Need source of hardwood flooring in WNC

[Wolfpacker]

I am looking for hardwood flooring, most likely we'll go with pre-finished. Other than the local flooring stores, Lowes, Home Depot, Scroungers Paradise, does anyone know of other sources in the Asheville/Hendersonville area ? We will need somewhere in the 1900-2000 sq ft range....still need to measure. Trying to decide if I want to tackle putting it down myself or hire someone with experience. Thoughts ??

 

[bowman]

Check Sams Club and Costco, they offer free shipping to the warehouse in most cases.

 

[JimD]

Do you have Southeastern Salvage in your area? We got about 600Ft2 of hickory from them. 2000 ft2 is a lot. I also did a decent sized area in a smaller house, maybe 500 ft2, with thin but solid oak. I had helpers with the thin stuff and did the thicker stuff by myself. The hickory boxes were 80 lbs apiece and the area was on the second floor. Both to carry materials and for other reasons a helper is very advisable for 2,000 ft2. When I was doing the thin stuff, the helper couldn't run the saw but was a big help finding pieces the size I needed to minimize cutting. If the helper can run the saw while you nail - and/or nail while you cut, it will go better. 2,000 feet for me would probably wipe out most of a week.

My HF nailer for 3/4 material is leaking air right now but still works. It did the 600 ft or so I did plus another guys project so far. I should fix the leak but used it for about 50 ft2 recently and it worked fine. It is easily worth the $100 it costs.

Staples cost less but hold better. I had to take up old flooring put down with nails and with staples. The flooring nailed down was often still usable but not the flooring stapled down. Either one holds well enough, however. The flooring I put down had been there for decades and in one case had ceramic tile installed on top. It didn't move enough to crack the tile despite the nails. But that is very bad practice, I would not and did not do it.

I like the instant gratification of putting down pre-finished flooring. I would have an extra blade for your saw if you do this - the finish they use has aluminum oxide, the same material as sandpaper, in it. The thin stuff requires you to be down on the floor but you can do the 3/4 standing most of the time. But it's still a bit hard on the body working hunched over. But it can go pretty quick when you don't have to stop and cut.

 

[tandemsforus]

There is a place at 195 Johnston blvd Asheville. Its close to Patton and Haywood blvd. Used to be called "Blue Ridge Surplus" but now the website looks like its called "Pops surplus" When I was building my house several years ago they had a BIG room of just pre finished and unfinished hardwood flooring, but again that was several years ago. Look them up on the net, they might be a source.

 

[Wolfpacker]

Good info guys. Don't think there is a Southeastern Salvage in this area...looks like Nashville, TN is the closest one. I have been to Blue Ridge Surplus before and knew it had changed names, but had forgot about it....thanks for the reminder. I didn't know that Sams or Costco carried hardwood flooring, but will go look. Don't have a membership, but can get one if it's worth it. I have a couple of guys that have put down flooring before and will get one of them to help me and get it started. We'll likely swap off cutting and nailing/stapling. This is a empty house we are buying, so now's the right time to do it all and get it right.​

 

[McRabbet]

Brent,

You might want to try Lumber Liquidators on Airport Road in Arden, just around the corner from Klingspor's Woodworking Shop.

 

[bowman]

Check Sams Club and Costco, they offer free shipping to the warehouse in most cases.

This is laminate, not actual hardwood. I misread the first post. Apologies.

 

[Wolfpacker]

Brent,

You might want to try Lumber Liquidators on Airport Road in Arden, just around the corner from Klingspor's Woodworking Shop.

I was wondering what the quality level of their flooring is. Can anyone say for sure ? Is it from China ?

 

[McRabbet]

I was wondering what the quality level of their flooring is. Can anyone say for sure ? Is it from China ?

I believe their laminate flooring is all from Asia, but you will need to check the pricing and packaging of their hardwood flooring for quality and point of origin. I know they carry Bellawood, which is usually prefinished and may be more expensive than you want to spend. Check them out and be sure to check Scrounger's Paradise as well.

 

[Wolfpacker]

I believe their laminate flooring is all from Asia, but you will need to check the pricing and packaging of their hardwood flooring for quality and point of origin. I know they carry Bellawood, which is usually prefinished and may be more expensive than you want to spend. Check them out and be sure to check Scrounger's Paradise as well.

Scrounger's seems to only have exotic hardwood flooring. We're red oak folks and they don't have much to choose from when you need 2000 sq ft.

 

[Steve.Twiford]

Gennett Lumber Co. in Asheville......100 year old multi-generation owners....specializing in flooring....www.gennettlumber.com... Farther east in Statesville, Conley Millworks, Bill Conley specializes in moulding and can make custom floors of various widths and lengths...no website or computer...old school craftsman..704-872-0819

 

[gator]

The Hardwood Store of NC in Gibsonville sells flooring. They are a sponsor of NCWW and offer a discount to members. A little far from you but with the discount and buying 2000 ft it may be worth the trip. In fact, at 2000 ft they may offer an additional discount. Worth a phone call to them at the least.

George

 

[Wolfpacker]

The Hardwood Store of NC in Gibsonville sells flooring. They are a sponsor of NCWW and offer a discount to members. A little far from you but with the discount and buying 2000 ft it may be worth the trip. In fact, at 2000 ft they may offer an additional discount. Worth a phone call to them at the least.

George

Finally got around to calling the Hardwood Store. They don't offer discounts on the flooring, just lumber, but he said they would try to do something if I ordered from them. Asheville Hardwood has the best price so far @ $3.45/sq ft for Grade 1 red oak.

Here are the prices from the Hardwood Store for 3.25" flooring.
White Oak $4.08/sf
Red Oak $3.72/sf
Hickory $3.76/sf

 

[chris_goris]

I cant help with a local source but some food for thought. Do you like the lines you get (beveled edge on most prefinished) ? . If it were me and I was doing an entire empty house, I would go with post finished flooring. First, you wont have to worry about scratching it laying it down and second, once it is layed and you do scratch it after youve finished it, you can exactly match the color and topcoat if you need to. This will invariably happen moving in. Just my $.02

 

[Wolfpacker]

I cant help with a local source but some food for thought. Do you like the lines you get (beveled edge on most prefinished) ? . If it were me and I was doing an entire empty house, I would go with post finished flooring. First, you wont have to worry about scratching it laying it down and second, once it is layed and you do scratch it after youve finished it, you can exactly match the color and topcoat if you need to. This will invariably happen moving in. Just my $.02

I prefer to have unfinished flooring installed since we can do it before moving in, but the wife likes the pre-finished as it will take less time and make less dust. I personally don't like the look of pre-finished with the beveled edges, but I could have lived with it had we found a house with it already installed. I know the finish on pre-finished is typically more durable than post finish, but I think it tends to be more "shiny" also, maybe not. Some brands of pre-finished supposedly have smaller bevels and thus don't show the lines as much, but until it's down on the floor, I don't think you can be sure of that.

I would try and set up some blower fans to exhaust air out of windows during the installation to try and cut down on the dust left in the house. There is a whole house attic fan in the home, but I wouldn't want to fill up the attic with sawdust !!

 

[chris_goris]

I prefer to have unfinished flooring installed since we can do it before moving in, but the wife likes the pre-finished as it will take less time and make less dust. I personally don't like the look of pre-finished with the beveled edges, but I could have lived with it had we found a house with it already installed. I know the finish on pre-finished is typically more durable than post finish, but I think it tends to be more "shiny" also, maybe not. Some brands of pre-finished supposedly have smaller bevels and thus don't show the lines as much, but until it's down on the floor, I don't think you can be sure of that.

I would try and set up some blower fans to exhaust air out of windows during the installation to try and cut down on the dust left in the house. There is a whole house attic fan in the home, but I wouldn't want to fill up the attic with sawdust !!

I have no experience with them, but there are lots of "dustless" refinishers out there nowadays, might be worth a look

 

[Wolfpacker]

We close on the new home on Thursday. Friday, I'm having various contractors come by to provide estimates on things, including the hardwood flooring. We've decided to put in 3.25" white oak with a gunstock stain. Anyone know of any issues with white oak or the width. Wider boards cost more and may tend to cup more over time....or so I'm told.​

 

[tandemsforus]

In the Asheville area, I laid our floor using 3 1/4 " solid white oak, #1 common, oil based poly finish. We keep our house open maybe 2/3 of the year and thus far no cupping in the 4 years it's been down. I saw a house recently in our area with 4" white oak, windows open a lot of the year and cupping was pretty bad, as in WOW a LOT of cupping. Made me think that if I used 4" it would need to be rift cut or quarter sawn white oak. Never checked that pricing but...