Hardwood Flooring Warranties

There are many different warranties available from many different manufacturers. Most of these common warranties apply to pre-finished engineered and solid wood floors. It is important that you review these warranties to see what specific clauses may apply. For example, it may have a percentage clause where it states the finish won't wear more than 10% in the first year, 20% in the second year, and so on. If it did wear within those mentioned tolerances, then according to that warranty, it would be considered "normal wear."

Obviously almost all of these warranties will be void if the installation is not performed correctly. In addition, any wood floor that is labeled a "cabin grade," "second quality," or any other term that labels it to be other than first quality material, will usually carry no warranty whatsoever.

Manufacturing Defects
This warrants to the original buyer, the goods to be free from manufacturing defects for as long as you own your home. Hardwood is a natural product and may have naturally occurring blemishes. The owner/installer of a hardwood floor must use reasonable selectivity and hold out or cut off objectionable naturally occurring blemishes.

Finish Warranty
This warranted against wear through or lack of finish adhesion. See product sample or your retailer for duration of warranty on specific products.

This warranty is conditioned upon Manufacturer's receipt of notice in writing from the Buyer of the alleged defect prior to expiration of the limited warranty period and evidence that the Products were properly installed and not subject to any of the conditions described below.

Structual Warranty
This warranty covers the structural integrity of the wood floor. Most major manufacturers now a days give a lifetime structural warranty. This warranty basically states that the wood floor won't come apart or "de-laminate" if it is an engineered/laminated wood floor. Nowadays, most all wood floors come with a lifetime structural warranty.

Bond Warranty
If a wood floor is a glue-down product, it is important that you have bond warranty. This warranty is usually only valid if you use the manufacturers' recommended adhesive. The warranty is usually based in part on the adhesive as well. Some manufacturers will state you can only use their brand name adhesives, while others will give you a list of acceptable adhesives. We highly recommend that you follow these guidelines exactly.

Moisture Warranty
This warranty is usually the same as, combined with, or directly effected by the bond warranty mentioned above. In most cases it refers to moisture getting up into the wood floor from the sub-floor. In some cases it may refer to how well a wood floor finish deflects moisture.

If it is a solid wood floor and not an engineered/laminated wood floor, this warranty is usually valid only if you apply the correct moisture barrier, such as a plastic sheeting, prior to the installation. Some warranties specify that you perform a moisture test prior to doing the installation, and use correct adhesive.

The moisture test methods vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and usually apply to concrete sub-floors. These warranties usually range from five years and up.

Wear Warranty
There are more types of wear warranties than any other. They can range from no warranty at all, to a lifetime warranty, and cover a wide scope of problems. Some of the wear warranties refer to wearing of the finish, while others refer to the actual wearing of the wood itself, while still others are a combination of both.

We can tell you that unless you're purchasing a very thin or very soft product, the wood itself seldom wears away. It is really the finish you need to be concerned with. If the finish is not of good quality, you will have many problems, and unexpected maintenance costs in the future. For example, if you purchase an engineered/laminated wood floor that can only be refinished a limited amount of times, and you don't have a good finish on that product, you will be seriously cutting down the life of that floor.