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Bruce Hardwood Flooring

Bruce Hardwood Flooring review: Substandard flooring - flaking like scabbies! 53

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12:00 am EST
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After Hurricane Katrina, I had to purchase new flooring for my home which was severely damaged in the storm. I bought four room of Bruce Hardwood flooring [not cheap]. It was installed and now it is flaking like scabbies. There are brown dots, they spread like chicken pocks, the wood starts to bubble, splinter,and chip off. It was a mis-mash of colors from light cherry to deep mahogany. It was like tiger stripes in some areas. I t had to be changed three times. It continues this process. After speaking to the store manager and several people in the flooring department and Bruce flooring, they decided that they would not fix it again and would not honor the warranty. I was forced just to take the money back for this horrible substandard flooring. If I had not, I would have had to have sued both Bruce and Lowes. You would think that Katrina was enough, but I would rather have shipping crates on my floors than this unsightly mess. I was told that it was costing too much money to keep replacing it. Neither even offered to come and rip it up or pay for the expense for me to hire someone. Katrina means "a Cleansing" so I've heard, maybe I need it now more than before Katrina.

53 comments
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Jon Snowhite
, US
Sep 24, 2016 6:53 pm EDT

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LoveMyHome
, CA
May 31, 2016 12:26 pm EDT
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Purchased special order from Home Depot of 5 " wide 3/4 thick solid wood vintage oak flint 1000 sq ft. Bruce American Vintage Handscraped collection. Installer with 30 yrs of experience advised of poor quality of flooring. Floors have holes from knots, marked by red markers, different stain pieces in box and started cracking and peeling right after installation. Over 50% of planks were deemed as defective by Home depot reps themselves. Waiting to hear from Bruce reps for more than 2 months. Paid top dollars for boxes of defective wood which said proudly manufactured in the States. Can't walk barefoot because of splinters! Promised 50 years of warranty?

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Bayownpat
, US
Feb 14, 2016 2:34 pm EST
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I bought my new home 7 years ago and it has Bruce flooring throughout the entire house. The day we were moving in I noticed the furniture was making dents in the wood because it was so soft. About two years ago the finish and stain started to wear off. Now in the high traffic areas it is so bad. Warning to everyone...Do not buy Bruce flooring!

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Ingomargirl
, US
Jan 10, 2016 10:12 am EST

I have two rooms with Bruce flooring and now I have a major problem. There is practically no finish to protect the wood. If it gets wet the clear finish peels and brown spots appear. Staining happens where the wood pieces meet. The rest of my house has the original wood which is over 80 years old. There is no problem if it gets wet and it does not fade. My Bruce flooring is faded. You can see dark shapes where the furniture is and faded wood around it. Very unhappy.

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CCourt
, US
Dec 26, 2015 2:58 pm EST
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My hardwood floors have been down for about a month. Within 2 days I noticed scratches in the soft finish. I can scratch the finish with my fingernail! Spent over $6000 for the ground floor in our townhouse. I am so upset about this. The type of floor is Bruce CB1210 solid oak. I dropped a dinner fork in the kitchen, and that left a mark. Why is the finish so soft?

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Sara5ann
, US
Dec 14, 2015 5:17 am EST
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We have a brand new house that we have lived in for 4 months now. Our floors are destroyed. We have a Pomeranian and there are scratches everywhere. Horrible floors and we paid top dollar for the mahogany.

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Staghorn
, CA
Oct 27, 2015 11:10 am EDT
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We bought Bruce Oak Cherry hardwood floor from Home Depot in September 2012 for our second floor. For two years, the floor was fine until this year we could hear some parts are squeaky and found some gaps between planks. We had our living/dining & famiy rooms installed with another company in 2010 and the floor is fine. I called Home Depot to complain but I was asked to call Armstrong instead. The guy from Armstrong by the name of Josh said it's the humidity of our house. I told him how come the flooring on the ground floor is fine. He told me bluntly that there is no warranty and was advised to buy humifier/s and place them wherever the squeaky place it. So we have to live with this problem while we have this flooring. DAMN!

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warranty no good armstong bad
White Marsh, US
Jul 02, 2015 2:12 pm EDT

I put Bruce engineered hardwood flooring in 1999. its 2015 and I put in a claim because the finish and stain is totally wore off in spots(not even traffic spots). the box states LIFE TIME WARRANTY now amrstrong says it was a limited warranty and only covered for a few yrs. So what is the life time warranty? It doesn't state on the box that is was a limited warranty only states LIFE TIME. Armstrong says I should have researched the warranty. I purchased the product by its advertising on the box LIFE TIME and I'm still alive. Armstrong says I could have looked it up on the internet. 1999 I was not on the internet. I still have the box and the receipts. I WILL NEVER BUY ANYTHING MADE BY BRUSE/ARMSTRONG EVER AGAIN. Armstrong says its not responsible for what Bruce put on the box. but they say they do honor the warranty but only the limited warranty.

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cocoanlace
Santa Clarita, US
May 13, 2015 3:38 pm EDT

I had engineered wood floors glued down in 4 rooms. It has excessive dents, scratches, sun fading near the slider, and is starting to peel in places. I only used Bona to clean with a damp mop and not that often as it was recommended just to vacuum. I never wear shoes inside, just go bare footed. Don't own high heels. Might have dropped the hammer once or twice; I will admit to that. The top coat has lost its initial gloss and looks cloudy in the traffic areas, like I used some bad cleaner. I clean these floors so I know what's been used. Never Murphy Oil. Never vinegar. After reading all these horror stories, I now know that it's not me! I am not a wood floor abuser! I haven't been too rough on my floors! It's just the inferior product I was sold. Bummer.

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TME Enterprises
Sarasota, US
Dec 02, 2014 4:17 pm EST

I have been installing engineered wood floors for years. I have never installed Bruce product until now. I have never seen such an inferior product. Simply trying to install it, the locking ridges flake right off with the least of pressure making many pieces unusable. There are warped planks, damaged boards right out of the box and discoloring. Don't know what we're going to do at this point. After reading the comments above, I seriously doubt the retailer (or Bruce) is going to do anything about it. Yes, this sucks!

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Puzo
Colonia, US
Sep 01, 2014 8:06 am EDT

I have seen the bad reviews on bruce flooring does that include bruce high impact hickory flooring I still have time to cancel the order any imput will be helpful

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Ryan Home Sufferer
, US
Jul 30, 2014 8:46 am EDT

I am having a lot of problems with hardwood supplied by Bruce. They will always comeback with excuse not to honor the warranty.

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gafloorman
columbus, US
Jul 10, 2014 9:58 pm EDT

Don't buy Bruce products. They don't stand behind them. I know because I am installer for a major retailer .

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Townhome
Fairfax, US
Apr 07, 2014 11:59 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I am 63 years old. I have had hard wood floors in my homes my whole life. We recently bought a brand new townhome in Fairfax va. The builders option over carpet was Bruce hardwood flooring. We have been in our townhome for 6 months. This is by far the worst hard wood flooring I have ever experienced. The floorboards are shrinking. The gaps between boards are wide enough to slide a nickel down. Crumbs, dirt, dog hair all gets trapped in these spaces. Not to even mention the nicks, and heel marks and dents throughout along with boards splitting. There are just 2 of us living here with occasional family visits (and 1 visiting dog). They come and measure humidity!. Tell me my house is dry which it is not. I bought a humidity gauge and we are normal. They then come and someone measure the humidity of the board. .? Doesn't all wood normally dry out?
My husband who is not at all a carpenter installed an engineered hard wood purchAsed
From lumber liquidators in our last home and it was perfect. We never had any shrinkage and it wore excellently. Do not buy Bruce flooring!

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Norm J
Polson, US
Jul 11, 2013 4:16 pm EDT

We ordered Bruce Rustic Heritage Golden Brown SHS5503 on March 19, 2013 and the order was back ordered until May 25th. On July 11th the floor layers refused to install it as it was cut crooked and had other manufacturing flaws. The dealer backed up his installers and called the Bruce flooring rep to see what can be done. We have 1, 200 sq feet of this stuff costing $7, 931. I would think twice before ordering this product. Our front room, dinning room, kitchen, hall, and entry way are now in shambles with part of the old flooring removed to the subfloor and covered with paper. Bruce flooring is strewn around with pieces partially assembled to show the manufacturers rep the various problems with the product. Bruce (Armstrong Flooring) and the Chinese are probably laughing all the way to the bank. Looks like it is time for a class action suit to sober them up.

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swilliams12107
Indianapolis, US
Jul 10, 2013 10:48 am EDT
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I had Bruce/Armstrong Legacy Manor engineered hardwood installed in my house 3 years ago, and it looks absolutely terrible. Within a year, the finish is flaking in several places and it is continuing to get worse. The flooring company that installed the floor has come out twice, once they said it was moisture problem, the second time, they had no answer, and just said it was something in my home environment? The Armstrong Rep. came out during the first visit, asked if he could test one of the extra planks that I had, which was stored in the original packaging, on a carpeted surface, and the test results came back that the product was fine. The Flooring company (Kermans Fine Flooring, Indianapolis, IN) is now refusing to even answer emails or provide me with any requested paperwork.

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twin1
Murfreesboro, US
Jun 27, 2013 9:12 pm EDT

So happy to say that Haynes Brothers in Murfreesboro, TN has been a TREMENDOUS help! Thank goodness I bought this product from them and not from an internet supplier! After 2 1/2 years and 3 visits from an Armstrong rep, we are close to finally settling this issue. If you have a defective product, don't give up keep the pressure on them.

Thank you Haynes Brothers:)

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J.M. Shearer
Ten Mile, US
May 18, 2013 7:18 pm EDT
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I'm a general contractor, we installed approx. 1700 sq. ft. of 3/4" maple flooring for a customer. We were building his house for him. He selected Bruce for his flooring. He is wanting to sue me because his floors squeak when he walks across them. As mentioned above, the board have a taper to them, they were bowed, just a bad product. I'm the bad guy because I refused to replace the wood at no cost. I have never had any problems with hardwood floors until now.I have agreed to provide free labor to fix the problem if he can tell me how. The wood is junk, and I can't believe a company like Armstrong would produce such junk.

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Dan271
, US
May 07, 2013 7:40 am EDT

This would be my first time installing wood floor so I went to local store and I saw cinnamon maple solid half inch thick samples looked gorgeous in the store. I didn't really know anything about Bruce I just bought 190 SQFT at $3.97 per SQFT. I was going to install it by myself this stuff is garbage. Luckily I opened only 3 boxes to inspect and I found so many issues bent planks, cracked, cut wrong, chips, different wood colors, some dark stains, noticed lots of holes and someone tried to fill them up I mean they almost used black filler it's so noticeable . I am taking this stuff back today hopefully I will get my refund back. I am very disappointed I just can't believe how careless some people are to make such a bad product.

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dtf2
, US
Dec 30, 2012 1:55 pm EST

I installed Bruce laminate flooring throughout the house. It is fragile and chips easily if something hard is dropped on it. It is also easily and quickly damaged by water. I'm already thinking about having to replace it.

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twin1
Murfreesboro, US
Nov 07, 2012 2:55 pm EST

We built a house in Murfreesboro, TN too...completed it in June 2010. We bought our floors (Armstrong/Bruce) from Haynes Brothers. Within the first 6-8 months we started experiencing splitting, chipping, top layer bubbling. Contacted H.B., which came out, then Bruce/Armstrong rep came out. Told us they'd buff whole house and repair bubbles, but after that we can never use warranty again. So, we will wait, 2 years later...floors are getting worse:( I have 3500sq ft. of this crap in my house! Going after H.B. and Mfg. I will absolutely join a class action suit if there is one to join!

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Wilbur87
Murfreesboro, US
Sep 29, 2012 9:40 am EDT

We built a home in Murfreesboro, TN and moved in december 2011 with a company called Fox Ridge. The products they used are terrible and low quality, but that's a different story. We too have Bruce floorings and it is the sandy, grainy type of hardwood. When we went to choose the flooring for our new home, there was not much selection that was in our budget so my husband picked the flooring. No word from the sales lady at the flooring that the hardwood would chip so easily. Of course she wouldn't let a customer know, but now we are stuck with some cheap ### hardwood flooring that scratches and chips so easily. We do not wear shoes in the house, and we took really good care of it till I started noticing it was chipping and scratching over time. We plan to rip that piece crap apart ad install tiles instead.

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hypercer
East Syracuse, US
Aug 05, 2012 6:02 pm EDT

I wish I didn't listen to my wife but I did and bought 80 cases and needed 61 replaced before putting them in as they were warped right out of the package. My level is going to sue me for how much use I've put it through. I have planks that are almost a 1/2 inch warped out of the box and acclimated for nearly a week. Then I found out my product number, AHS4033, was discontinued I bet for warped wood. What a pain but I won't install warped wood for what ever reason. Just don't buy this crap it gives american made product a bad name. The china stuff is like 50 % better than this over half of the wood per box is warped.

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jlon442
, US
Mar 25, 2012 10:42 am EDT

Recently installed bruce engineered hardwood – “EAK04LG” - This home was built in 1993 and had bruce engineered hardwood “glued” on concrete slab and it performed great, dogs, kids and daily wear and tear. Wanted to support our local business, Morehead city NC and American manufacturing - this completely blew up in our face. Within a week the product dented from simply sitting in our bar stools and the finish peeled from dog urine and the scratches from dog claws are hideous. The guy we bought the floors from said no wood floor is warranted against dogs. We did not hear this when he was estimating the job and we were telling him we were concerned about potty training issues with our dogs and about scratches “as our dogs were jumping all over him”! Bruce/Armstrong said we are on our own. This product is a complete embarrassment to American manufacturing – we would have got the same support and quality from china. DO NOT BUY BRUCE PRODUCTS PERIOD!

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racerx13
blairstown, US
Mar 22, 2012 9:25 am EDT
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We have the prefinished hardwood with microbevel. A totally unacceptable number of boards have the 'overwood' problem. Sharp edges and corners are uncomfortable to the feet. Bruce sent a rep to review and said it was in spec - that stupid credit card thickness excuse. They also totally ignored the two dozen spit and cracked boards. Would never recommend prefinished or even Bruce.

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hardwood hank
middl, US
Jan 25, 2012 11:16 pm EST

I have installed bruce for many years and have had no issues.first you have to buy the right bruce products, most companies offer lower grade products or higher grade products. The lower grades have many imperfections. Also it is wood flooring it will dent and scratch, they all do. To prevent dents you can buy harder flooring check the jenga scale it will tell you what the densest woods are. The person with brazillian cherry you should have been told that it will darken over time from the sun light that is why what is under the carpet is still its lighter original color.

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weekend warrior1
, US
Nov 14, 2011 3:21 am EST

My husband and I just spent the last three days installing 286 feet of Bruce 3/4 inch hardwood in our bedroom. We purchased the hardwood from on online retailer. I can tell you that the quality Bruce hardwood is absolutely HORRIBLE. Planks were warped right out of the box. Also there were many planks that had no tongue or the groove was messed up. We had to cut the warped section off of many planks just to be able to make them useable. We also had to hand nail many of the boards just to get the large gap from the warping to close. I know wood is a natural product but many boards had extremely uneven stain and they just didn't look good in the room. What a nightmare project. I never expected such poor quality from a well known brand name. If you plan on using Bruce hardwood, you should definitely order more wood than wihat you need. We now have to fight with the online retailer to get a replacement box of wood for the un-useable planks because we were not able to finish the room and our project is stalled for who knows how long. This really becomes a headache when you have all of the stuff moved out of the room you are working on and scattered all over the rest of your house. Never again!

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annad
Galena, US
Aug 30, 2011 12:35 am EDT

Hi They did the exact same thing to me. horrible hrrible product and refuses to honor warrantee. Who can we call besides ghostbusters?

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annad
Galena, US
Aug 30, 2011 12:32 am EDT

i will do a class action law suit this is a horrible product. Did you get anywhere in court?

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AL Barrett
Springfield, US
Jun 11, 2011 3:28 pm EDT

We bought a new home in 2007 with Bruce oak wood flooring in 60% of the home. We called the builder to find out what type of warranty there was against wood spliting and fading (where there is no longer a finish in front of our patio window). What we found out is that Bruce does not stand by fading (a naturally occurring event due to the sun) nor will they do anything because we don't have the receipt of purchasing the flooring. Since the builder does he would be the only one covered by warranty even if damage was covered. They recommend covering the wood floor! Well, the only way for us to cover in front of the entire patio window would be to have a custom made rug made in our dinette area (which we already have a 10x20 rug in already). And isn't why we put in wood floors in our homes is to see the beauty of the wood floor and NOT cover it up? So we have separated wood slats throughout our home and faded wood by the patio window. This is a terrible product! We have had had five homes with wood floors - this being the only one with Bruce - and the only one with this type of issue.

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Markh3842
Goshen, US
May 22, 2011 6:01 pm EDT
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I understand your complaints about the quality. I am a contractor in CT. The quality of solid oak pre finished was good in my book. BUT The smell the floor has been giving off for the past three years is now giving us head aches. Has this been a problem with anyone else?

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kaeb
, US
May 12, 2011 5:17 pm EDT

I had my Bruce engineered flooring on concrete for 3 years now and the whole house has wrinkling on various boards, not all next to each other either? Ive had my moisture tested and Humidity and all with in the limits so what next $20, 000 plus to redo and I meanwhile no answers from Bruce they say it is moisture or cleaning. No water goes on these floors swifter dry only! Southeast climate and Ive had 6 homes with this same product and no problems.. Can it be the installers glue? Anybody

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SDNJ
Jackson, US
Apr 03, 2011 3:56 pm EDT

Bruce engineered flooring is crap it is so soft that the slightest bump leaves marks in it. We don't know what to do with this floor and it is in the entire house. The floor is 5 years old and it looks worse than most 20 year old floors.

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KathiSc
Yuma, US
Feb 05, 2011 5:48 pm EST

I had Bruce lock and fold hand scraped flooring throughout the house installed May 2010, by September, 2010 the family room floors started to have flaws. The flaws only appeared in the family room. We went through channels, they sent a man out who immediately saw my pup and determined it was from urine. However she never piddled in those areas, had he tested for moisture, or used any acid testing strip, he would have learned that. We hired an attorney, Bruce gaffed off the date stated by our attorney. They denied all the claims. Our attorney said if we took it to court it would be there expert versus ours, who said it was a product flaw. So here we are. Never buy this product they do not live up to their warranty.

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In Maryland
, US
Jan 10, 2011 12:24 am EST

We're having major problems with our Bruce hardwood. We built a new home last year, and within months, I started noticing that our oak floors were "checking, " "graining" and splitting. I marked each board that I noticed this (approx 150 separate boards). I've had the installer out twice to tell me that it is not considered defective. A Bruce rep is coming out in a couple weeks to check the humidity in our home (which has been in the normal range both times the installer came out). The next step after the Bruce rep comes out (because I know that Bruce won't admit to a defective product) is to have a 3rd party come out to assess the floor. I really hope that someone will bring a class action lawsuit. I am not hopeful that my situation will ever be rectified, especially after reading the postings on this board.
~Frustrated in Maryland

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Vernon HIlls
Vernon Hills, US
Nov 05, 2010 1:02 am EDT

We replaced our carpet in the living room and family room to hardwood floors in May 2010. Unfortunetly, we purchased the Bruce Armstrong oak hardfloors at Home Depot. After a month, we found multiple holes on the new floors and some our exsiting floors close to the new floors. We called Teminix. Guess what? He said they came from the Powder Post Beetles which I never heard of. But I just learned the bugs are very common in new oak hardwood floors. When we unistalled entired floors, we were shoked. The wholes on the back side were tremendous. It was so gross that made me goosebumps. Soon you can them in Youtube. By the way, they had not notified me untill I could finally talk to them in Oct. They said the case was turned down in July. Can you believe that? We still don't have flooors. We ended up to bring the case to the Small Claim Court. Wish me a good luck.

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denvermitch
Austin, US
Jun 11, 2010 7:54 am EDT

Just purchased 600 square feet of Bruce 3/4" Ellington Plank hardwood for the upstairs. The top urethane finish is filled with tiny bubbles in about 40% of the pieces. Good thing we noticed before it was installed. Back to the store it goes and NO MORE BRUCE!

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Mary T. Wilsonw
, US
Apr 28, 2010 4:21 pm EDT

I purchased the bruce engineered flooring. this is NOT my first engineered flooring..the floors are SUBSTANDARD and I certainly did not pay substandard prices! do not let anyone fool you into buying Bruce floors...they are the cheapest made, veneer is cracked and peeling, less than 4 months, shrinking from wall. and it is not anything we did or the contractor. I had two contractors come here, and they verified the products was very POOR! I have an appointment with the Bruce rep to show my floor..., will see what they say

DO NOT BUY

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Armstong Bruce Floor is bad
, US
Feb 21, 2010 10:15 pm EST

I just completely renovated my office and the product that was chosen for the conference room by my architecht / builder was an Armstrong Bruce Floor Product. It is absolutely terrible. The finish is crazing and the laminant is cracking in a bunch of places. It is going to cost a small fortune to replace it - much more than the cost of the floor and installation - it will involve a lot of carpentry work and painting. What a mess. I am terribly disappointed and frustrated with this product. DO NOT BUY IT! You will regret it when it starts to fall apart a week after it is installed. Armstrong has offerred that I do not have to pay for the product however, the cost of replacing will be 10x as much. Let me reiterate - do not buy this product!

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JD Michigan
Holland, US
Sep 28, 2009 5:57 pm EDT

The same type of problems I read here is similar to my complaints with the Bruce Floor I had installed. It just seams to dent, chip and scratch easily. There are places the top veneer is peeling. The cleaners they expect you to use are toxic. They come with warnings about skin and eye irritation. Also they say you should use with adequate ventilation. Has this company ever heard about "green" products. I usually keep my windows closed during cold weather in Michigan. A lawsuit needs to get started against Armstrong for delivering SUBSTANDARD products to consumers.

JD, Michigan

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