I placed the flooring in the area it was for and followed the instruction on the packages and the floor went down very easy. If your not patient, do not try it. The other comments seem to be from those who must have wanted a quick fix , no tools, no layout plan and a lack of time it takes to do a good job. I'm 75 and can read and follow instructions and I laid a 14'x26' room in one day (9 hours) by my self. Great product and looks great. All our friends love it and have asked me if I would put it there houses. Design Goes together and snaps when it is correct. I practiced with the pieces to make sure I was doing it right. Cut three different size pieces, as per my layout, I need 9 sets. I put the starter ends at one end of the room and the ending pieces at the far end of the room. I had to cut the ending pieces to fit and allow 3/8" at the end. Durability Have 4 dogs and they are no problem. Just spray the swifter pad with cleaner and the floor cleans right up. Grand kids love it and all who come to the house comment on how it looks and feels as you walk on it. Ease of Installation It does take some tools. A power saw, I used a 5" craftsman 12 volt saw, folding 6' rule and scissors to cut the underlayment. I took my time, started on the longest wall and went at it. I cut 3/8" strips to put along the wall and where the floor went around the cabinets. I was very pleased with the results.

Rabbit123

USA

They chip and break wasting a lot of boards so you end up needing more. I wish we had gone with nicer ones, would of used less and come out about the same price. It also took way to long to install, I could of saved 10 hours with a little bit nicer product. They don't fit together well and you will go crazy trying to fix gaps. I don't know why they even sell such garbage, it's a really awful product.

ChrisandAmberN

USA

I installed this laminate flooring with my dad helping me. He has a little experience with installation, but it was my first time. Considering neither of us are professionals I didn't think it went too bad. It was a slow process and I wouldn't want to attempt it on my own, but when we finished it looked pretty close to perfect. I would recommend this flooring unless money is no object, in which case you should just go with hardwood flooring and pay someone to install it. Design The design seemed fine to me. We had very little trouble. Durability I cant really speak to the durability as its only been in a week. I installed it in a kitchen which is also the main entryway to our house and I have dogs, and its holding up well so far. Ease of Installation The flooring had been sitting in my barn for several months, I brought it in 36 hrs before we started and there were 1 or 2 pieces that wouldn't easily fit together. That's not bad at all considering how damp its been in this area this year.

OHBuckeye74

USA

I have done a few floors but this is the first Surface Souce Laminate floor, used the 5 x 36 plank, chestnut natural. Had to do 800 sq ft. Myself and a experenced man were able to do 400 ft in 4.5 hrs. The second day it was at the same slow pace. It was a stright room, only had to cut the start side, left and then the last peice in the row on the right. Not much waste. But each piece had to take the paper between the plank off then put it down after you pulled the glue protection paper off. Lots of paper. The floor went down without a problem, over new OSB flooring, rolled the seams each time and then used a 100 lb floor roller on the entire floor at the end of the second day. Notice that the butt ends after a day curled up slightly, when I entered the room I notice this. I would not use this product again, but then again the price was much lower then Allure at HD, price is the reason for the Satisfactory rating. Hope that is does not come apart. Lession is that this is a slow process, make sure you have help, plastic bags and take your time and strike a line to the wall for your start row. Don't forget to wear knee pads or as I do use pants that you insert the knee pad into.

Dorset

USA

This flooring requires alot of patience and a helper. I wouldn't try to take on this project by myself. The key is using the correct tools for the job and not trying to force each piece to fit. With a little finesse, installation is a synch. I did on the other hand experience the edge chipping like most people have written about, but when I realized where my fault was, I corrected and carried on. Truthfully, 8mm Pergo would have been the better choice, but for the price, it could have been a little better quality. Durability Edges are very fragile. If you get the floor installed properly, minimal chipping.

ncphotographer

USA

When I moved into my house, the previous owner let their dog and cat defecate all over the carpet on the main floor and the basement. Only having the money to replace the carpet on the main floor, I waited almost a year before the home improvement store offered no interest and no payments for a year with purchase. Still not having a lot of money, I elected to buy Surface Source Flooring and attempt to install it myself. A friend who wanted to learn to install this kind of flooring offered to help. We worked on flooring my basement for about four hours and only had about 300 square feet finished. The planks where hard to get to click together right, and we ruined several just trying to beat them together. I finally ended up spending the money to have a professional finish the job. The wear layer is not very good and heaven forbid you get any water on it. If you can afford better, get better. It's doing the job for me in my basement, but I wouldn't put it anywhere that I have to look at constantly.

jcdvt

Danville, VA

I've never installed a floor before in my life, but this was easy! Once I got the first couple of rows going everything fell into place. The floor looks great and has really improved the overall looks of the room. I was nervous at first because I looked at the reviews *AFTER* I had purchased the flooring and figured that I was screwed. I don't know what the difference was, but thank God I had no issues and would recommend this brand to anyone for easy installation and good looks.

ride442

North Myrtle Beach, SC

I have just spent the last two hours trying to get the first two rows to lock together. I found this site while searching for the manufacturer to let them know what I think of this junk. After chipping one piece trying to get it to lock while stretching out to keep the previous piece from unlocking, I should have quit. But no, I wasted another hour of my life trying to get just three pieces in the second row to lock to the first row. Never again. I have a small 6 x 8 walk-in closet I'll use some of this in, probably by ripping the tongues off and direct gluing to the subfloor. The remaining 400+ sq feet will be deposited in the trash next week. DO NOT waste your money on this product. Perhaps Pergo is better, but I don't have the money left after this fiasco to give it a try. I've painted the subfloor and will have to live with that until I save enough to purchase quality flooring.

FrankSchumacher

Franklin, IN

i didnt have as good of experience with surface source flooring, is inexpensive so i should only expect so much, chipped easy in places when sliding together, had several damaged pieces in the boxes when opened, each seam looks cheap , in the light and glare you can see imperfections at the joints where connected ( like is starting to come apart), appears that will be problem areas in the future, but being a cheap laminate and thin laminate shouldnt set too high of quality standards , and just for place i rent so wasnt going to put out too much money for it . If able to buy better you should for looks and longevity.

rlw626

Butte, MT