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Wed, May 12, 10 at 1:32
| My local flooring store carries a brand called Portofino, but there is no website linked to the brand. All I know is that this engineered wood has a 4mm wear layer (hand-scraped), 7 ply construction, aluminum oxide coating and a supposed 25 year limited warranty. But I am seeing a problem - how can a warranty be offered if the company seems to be non-existent? My local store told me that they buy from a distributor, Golden State Flooring. Several other shops in this area (the SF Bay Area) as well as several flooring stores online carry it. No one has anymore info that what I gave above.
Should I be wary? I did find installation instructions and brochures through the distributor (linked below), but they seem to have no manufacturing name. I like the hand-scraped look and the 4mm wear layer seems very impressive, but the lack of info is giving me serious doubts. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Link to the distributor's page on Portofino
Follow-Up Postings:
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| A lot of large distributors have private label lines of their own produced overseas at a lower price point to offer a option to consumers at a price point lower than flooring from the Big 4 manufacturers. The large manufacturers have so much tied up in marketing their pricing is much higher but private label lines are often marketed only as an alternative to the brand names at a lower price point. I'd guess that is what you are looking at. The distributor most likely carries the warranty themselves. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as many times the off-brand quality can be as good as the brand name products, you just have to make sure they stand behind it which is what you are doing. I'd ask the retail store what their experience has been in dealing with claims from product that comes from Golden State. |
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| Hadn't thought about it from that angle. I am going back to that floor store on Thursday so I will definitely ask about other customer's experiences with it and who actually holds the warranty. I didn't think to on my last visit (which was my first) as I just took down the brand name and figured I'd find more on the web. Guess I shouldn't assume. Thanks so much for the advice! |
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- Posted by bkj(barbj@actionnet.net) onSat, Apr 30, 11 at 18:28
| So what did you decide or find out about the Portofino flooring? I am building new construction and this is what the builder is using within my budget, but I can't really find any reviews about how the product holds up. I am looking at the natural hickory. |
Here is a link that might be useful: portofino engineered floor
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