Asked on Dec 13, 2012

"Select Surfaces" laminate from Sam's Club

Susan
by Susan
Has anyone used the Select Surfaces flooring from Sam's Club? I have read good things on blogs about it, but don't know anyone who has actually used it. We are about to start a renovation/remodel and need to make a good choice with a frugal budget! Thanks so much!
  42 answers
  • Susan, check into Lumber liquidators. I think there is one near you. They have excellent products and great warranties on their products.
  • KMS Woodworks KMS Woodworks on Dec 14, 2012
    Are you planing to stay in your home for a while? Laminates are a fast cheap way to improve the look of a room. But they fall far short in the long term durability dept. I used to install a fair amount of laminates but no longer do...(at least on floors...I recently did a laminate wall ) http://www.hometalk.com/diy/decorate/walls/laminate-flooring-wall-706847 In my experience I have yet to see a laminate floor remain good looking after 3 or 4 years. While Initially they look great, the rigors of cleaning tend to contaminate the snap together seams. Here the flooring is not sealed and when moisture contacts the typical MDF core is causes it to swell with leads to failures along the seams. Another big complaint is the hollow feeling under foot, laminate by their very nature are "floating" floors and are not physically connected to the subfloor like a real wood floor or tile. given the long life of real wood floors the acutal cost of them is far far less than laminates. I'm currently refinishing a wood floor that is 86 years old and still have a lot of life left in it. even if you had your laminate last 10 years The cost of 8 or 9 laminate floors are way more costly than 1 properly installed hardwood floor. When you look at it from that angle laminates are much worse for the environment...imagine the chemicals used to glue all of those plastics and sawdust together..then the landfill space to dispose of 8 or 9 floors. hardwood flooring can at least be composted or burned as firewood when its very long life is used up.
  • On the low end, laminates have a 6mm top finish, since Sam's Club has over 13mm, the surface is probably durable, but I do not know about the construction & other layers.
  • Susan Susan on Dec 17, 2012
    Thanks Culpepper Carpets for your specific feedback. We are using laminates for the cost factor. We just wanted to know if anyone had any info specifically about Sam's Club product. Your info was very helpful.
  • FloorNerd FloorNerd on Dec 17, 2012
    The higher mm grade the less cheap it will feel. This is with any laminate brands.
  • Susan Susan on Dec 17, 2012
    Thanks, Mark.
  • Ted C Ted C on Mar 03, 2013
    Check out "The Yellow Cape Cod:DIY projects"She uses this product in her own home.Looks good.
  • Check to see if you have an iCoat installer in your area. It could be the answer to saving you a lot of money and getting exactly what you want for your counters and flooring projects.
  • Susan Susan on Mar 03, 2013
    HA, Ted C....that is where I got my idea! LOL thanks...
  • Lauren Alwicker Ramirez Lauren Alwicker Ramirez on Mar 07, 2013
    I saw the flooring on the yellow cape cod too. After reading her blog about it I was in! We pulled up all our carpet on the first floor and put this in. We LOVE it! The texture of the flooring is awesome. Love the hand scraped look. We have three little kids (7,6,3) and no issues so far. Even had our water cooler leak and the floor did buckle up at the joints a little bit but once it dried out it went down. I was so thrilled! It's been almost a year. We are about to pull up all the carpet upstairs and put it in upstairs too. My daughter has asthma and I hate having carpeting in the house. There has been no sound when walking on it like we had with the carpeting. I get compliments on it all the time from just posting pictures on FB of my kids and they notice the floors immediately. In face my neighbors with 4 kids decided to rip out their WOOD floors to put it in last summer. Definitely worth the purchase! Can post pictures if anyone is interested.
    • Lavonne Benes Lavonne Benes on Mar 04, 2015
      @Lauren Alwicker Ramirez Just thinking about using this on my floors. I have lots of dogs & foot traffic. How has your floors been holding up?
  • Susan Susan on Mar 07, 2013
    Lauren, thanks so much! We'll be starting our "project" soon and it is great to hear from someone who says it is great! Did you use the "Canyon Oak" color? I don't want a dark floor, but don't want one too light either. Just wondering.....
  • CHERYL CHERYL on Apr 16, 2013
    Susan, We installed this exact product in our home about 6 weeks ago in Canyon Oak. We chose this because of its durability. We ordered several samples of different laminate floorings and found this to be the best and passed our tests that we put it through. We soaked it in water, dropped things on it and checked to see if it would scratch, since we have dogs. We were so pleased that we are installing it in 70% of our home. I highly recommend. For the money it was reasonable and it has the padding already attached. I vacuum it and use a steam mop and looks perfect. Good luck.
    • See 2 previous
    • Dan Lee Dan Lee on Oct 11, 2019

      Hi, you wouldn't happen to have any boxed of the canyon oak flooring left that you would be willing to get rid of would you?? We bought some a few years back and started the project and we are a coule boxes short and now cant find it. Please let me know. Thank you, Dan redwings234@frontier.com

  • Susan Susan on Apr 16, 2013
    Thanks, Cheryl. Thanks for all of your "quality control" tests....that will save us the time and effort! As soon as IRS sends us our return we are "ON like Donkey Kong" with Canyon Oak from Sam's. Thanks everyone for your comments. They were very helpful!
  • Emily Emily on Aug 12, 2013
    Susan, have you completed your project yet? We've already ripped out our carpet and are just about ready to install the Canyon Oak. I'd be interested in hearing your feedback :)
    • Dan Lee Dan Lee on Oct 11, 2019

      Hi, you wouldn't happen to have any boxed of the canyon oak flooring left that you would be willing to get rid of would you?? We bought some a few years back and started the project and we are a coule boxes short and now cant find it. Please let me know. Thank you, Dan redwings234@frontier.com

  • Joh233217 Joh233217 on Sep 21, 2013
    Just put it in my daughter's room... love it! I am now going to put it throughout the entire home with the exception of the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry room. High quality laminate!! Beautiful!!
  • Chr249413 Chr249413 on Oct 29, 2013
    Does anyone know what color they used on the Yellow Cape Cod?
  • Tin252142 Tin252142 on Nov 08, 2013
    Canyon Oak is what we installed about a year ago. We have 2 inside cats and I have 2 teenagers... We LOVE it. The only negative thing I have to say about it, is it shows smudges when the kids don't dry their feet good and walk down the hallway(kids fault, not flooring...LOL), other than that, we get tons of compliments and people feeling it saying they can't believe its not wood. I dust mop it regularly and mop with vinegar water every few weeks(just wring mop almost completely out). It shines like a diamond! I have in living room and hallway, but am considering putting in kitchen and sunroom. Great quality product!
    • Dan Lee Dan Lee on Oct 11, 2019

      Hi, you wouldn't happen to have any boxed of the canyon oak flooring left that you would be willing to get rid of would you?? We bought some a few years back and started the project and we are a coule boxes short and now cant find it. Please let me know. Thank you, Dan redwings234@frontier.com

  • Kelli Kelli on Nov 20, 2013
    DON't do it!!!!.. i have lived in my home for less than a month and find chips in the middle of boards all over the place. It doesnt hold up fo anything and they will not do anything about it. They do not stand by their product. cheap and poor quality. You will regret it. trust me. I will most likely need to replace my floor within the year.
  • Susan Susan on Nov 20, 2013
    Thankfully, we decided to give a local company the business. I don't even know the brand he used, but we have been pleased so far. Thanks for the advice, Kelli.
  • Catface Catface on Jan 23, 2014
    I love my Canyon Oak floor! Has held up very well (had it for over a year). Not sure what happened to you Kelli.
    • Dan Lee Dan Lee on Oct 11, 2019

      Hi, you wouldn't happen to have any boxed of the canyon oak flooring left that you would be willing to get rid of would you?? We bought some a few years back and started the project and we are a coule boxes short and now cant find it. Please let me know. Thank you, Dan redwings234@frontier.com

  • Melanie Melanie on Feb 02, 2014
    I was at Sams the other day and discovered the select surface in cocoa walnut. Wondering is this a new color? I have never seen it before when I checked the laminate isle. I was very impressed to say the least. It had the wood grain texture and hand scraped style with distressed marks that I have been looking for and the color is more brown than red which is a plus for me. Would like to know if anyone has used this one?
  • Danielle Danielle on Feb 05, 2014
    Melanie, we just purchased this today from SAMs club and are having it professionally install for all of our bedrooms in our house. Will let you know how it turns out!
    • Debbie Debbie on Mar 24, 2022

      How are your floors holding up? I have so many bad reviews that I’m really not sure about this brand. Thanks!

  • Sally Thomason Rhea Sally Thomason Rhea on Mar 15, 2014
    I'm not sure what happened with Kelli either, we used it in a house we flipped and it is great. We could barely cut it with our saw and couldn't dent it with a hammer! Love it too!
  • Richard Orosco Richard Orosco on Apr 11, 2014
    I just installed 600 sq ft of cocoa walnut in a new family room addition. It is beautiful! Easy to install, no noise problems and comfortable to walk on. I am in the process of installing on stairs. Can't wait to see end product. Go for it!!
    • See 3 previous
    • Darla Darla on May 09, 2015
      @Richard Orosco Post a picture of your stair when you finish them.
  • Jan Jan on Jun 14, 2014
    We purchased Brazilian Coffee from SAMS the other day and we are having a hard time with installation. We are doing it ourselves and the boards are initially clicking in but immediately will not stay. Has anyone else had this problem?
    • See 2 previous
    • Carl Carl on Mar 25, 2015
      @Jan i have just bought some of this flooring to install in a garage/office it is not level. how did you fix it?
  • Robert Carter Robert Carter on Jul 04, 2014
    Robert in Bowling Green, KY We purchased the Brazilian Coffee from SAMS as well and encountered the same problem. We tried every way possible to make it work and it simply wouldn't stay together. I unfortunately ended up taking and back. Now we have to do this all over.
  • Shawn Eingle Shawn Eingle on Aug 02, 2014
    We are considering using the cocoa walnut in our exercise room but I'm not sure how it will hold up with heavy foot use; for example from P90X and T 25 exercise routines. Anyone else used this flooring for same/similar purpose?
  • Stan Elsasser Stan Elsasser on Aug 21, 2014
    We have put the Brazilian Coffee in the "Mother's room" of our house. It was very easy to install. We installed 13 boxes in one afternoon with trim. The flooring is beautiful and quiet to walk on. It was very easy to cut on using a table saw and did not chip. I don't doubt that there may varying degrees of quality per each box dependent upon shipping conditions etc., but ours turned out very well and I would recommend Select Laminate flooring to anyone. I think the vapor barrier actually cost us just about the same as the total flooring. Augh. However, I have looked at Sears, Amazon, EBay, Lowes, Home Depot, and Lumber liquidators; no one can beat the price at Sam's Club.
  • Neal starling Neal starling on Oct 12, 2014
    use scrap pieces ripped down to 3-4 inches and start piece at 30-45 degrees pushing downward lightly as tapping with heavy rubber mallot or hammer. keep checking to make sure installed boards are not damaged as i found a few places after install but we love it .also make sure grooves are clean of manufacturing debris.. take a scrap peice to practice on
  • San1040588 San1040588 on Jan 02, 2015
    Do not recommend. I walk around with a rag in my hand for any drop of water that falls. Floor has been down about a year and I have water warps where drips have landed that I didn't catch. Also, it never looks clean, even right after I sweep, damp mop, then go over with a dry mop. It is a dark brown and shows every speck of anything that lands on it.
  • Gto1381139 Gto1381139 on Mar 04, 2015
    I've just put this select surface flooring down on my living room floor and it's beautiful I have the hand scraped honey maple. other than you have to be very precise in alignment the floor went down in one day.I am really loving it
  • No No on Apr 11, 2015
    Anyone concerned about the product being made in China?? (As in the chemical content)
    • See 2 previous
    • Lisa Speigner Lisa Speigner on Jul 02, 2015
      Oh lordy! Any updates? We just installed this stuff in two rooms! Aaarrrghhh!
  • Non Non on May 07, 2015
    We installed the sam's club laminate entire upstairs. While it looks nice, we are very concerned about the CARB 2 and formaldehyde content of this flooring. I have not been able to find any internet references although both lumber liquidators and lowes both seem the defective florring.
  • Candie Graham Candie Graham on May 19, 2015
    I just got done installing about 275 sq ft of this in my kitchen/dining room and there is virtually no odor whatsoever. I cannot say that for the Home Depot garbage vinyl tile that I just removed (it had only been in for two years but it still smelled that I could not wait to get rid of it!) I got the Mountain Slate from Sam's Club, it was a pretty good deal at $1.88 per sq ft, went down fairly easy and looks beautiful. The chart suggested that I purchase 26 boxes for my space but will be returning 5 unused boxes for a total cost of $500 including a tool I needed to get for doing the final row under my cabinets.
  • Alice Shockley Alice Shockley on Aug 02, 2015
    The reviews of this product are making me crazy! On Amazon, there are 41% five-star reviews and 41% one-star reviews. For every person saying it stands up to a hammer being dropped on it, there's someone saying their kid dropped a hot-wheel car and it took a chunk out of it. Literally, I've read those two things! The price is right, but for heaven's sake the reviews are crazy!
    • Shelby Pemble Shelby Pemble on Jun 22, 2018

      I am right there with you! I’m not an impulse buyer and need reviews and the mix is making this so hard! Can’t decide if I want to do the extra $1/foot and do vinyl

  • Joy2068020 Joy2068020 on Aug 10, 2015
    This product states that it if FloorScore Certified. See the seal on the box.
  • Derek Abart Derek Abart on Aug 20, 2015
    I have had this flooring installed for three years and it is solid. I have two rough young kids and it takes a beating. I've personally dropped a kids bike, hammers, pots and pans with only one mark that was easily hid with a brown marker. We recently had water damage from a leaking dishwasher. Due to the extend of the damage we have to replace the entire floor. This time we looked at flooring from expensive floor places but ultimately we bought two pallets of the same Select Surfaces flooring again because it's so much thicker and durable than the more expensive brands.
  • Bob vila Bob vila on Jun 21, 2016
    I agree with Derek, we've had it in our entire house (2,800 sqft) for 2 years including the kitchen and never had any problems. We have a 7 month old and a 3 yr old crazy dog with no issues whatsoever! We've dropped countless items on it with no dents, the only scrape on it came from a 30 ft ladder in the foyer losing footing and crashing down, leaving a 4 inch light scrape that we covered with a brown marker and it's only noticeable to us because we know it's there and look for it. We've had over 40 people over for dinners and it cleans up with the vacuum and a couple room a automoppers in no time! (Seriously, those are the best things ever!!!)
  • Candie Graham Candie Graham on Feb 03, 2017

    I used a pull bar that I purchased from Lowe's. Store part number 131967, it was about $12. it worked really well.

    • Candie Graham Candie Graham on Feb 03, 2017

      now that it's been in for almost two years (I still love it, easy to care for) follow the spacing suggestions very closely. There were two areas I got a bit tight with and in the right light you can see it, nothing serious at all but it would not show at all had I not put the flooring in as tightly as I did. It was more like, it was down and I should've taken the time to take it up and trim a bit but didn't. Live and learn.

  • Dmk2463853 Dmk2463853 on Aug 10, 2017

    Do not use select services tiles! We installed in Feb and the tiles will not stay together and they will not do anything about it. Very unhappy customer.

  • Leslie Ream Andrews Leslie Ream Andrews on Aug 24, 2018

    canyon oak has been discontinued by select surfaces. Does anyone know where i can find 1 box?

  • Debbie Debbie on Mar 24, 2022

    The stuff I looked at sams says it is engineered and made in Germany………it is the select surfaces brand. Have they changed?