You’re sitting on your couch trying to binge watch your new favorite TV show, when a commercial for Shaw Hardwood comes and goes.
Now you can’t seem to focus.
Your ugly carpet in the background keeps drawing your attention away from your show. So, you grab you phone and start searching the internet for some beautiful hardwood flooring.
When you come upon the Home Depot website, you find Shaw Hardwood flooring. Not only are there multiple options for different texture, width, finish, and character; there are also between three and five color options for each type of flooring in engineered and solid wood flooring.
I don’t know about you, but I’m already overwhelmed.
Now you decided you want to go in and check out a free sample. This is where I hope you decide to read our blog on FloorCritics first before you head to the store.
Home Depot does not carry any samples of the flooring. This is a huge drawback for me because I want to touch and feel my product before I spend a chunk of my savings on it.
Not being able to head into the store and see the product for myself, I turned to the internet to research & create a one stop shop review for all advice about Shaw Hardwood.
Here are some things you can expect to read about:
- So Many Options, So Few In-Store Samples
- Engineered vs Solid Hardwood
- Where Can I Find Shaw Flooring?
- Learning from The Past
- The Final Verdict
So Many Options, So Few Samples
All of the options on the Shaw Flooring website are overwhelming. Not only did they have engineered hardwood, but they had solid wood, tile, carpet, laminate, and even vinyl.
In this article, I will only be talking about the engineered hardwood and the solid hardwood. Even then, there are a plethora of options on the website.
When looking through the website I found that they will provide you with two free samples on the house. Who doesn’t love free stuff? After that, the samples are $4.99 per sample.
Not sure if you want to go with the engineered hardwood or the solid hardwood? This would be a great time to order one of each and see which one you like better.
If you do decide on the engineered or the engineered Pro hardwood you will find the only seller is Home Depot. They do not carry samples of the products.
Heading into the store to see other brands to determine which characteristics you like may help you narrow down your choices for your free samples.
If you decided to go with the solid hardwood, you can search on the website for dealers in your area that carry the specific products you like. Depending on the store, they may have samples available at the store, or you may have to still order them, but I would give your local dealer a call before ordering any off of the website because they may be able to save you some money.
Is Engineered Better Than the Real Deal?
When searching on the website you will find that they have many different types of flooring.
A few of these types include engineered and solid wood flooring When looking at pictures it is extremely difficult to tell the difference between solid hardwood and engineered hardwood.
However, if you scroll around on their page they give you some advice to be able to tell the difference and determine which choice will be best for your project.
The biggest factor in choosing which type of flooring you should use depends on where you are going to install the flooring. For someone looking to install hardwood in an area that may have more moisture, such as a basement, kitchen, or on a concrete subfloor, they should to go with the engineered hardwood.
The solid hardwood will expand and shrink depending on the moisture levels, causing damage to the flooring. Moisture affects the engineered hardwood and the engineered hardwood Pro version much less than its solid wood counterpart.
The second thing to consider is the hardwood’s cost. Engineered hardwood gets better the longer it is out. Engineered hardwood means that the top and bottom are real wood. But the inside is made of synthetic materials to lower the cost.
Engineered hardwood is a cheaper and more flexible option for someone who wants the solid wood look, but without the cost and worry of moisture problems. And, like its solid counterpart, engineered flooring is easy to clean with a hardwood vacuum.
However, unlike engineered, you can repair or refinish solid wood floors. So if it is your forever home, this may be something to consider.
Where on Earth Can I Find Shaw Flooring?
When you search Shaw flooring on Google, the first option is their website. This gives a great view of what their flooring looks like, with many professional photos and videos. This is also where you find that they offer two free samples, and any beyond that are $4.99.
The engineered hardwood and the Pro engineered hardwood are available at Home Depot, whereas the solid wood seems to only be available at smaller specialty places depending on your location. The website is very user-friendly which makes it easy to locate the smaller dealers that may carry the specific product you are looking for.
Learning from The Past & Our Fellow Home Improvers
Shaw hardwood flooring seems to be a one stop shop for all things hardwood. They have solid hardwood, high-end engineered hardwood and an affordable engineered hardwood. You have the options to glue down, nail down, and click together.
They even carry other types of flooring on top of that. It seems no matter what you are looking for, you will find it with Shaw.
Reading through some reviews, most of the negative reviews I found involved the engineered hardwood flooring. Most people said they had issues receiving warped planks when the flooring arrived. Not only that, people mentioned having trouble with splintering, denting and damaging boards very easily.
Bleaching, light sensitivity, finish wearing off, and poor company policies regarding the lifetime warranty have also been some issues with this flooring.
Almost all of the positive reviews were directly after installation. Reviewers mostly noted how great the flooring looked and that they didn’t have any issues installing.
It seems that the product is an easy install, especially for beginners, however it simply does not last. The product looks great at first, but has many issues during normal wear and tear. The lifetime warranty on the product is very limited.
The Verdict is In
Shaw hardwood may not be worth your time or money. Many folks who had issues, and got Shaw to agree to replace the flooring, decided not to because they didn’t want to deal with the same issues again.
Not many people were satisfied with the product long term, however they were happy with it short term and loved the product. It seems that it looks great and is easy to install but may be of poor quality and doesn’t hold up to normal everyday living.
I would look for a different product, and possibly one that has samples in store, so you don’t have to hunt samples of the product down. The price is at the lower end of average, but at any price I wouldn’t personally install this flooring in my house.
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We just bought a home that has approx 1300 sq feet of laminated flooring. Can someone tell me how to Clean this flooring without damaging it. The dirt is just ground in. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
Whether you appreciate flooring that has natural character or prefer your floors smooth, Shaw has an option for you. They have planks that have been hand scraped, wirebrushed, and hand sculpted along with ones that are completely smooth. You can even choose between lightly or heavily scraped flooring along with boards that have the look of reclaimed wood.
I have Shaw engineered floors. The finish is coming up. You Cannot mop it without water damaged. They do not live up to their lifetime guarantee and it is always your fault about the damage, because you did not mop it right or used anything, but their cleaner. I can send picture of my over 15,000 dollar floor damages, all within the first year. The first chance I get I will pull these horrible floors up and replace them with real wood and not shaw.
Of course you can’t mop it! My engineered Shaw floor is perfect after 2 years. I wouldn’t dream of mopping it- I use a soft damp rag. For goodness sake if you are compelled to mop something then this product is NOT for you.
Long term Shaw is terrible flooring. It shows every scratch and every smudge. If you own a dog look out because even an old dog will scratch this flooring, Totally disgusted!
I had my shaw installed several years and notice several separating panel and peeling. I am now in the first stage of filing a claim, I hope this will not be a problem having my floors repaired
My wife and I have Shaw laminate flooring and it’s garbage. We had it professionally installed by a very reputable company about a year ago and it is already worn out. In many places, it is peeling and flaking apart. There are also areas of very visible discoloration. We contacted Shaw directly and they refuse to do anything about it even though we have had their own salespeople as well as another flooring installation company inspect our floor and tell us that the product is no good. Their customer service is crap and so is their product. DO NOT GO WITH SHAW FLOORING. you will regret it. It bears to mention we have two kids and a dog and a “no shoes in the house” rule. We were told that there is no way the floor should be as bad as it is.
Davy, Thank you for your comment! We have had the same problem. Within the first year we had Shaw come out but all they did was apply some crayon markers on the particularly bad areas. Three years later we have high traffic areas where the finish is totally scratched up,
We’re getting ready to contact Shaw again. Did they give you any reimbursement? Any suggestions?
We have Shaw laminate flooring and in less than 2 years it has started separating/warping at some of the seams. There are only 2 of us living in the house. The flooring store where we purchased it said it was from water getting into the seams, we have never used water to clean it. I have to call a guy that installs it to come look at it. Not happy with flooring, it was installed by the store, 25yr warranty.
I just had Shaw waterproof engineered hardwood installed in my very small cabin, 335 square feet. I spoke with the rep in the flooring store who raved about it. He said it was tested in Montana and would be perfect for a cabin at 5800 elevation. How ever upon installation we found it dents easily and the edges fray/splinter. The product was around $6.13 a square foot. Some of the boards were damaged in the box. I would not choose this product again.
Had our house flooring done through Lowes. The carpet is great. Installers were great. But we went with Shaw laminate and it has turned out to be a real disappointment. Snaps when walked on. In some spots it sounds like a 22 shot. And some of the top finish is bubbling up. Lowes refunded our money but we are stuck with a bad product. The sales person should have warned us. Now Lowes quit carting Shaw laminate. And we have decided to wait before we disrupt our lives again to redo the entryway hallway kitchen and dining room.