My Floating Hardwood Floors: A Three Month Follow-Up

Three months ago, I installed Floorté Hardwood  Series planks directly over my existing tile and solid wood floors (without any demo!). Today, I am going to give a three month review of my floors, and show you how they are holding up. 

I can’t believe that three months have already passed since my husband and I installed new floating hardwood planks in our 1980’s fixer upper. Seriously...Where does the time go?!

This may sound absolutely insane to the traditionalists out there, but when we installed our new flooring, we did not follow standard protocol.

You see…we actually kind of “cheated” a bit.

Thanks to major advances in flooring technology, we were able to install our new engineered oak hardwood right on top of our outdated tile and cherry-hued  solid wood floors.

Yes…you heard me right! We did NOT fool with any prep or demolition before beginning the DIY installation of our new hardwoods. (You can read the original install tutorial here).

This post is sponsored by Shaw Floors, however all opinions are 100% mine. 

And while you certainly couldn’t do this with just any hardwood product on the market, Floorté Hardwood Series is specifically designed to be installed over existing hard surfaces.

Not only does the clicking mechanism of the planks allow for a quicker and more DIY-friendly install than traditional hardwood, but the product is also marketed as waterproof and scratch resistant.

I know what you are thinking.

This all sounds just too good to be true…right? A hardwood that is not only easy to install, but also durable and aesthetically pleasing?

Well, lucky for you skeptics out there, I was more than willing to test these selling points out in my 1980’s rancher.

For those of you wanting to see a closer view of the floors, be sure to also watch the video review I have embedded in this post.

Install:

While I would not consider myself to be a floating flooring expert by any means, I do have some prior experience installing click and lock LVT flooring.

Out of the two other “clicking” products I have used, the Floorté Hardwood planks were way easier to get the hang of.

Unlike the luxury vinyl tiles where there was a bit of a learning curve (and consequently some product waste), my husband and I found our groove in no time. As a result, the installation went faster than I had initially estimated. Much to my delight, the install of the Floorté Hardwood Series was easier and faster than the LVT products I have used in the past.

Durability:

Within the first week of having our new hardwoods installed, I discovered that my son had spilt a full bottle of water in his room and left it there for who knows how long.

Instinctively, I panicked (and uttered some obscenities under my breath), but then I quickly remembered that the engineered oak was designed to be impervious to water. Well…after I removed the giant puddle of water from the floor, I was relieved to find that no damage had been done.

As further confirmation of this product’s durability, on a few occasions, my dogs (too lazy to relieve themselves outside) , have also proven just how truly waterproof this product is.

In this messy phase of life, I really could not imagine having to ever worry with fussy surfaces anymore. Ain’t nobody got time for that!

Feel:

Given the unorthodox means of install, I am sure many of you are curious if I can feel the old tiles or hardwood beneath my feet.

Other than one small area in my foyer where the tiles were uneven, you would never guess that these floors had been installed over a pre-existing surface. It’s not that I can even feel the uneven tile underfoot, it’s just that I can feel where the plank lays a bit different in one small spot (this may just be because I know the tile was uneven to begin with and so I am extra critical). Everywhere else, the subfloor is undetectable.

My biggest advice: make sure your subfloors are level before installing this product. Whoever had installed the original floors in my home had made lots of wonky mistakes.

For a closer look and listen, be sure to watch the video review which I have included in this post.

Summary:

While re-flooring an entire home is definitely no small undertaking, the floating technology of Floorté Hardwood Series made this daunting task so much more approachable (not to mention affordable).

Not only do my new floors look fabulous and have completely transformed my home, they have proven (so far at least) to withstand the demands of my messy life.

If you are looking to save tens of thousands of dollars on install costs with a DIY-friendly hardwood, I highly recommend Floorté Waterproof Hardwood.

**Update 6-28-21** Want to see how my floors have held up now for a full year? Click here to read my latest review post.

Thank you so much for stopping by this week!

Now get out there and design some good vibes. Thank you so much for helping this small business of mine by sharing this post with your friends or on social media…