CONEJO HARDWOODS TOP PICKS:

When you come into our showroom you will see that we have a very large selection of floors- from hardwood to laminate to stone.  If you know what you want, then please talk to one of our salespeople to place an order. However if you don’t know what you want yet (we know it can be difficult picking a floor from so many choices) this article might be helpful in making a selection. Over the last 20 years we have guided thousands and thousands of people through the selection process to the point where they select the exact floor that they want. We know that in the end, 80% of our customers select a floor that is on this Top Picks list. Your tastes and requirements might lead you to a floor not on this list, but you should at least take a look at the top floors we sell. It might help simplify your decision process.


You can look at the page titled “How to Pick a Floor” for more detailed information, but basically you will be selecting from these categories of floors:

Engineered Hardwood Floors

Solid Hardwood Floors

Laminate Floors

Stone Floors

ENGINEERED HARDWOOD FLOORS:



You can never go wrong with an engineered hardwood floor because they can be installed just about anywhere. Whether you have a concrete slab or raised foundation, engineered floors can be glued to a slab or nailed or stapled to a plywood subfloor, or even installed in a basement where high moisture would prohibit using a solid wood floor. You get the most durable finishes and the most stable wood with an engineered floor. There are engineered floors for three installation methods: glue-down, nail-down, and floating.



Engineered Floors for Glue-Down Installation



Our top engineered pick: Lauzon Hardwood Floors



The floors we sell most often are engineered hardwood floors for glue-down or nail-down installation. And our top selling brand is Lauzon. Why Lauzon? The hardwood veneers on most engineered floors are either rotary peeled or plain sliced. Lauzon’s veneers are dry-sawn, which means they are cut off the log just like solid lumber. Therefore Lauzon’s floors look just like solid hardwood floors.



Many of our customers gravitate to the installed Lauzon floors in our showroom just from the sheer beauty of the wood and when we show them the hefty thickness of the veneer which is over 1/8” thick and tell them about the 25 year warranty on the aluminum oxide finish, they’ve decided that a Lauzon floor is going into their homes. The bonus: instead of a 3” wide plank like everyone else, Lauzon makes their floors 3-1/4” wide—just a little wider.



The downsides? Lauzon doesn’t have a very broad product line offering bevel edged floors and a choices of wood species. Their strength is in their natural square edged hardwoods. The combination of high quality and exceptional value has resulted in very high demand for their product. We estimate that their product should be priced about two dollars a square foot higher because of the quality. However, we’re not going to tell them so we can continue to sell their exceptionally high quality floors at bargain-basement prices!



Our top Lauzon sellers:

1. Natural Red Oak—just unbelievable quality! This floor is by far and away our number one product! It looks like a solid oak floor.

2. Natural Maple: Many maple floors are too clean and white, but Lauzon maple has just enough of the darker character marks to make a truly beautiful, natural looking floor.

3. Natural Brazilian Cherry: if you want an exotic but affordable hardwood floor that just cries with luxury and you appreciate the richness of the dark red tones of Brazilian cherry, this is the floor for you. 

4. Santos Mahogany: Similar to Brazilian cherry but not as deep red with more brownish tones, this is an exotic floor at an affordable price. 



Other top engineered floors:

1. Mannington is perhaps the premier hardwood flooring manufacturer in the country and they make superb engineered hardwood floors. Our top Mannington sellers are the Oregon 3” planks, the Montana 5” planks, the California 3” high gloss planks, and the plain sliced White Oak Hudson plank.

2. Harris-Tarkett's First Choice Red Oak and Maple planks are always among our top selling floors. The combination of excellent wood selection, low pricing, and good color choices make these floors a must see.

3. Anderson Hardwood Flooring has many excellent hardwood floors but our best sellers in the Anderson line are their Jackson and Commercial Pecan floors and their 3” and 5” wide Elm floors. Pecan is becoming a very popular hardwood floor because it is harder than oak or maple and has a soft grain that isn’t as pronounced as oak, but more noticeable than maple. Natural pecan is a light color but not as white as maple making it a good choice when maple is too light and oak is too grainy. Anderson’s Elm floors have a truly spectacular look—a light grain like pecan but a fuller color palette. The only downside of Elm is that it is softer than oak and therefore can show more distress marks. 

SOLID HARDWOOD FLOORS:

Solid hardwood—The beauty and thickness of traditional solid hardwood floors is a desire of many people. These floors always used to require a wood subfloor and a nail-down installation. Now there is another choice: Floating solid wood floors from Junckers (pronounced Yunkers) which use a patented clip system which holds the boards together as they float on a foam pad. Ideal for installation over a slab or in a commercial location where the owner may wish to move the floor to a new location. 



Our top selling solid hardwood floors: Junckers Hardwood Flooring. Junckers is an environmentally conscious flooring company and is the number one manufacturer of solid hardwood flooring in Europe. Their floors are relatively new in this country but already they are selling extremely well. The reason: their floors are prefinished and can be installed either by nailing to a wood subfloor or by floating over a concrete or wood subfloor. Their Wide Board Merbau is an exotic species that is 5” wide and 8 feet long. The size of the boards and dark reddish brown color of this floor makes a very impressive and luxurious looking floor. Junckers also makes the American Collection which are prefinished 5” wide, hand-distressed, solid wood floors that are absolutely stunning. 

LAMINATE FLOORS:

Our top selling laminates: Formica and Wilsonart. These two companies have been in the business of producing high-quality laminates for countertops for many years and now they make the laminate floors that get all the awards. If you are in the market for a laminate floor, you have to consider their products.

STONE:

Stone is the last floor you’ll ever put in. It is the ultimate in luxury and beauty and ease of maintenance and you’ll never wear it out. Most of our customers prefer the travertine floors over any marble or granite they’ve ever seen—and the price is much less than marble and granite. Once you’ve seen this stone, you can’t do tile or another stone. It is the best. 



Our top selling travertines: Italian Premium and Durango Especial. These cross-cut travertines are almost fully mineralized which means that the holes that are often found in travertine are nearly completely filled with natural stone. This light, cream-colored travertine is probably the best in the world and it is, by far, the favorite stone that we sell. Everyone loves it because it goes with absolutely everything. Any color of cabinets, furniture, hardwood flooring, or carpet looks great with this stone. If you’re considering stone or tile for your home, you have to get a sample of this stone to see how beautiful it looks in your home.