do not believe the length of the warranty has any correlation with the quality of the product, but having manufacture stated warranty and installation information is invaluable.

As consumers and dealers we have to remember that hardwood flooring warranty is designed by manufactures to protect manufactures. They have strict procedures on how to best protect the flooring for optimal performance. By protecting themselves, the manufacture protects their dealer, the installer, and ultimately the homeowner by providing a product which will last.

Even the best designed products can fail under the right conditions and the manufacture has very little control over the environment once it leaves their facilities. It is just as important for the dealer, the installer, and even homeowner to be informed on how to properly care for the flooring.

Not having warranty information is a huge liability issue for a flooring brand because it means they are relying on industry standards, varying degrees of installer experience, and homeowners to take care of the floors to the best of their knowledge.

For all the brands we carry if something goes wrong, we are the first contact for helping to process a warranty claim and from experience this is the information we have gathered. If you are interested in learning a bit more, this is one of our most recent blog posts regarding this very topic, purely informational: http://www.uniquewoodfloor.com/blog/the-truth-about-your-wood-flooring-warranty/

audett2, we ended up ordering from a small flooring joint in Woodbury area. They had a small footprint store but could order anything we were looking for. I have to ask my husband what their name is. So we placed the order in february and were suppose to install in June. As always.. everything felt behind. So they still have our flooring and really want to deliver it asap. I am thinking in the next 2 weeks we will have to bring it onsite

Thanks! We're going to order the CasaBella San Pietro Firenze for a project in Oct/Nov. If you find out their name please let me know. Thank you, Tim

All right. No problem. Got the name from my husband: flooring expo. Like I said .. we have not seen our floors yet (besides the samples) but they did store it for us for 6 mo in the warehouse with climate control. The only bump on the road we hit so far is the fact that at the moment of buying the flooring (back in Feb) the agreement was that delivery would be to the construction site (inside of the house addition). However since then their rules have apparetnyl changed and we found that out literally when the delivery guy called us 30 min prior to delivery. We had to refuse to accept the delivery. The garage site was not ready for storing 10K worth of flooring. The complied and turned the truck back until we are ready