Flooring -- Invision Hardwood Decor

This is my second experience sharing article. This time is about the flooring.

The condition of our new home was generally in good shape. However, there were still few things that we would like to change despite that there was really nothing wrong about it. That was the flooring. When we got our home, the flooring for the second floor and the basement was carpet. Although the carpet was still in good condition, we put flooring replacement as our first thing to do since we would really prefer a hardwood floor. Besides, there is no better timing to do flooring other than when the house is empty.



I went to several flooring shops for an estimate. The cost was mainly divided into two major items: material and labour, and each item takes roughly 50% of the total cost. I found that the cost for labour was quite comparable for all the five or six quotes, and the key was the material cost. Always start with asking which brand is on sale and list them along with the shop providing the sale. You could easily save thousands by choosing the one on sale. Since there are so many brand names for the hardwood floor, it would be much easier to limit the pool, do the research and choose the one that you want in this way. I also found that the sale provided from each shop was quite different. One brand may have a sale in one shop, but not in any other shops. Not sure why is that. So, try to ask as many shops (the ones with good reputations for sure, try homestars as a starting point...) as possible, especially when you already have something in mind.

I decided to go with Invision Hardwood Decor. The owner, Roy, was friendly and patiently explaining the difference between different floors and making suggestions for our floor when we were in the shop. The show room was spacious so that we could lay several floor samples on the floor to have a better sense how they would look like for comparison. The way Roy approaches customers was an art. He doesn't let you feel pressured by bombarding you a lot of information or questions. He knows how to handle several customers equally at the same, answer all their inquiries and not to make any of them feel ignored (I personally think it's not a trivial task based on what I observed in other stores). He was also one of the very few that were willing to accommodate to our schedule for coming to our home for an on-site quote estimate. Most of them only come for estimate during weekdays, while Roy was willing to come during evenings and weekends.

The floor job was well organized. They delivered the material and started the job right on time. The work was done neatly and professionally within few days. I was impressed by the speed and the quality of the work. The job included flooring replacement as well as installing the baseboard. The hardwood floor installation was impeccable but I had few words to say about the baseboard. The baseboard was nailed to the wall. The spacing between nails in certain locations seemed to be a bit large so that the baseboard was a bit curvy and a visible gap between the baseboard and the wall was found. I was expecting that they would use caulking for the baseboard instead of nail guns. Or, they would seal the gap using caulking after nailing the baseboard. When I reflected this to Roy, he did come and fix some of them. However, I had a feeling that sealing the gap between the baseboard and the wall is not part of the routine job. Not sure if it is common for other floor guys or it is just for them. However, this was the only minor imperfection and I was satisfied with most part of the job.

I would still recommend Invision Hardwood Decor to those who need a nice floor job in great Toronto area.