Bruce Prefinished Oak Flooring – Our Review

Bruce produces high quality pre-finished oak flooring, but when it comes to oak hardwood flooring, there are a lot of options out there. We actually have a traditional site finished oak floor on the main level of our home. But, when it came time extend our wood flooring into the rest of our home, a site finished product just wasn’t practical for our lifestyle. With two small kids and a home office, we just couldn’t stay off our floors for long enough to have them sanded and finished in place. With that in mind, we selected Bruce hardwood flooring by Armstrong to complete the floors in our home.  We wet with a Bruce pre-finished solid oak product like the Bruce Bristol Low Gloss Butter Rum White Oak Hardwood Flooring because we were confident that a floor from Bruce would give us the level of quality and finish durability we wanted, while still being beautiful and coordinating nicely with our existing floors

Oak Flooring Facts

• Varieties: Red Oak (Quercus rubra), White Oak (Quercus alba)
• Native Habitat: North America, Central America
• Janka Hardness Rating: Red Oak – 1290, White Oak – 1360
• Grades: No. 1 Common, No. 2 Common, Clear, Select

Finish Quality of Bruce Hardwood Floors

The finish on our Bruce floors has proven to be more durable than the oil based finish on our site-finished floors.  It has a beautiful gloss that has held up very well against our three kids, a dog, and ongoing home improvements.  While any hardwood floor can scratch or dent, we’ve been impressed with how resilient the Bruce finish has been.  After almost three years, we haven’t had any problems with the finish like peeling, flaking or discoloration.  For the most part, it looks just as good as the day we installed it.

Installation of Bruce Pre-Finished Floors

The quality and consistent milling on the individual boards of our Bruce solid oak flooring made installation simple.  Boards fit together quickly and easily, and didn’t need to be forced into place, which can sometimes be a problem with poorly milled products whose tongues and grooves don’t match up well.

Overall Appearance of Bruce Hardwood Floors

Our Bruce pre-finished floors have a warm look that blends nicely with our oak site-finished floors.  While we can definitely tell a difference between the two, most visitors to our home who aren’t in the flooring industry don’t even notice that we have two different types of wood flooring.  While we specifically chose a floor that would look as close as possible to our existing floors, Bruce also carries a variety of different styles, colors and species to accent or coordinate with your current interior design style.  In addition to solid wood products, they also carry engineered flooring like Bruce Balance Red Oak Plank Flooring. Overall, we’ve been extremely pleased with the Bruce floors we installed in our own home, and we also have many satisfied flooring customers that also love their Bruce pre-finished floors. Get free shipping on qualifying Bruce pre-finished flooring purchases.

Cork: A Unique Eco Friendly Flooring Alternative

Dear Rob:

I’ve been searching for the perfect eco-friendly flooring for my new condo. I’ve seen some cork flooring products on the market, but I’m not sure if it’s for me.  Can you tell me more?

-Joe in Atlanta

Dear Joe:

Cork is a flooring product that is as unique as it is beautiful.  Cork is available in a wide variety or styles and patterns that can suit a variety of interior design styles. The beauty of cork is “more than skin deep.”  Cork, which comes from the cork oak tree, is an environmentally friendly and sustainable flooring product.  This is because cork is harvested approximately every ten years without actually chopping down the tree that produces it.  Cork is the bark of the cork oak, and it is made up of air filled dead cells, cellulose and waxy substance called suberin.  When the cork is removed, the tree naturally produces more bark which can be harvested again and again.

If you think of a cork board when someone says cork flooring, the picture in your head couldn’t be further from the truth.  Cork varies from light colored and simple, like the creamy white APC Cork Cremes Apollo White Cork Flooring to multi-colored and playful like APC Cork Kids Collection Building Blocks Cork Flooring.  Cork flooring can be purchased in both glue down and click together tile styles.

Cork has some unique benefits as a flooring material.  Cork absorbs sound, which makes it the perfect choice for your condo installation.  It also provides some thermal insulation, and is impact absorbing while still being tough and durable.  This makes cork floors like the one shown to the left a unique choice playrooms.  In addition, cork is hypoallergenic, making it an excellent flooring choice for allergy sufferers.

Overall, cork is a flooring choice that is both unique, beautiful and environmentally friendly. Click here to buy cork flooring and save up to $100 using coupon code ZLS564201. -Rob

View Flooring Samples in Your Home with Empire Today

We spend a lot of time on this site answering questions about interior design and giving pointers on choosing flooring.  In the end, with most design choice questions, the best advice is to get product samples and bring them home to see how they work with your lighting, decor and other aspects of your home and style.  You really need to see things in place, on your floor, wall, counter, etc, to get a true appreciation of how colors and styles will work in your home.  While you can get flooring product samples to bring home from most big box stores, why not consider in-home shopping with a company like Empire Today?

Empire Today offers free shop-at-home convenience that isn’t available from most other flooring suppliers.  They can send an knowledgeable product representative to your home who can show you samples, measure your project and provide a price quote all in one convenient and time saving visit.  If the product you choose is in-stock, you representative can even and schedule a next day installation appointment if you’re ready to make a decision.  If this concept doesn’t sound familiar to you, you can check out Empire Carpet TV, a fun little site they’ve put together with all of their television commercials.

Empire Today offers a full line of flooring options including carpet, hardwood, laminate, and ceramic tile.  Hardwood flooring options include traditional species like oak, as well as bamboo and other exotic flooring species.  There is also a wide range of different selections of carpets and tiles to suit different styles, traffic patterns and budgets.  If you’re doing a more extensive remodel, they also offer bath and shower liners, as well as blinds – all with the same in-home service.

In addition to the convenience of in-home shopping, Empire also offers a low price guarantee in most markets.  Simply show them a competitive written estimate for the same or similar quality flooring materials, and Empire will beat it.  Of course, there are some limitations and exclusions, so be sure to ask for details if you plan on asking them to beat a price quote from another retailer.

With service in over 50 major metropolitan areas across the US, the Empire Today jingle (you know: “800-588-2300™ Empire . . .”) and the Empire Today Man are known throughout the country.  Not sure what I’m talking about?  You can even check out a whole archive of Empire Today Commercials online or watch one of their commercials below.