Coconut wood flooring - problems anyone???

17 years ago

Anybody else have problems with coconut wood flooring? Have you also found some boards extremely soft???

The supplier from San Francisco is advertising 1450 psi hardness - same as maple. I bought some (very expensive) and installed it in a bedroom. After waiting a week, we let the dog in and within about 10 seconds the dog trotted out and we noticed a deep gouge in one of the boards. After the hands and knees inspection, I noticed the dog nail scratch crossing 3 boards. Left board scratch was in the finish only. Right board scratch was in the finish only. Center board scratch was a deep gouge - the worst of it about 1/16" deep. I found I can easily dent this board with my finger nail (softer than Fir or Pine). Who knows how many of the boards are this soft?

After many calls with many individuals at the supplier...they offered only to give me a new board that I would have to install (and match to existing finish)myself, and $100 off my next order. They declined even to have someone inspect it - even though they have a local rep and local distributors. I don't intend to ever, EVER!!!! use this product again. I told them to keep the generous offer of a 3' board.

I'm rather upset...and would like to know if my experience is unusual.

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Comments (3)

planetcoconut
17 years ago
Hi Kryssib,

I'm Philippe Chetivet, from France, and i'm the managing direct of Planet Cococonut.
I feel so very sorry to read your bad adventure regarding your coconut wood flooring, and you may have found a very bad supplier (what's his name ??? ).

It is true that coconut wood CAN be very hard, BUT it is not the case for every part of the stem ! Only the external parts of the stem are really extremly hard, but as far as you take a board from the center of the stem, then it becomes extremely rapidly very soft ! And this mihgt be the case in your situation : the 3 boards where the gouges are located mihgt be medium or low density coconut wood, that can vary from 250 Kg/m3 to 600 Kg/m3. I guess that these three boards have less dark vascular bundles than the other ones, and they present therefore a lighter color from the rest of the boards.

By the way, you are saying in your mail that you payd your flooring very expensive. Can you give me an idea of the price/square feet, or square meter ?

Here in FRance i am now selling coconut wood flooring for 2 years, but all my boards and lames are manufactured with very high density coconut wood upper than 720 Kg/m3. SOme of my lames are 1200 Kg/m3, these ones are very dark.

By the way, when you consider in fact that only the external part of the stem is worth for flooring products, then you realise that it is difficult to make profits from the use of coconut wood. And if you only want to make profits from this agricultural plant, then you use the soft wood as well. And i guess that your supplier is only and just interested by profit, and nothing else. His after sale answer really seems to prove it !!

I am very sorry for you, and i am also very soory for the image of coconut wood, which is one of the best wood i know if you use it properly. This kind of suppliers really gets on my nerves because they decrease the coconut wood flooring on the market. Your reaction is normal !

One last question : was your flooring massiv or threelayers, or laminated ?

If you want to see more coconut wood floors, please just go surfing on www.planetcoconut.comn and on the catalogue's page I know it is in French, but maybe you will see some immediate differences between your coconut wood floor and the ones that are shown on my web site.

I wish you the best over there, and remains available for any question you may have.

Best Regards,
Philippe Chetivet
www.planetcoconut.com
p.chetivet@planetcoconut.fr
tel : 33 (0)4 67 85 06 05
coconut-wood
17 years ago
Dear Kryssib
I agree with Philippe. This sort of job does no end of harm. Those of us who are serious about promoting coconut know how important grading is. It is a great product and I'm sorry you are not happy
regards
Jem Riggall
Mikumi Milling Co

Here is a link that might be useful: Mikumi Milling Co
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douglas_millworkimports_com
16 years ago
Hello Kryssib:
my name is Douglas Lauw, I am sorry to hear about your experience. Unfortunately, you might have dealt with an inexperienced supplier, or who may be a trader and worst of all, who has no knowledge coconut wood. Our family owns and operates a mill in the outskirt of Jakarta. We saw our logs, kiln dry, mill and finish the wood planks in house. So we have the controls from A to Z. Among other species such KEMPAS, Bangkirai and MERBAU, we mill coconut wood. Of course, we select our coconut wood. Typically, we select the outer part as the inner part gets soft. We source our logs from Sulawesi or Gorontalo area of north Sulawesi. We also randomly test our products to meet the customer's demand.

We sold quite a few thousand square feet in Washington DC area. I hope you won't loose your faith in coconut wood.
Sincerely,
Douglas Lauw
douglas@millworkimports.com