Good Questions: Where To Get Wood Floors in NYC?

Hello AT,

I've just bought a one bedroom apartment on the 16th floor of a midcentury building near Yankee Stadium and I need to install a hardwood floor. The current floor is concrete covered in broken vinyl
tiles. I've done my research and am fairly certain what I want, namely, a prefinished engineered floating oak or maple wood floor. Problem is, I don't know where to buy it and who to have install it....

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I looked into buying the wood from Lumber Liquidators but have read and heard so many horror stories about them that they are definitely off my list. I also checked out Home Depot. Again, I came across one horror story after another.

I could go to New York Flooring, a bespoke company that sells and installs intricately designed hardwood floors. If money were no object, I'd certainly hire them. But if money were no object, I wouldn't have bought an apartment that needed a floor to begin with. My question: can anyone recommend a reputable middle-of-road company that could provide and install my modest little floor? I'd be forever grateful.

Thanks! Barbara in the Bronx

Dear Barbara,

Our best experiences have come with buying the wood floor through the person installing it. You kill two birds with one stone that way.

Our go to guy is a charming Irishman named Vincent Devaney of Devaney Custom Flooring. He is a small outfit and can get really busy so that it is tough to pin him down, but if you get him, you will be lucky.

It would be great to get references here for others.

Anyone??

Comments (3)

Hey Everyone,
I've got a Wood Flooring "Cheat Sheet" posted on my site cityhammer.com to help you get started on either refinishing an existing floor or finding the right pro to install a new one.

here's a link: http://cityhammer.com/tips/show/?id=34

if you're looking for good flooring pro's in the New York Area, we have a section filled with them including ratings and reviews, here it is:

http://cityhammer.com/catalog/companyList/?category_id=22

Josh

I just wanted to publicly share an awful experience I had with a flooring contractor recommended on this site. I had a terrible experience using Ray from Ace Flooring at (718) 877-1671. He also works under several company Aliases including A & A Flooring, RLS Flooring, and RLS Maintenance. Consumer beware. He is a con artist. He did not perform on our contract, and did not return my deposit. It has cost me time, energy, and money, and I do not want what happened to me to happen to any other innocent consumer out there.

Here is my experience with a company called Pianeta Legno floors. It is a reason that most of the time I shop at the large stores that back up their products. After listening to the Pianeta Legno Flooors (PLFloors) sales pitch, we installed an estimated 800 sf of flooring. After a few months the planks started splitting and warping leaving sharp points protruding. Efforts to have Pianeta Legno remedy the situation have been in vain. Today, April 25, 2011, they claim we should have known the flooring needs humidification systems installed in the house. Had the retailer told us that we needed a humidifier we would not have purchased the flooring from Pianeta. A humidifier costs money, has to be maintained daily, drips water everywhere, needs space, can’t be left on when on vacation, can be tipped over and looks unsightly. My suggestions: if you are going to install hardwood floors, buy it at a large home center. Their products are vetted and they stand by everything they sell. I have purchased more than half a dozen homes in the past 5 years and time after time I have had nothing but good experiences in getting remedies from the large home centers. If you would like to see photos of the cracked floors and bowed wood you may do so at Poconos4Sale.com