Somerset Hardwood Flooring Review | Options, Prices, Cleaning & Installation

Somerset Hardwood Flooring, a U.S. company, with manufacturing facilities throughout Kentucky and Tennessee, has been in the flooring business for over 30 years. If you’re in the market for hardwood flooring, Somerset offers a great selection of Appalachian hardwoods.

You can also read our round up of the best solid hardwood and best engineered hardwood brands.

SPECS, STYLES AND COLLECTIONS

Somerset manufactures solid and engineered (SolidPlus) hardwood flooring. Its ten collections feature a variety of woods, styles, stains and finishes. The brand also offers a line of unfinished solid and engineered hardwood flooring.

Woods: Somerset uses all domestic hardwoods. Many of their collections feature Appalachian Oak. Others use Red and White Oak, Hickory and Maple too.

Dimensions: solid hardwood flooring is 3/4” thick. SolidPlus is 1/2” thick topped by a 3mm wood veneer. Widths for both are 2 1/4″ to 7” and vary by collection and wood species.

Finishes: The flooring finishes include low gloss, semi-gloss, high gloss, hand scraped, and textured rustic so there are plenty of choices to meet any style home.

Let’s take a look at several of the collections to give you an idea of what is available.

The Color Plank Collection provides a classic hardwood style, available in Appalachian Oak in both a solid and an engineered product with a semi-gloss, smooth finish.

There are 7 stains to choose from including Natural Red Oak, Natural White Oak, Golden Oak, Mocha, a medium brown, Metro, a dark brown, and Smoke, a medium gray.  Plank widths are 4 or 5 inches for the solid wood and 3 ¼ or 5 inches for the engineered flooring.

The Specialty Collection also includes both solid and engineered hardwood and features Appalachian, Red or White or Oak, Maple and Hickory. The 10 stain choices range from Natural Maple and Hickory to medium and very dark brown, as well as, a medium gray. Plank widths range from 2 ¼” to 7” depending on wood species and produced in semi or low gloss and smooth or textured finishes.

The Wide Plank Collection, available in 8 stain choices, features engineered hardwood in Maple, Hickory and Oak with plank widths up to 7” and a smooth, low gloss finish. There is a Handcrafted Collection, also engineered, featuring a hand scraped matte finish in 8 stain choices.

The Character Collection will have more natural imperfections such as, knotholes and color variations and is available in both solid and engineered hardwood.

All stained flooring is treated with an advanced UV protective urethane aluminum oxide finish to provide wear resistance.

With Somerset’s Unfinished Collection, you can select solid or engineered hardwood in Hickory, Maple, Red or White Oak with plank widths ranging between 2 ¼  to 5 inches.

PROS AND CONS

The advantages of Somerset Hardwood & Engineered flooring are

• domestically grown and manufactured hardwoods
• a wide range of choices in both solid hardwood and engineered flooring
• all Somerset flooring is Verified Sustainable through the Appalachian Wood Organization – Somerset employs a full time forestry staff that plans 100 years out
• Somerset controls all stages of manufacturing from tree growth to harvesting to crafting finished flooring
• engineered flooring features with 8 ply cross grain construction and birch wood core
• warranties up to 50 years demonstrate this is quality flooring

The disadvantages of Somerset flooring are

• Doesn’t handle water well, though the engineered flooring is a better choice than solid hardwood for bathrooms
• a rather limited stain color selection mainly featuring natural and classic tones with only a few dark browns and grays available
• only domestic woods are used, so you won’t find any exotics in their product lines

INSTALLATION

Installation guidance is available for both solid hardwood and engineered flooring.

Somerset indicates that the solid wood flooring can be installed using nails or staples and can only be used at, or above-grade following the NWFA Installation Guidelines.

Moisture testing is critical prior to installation.  Their engineered hardwood is only recommended for installation below grade if basements are dry and remain dry.

The engineered flooring can be installed by nailing, stapling, glue down, or float on, and can be installed above, at, or below grade following the NWFA Installation Guidelines.

Somerset recommends using a National Wood Flooring Association Certified professional to install their floors. A list of these installers can be found at www.nwfacp.org.

Learn about installing wood floors and how long it takes.

CLEANING AND MAINTENANCE

Somerset have a great section on their website detailing their top tips for keeping their flooring looking good, and naturally also recommend that you use their in-house floor cleaning products such as the Somerset’s Ultimate Wood Floor Cleaner.

Whilst you do not have to use their products, it is worth noting that the following products should never be used on Somerset floors or you risk voiding the warranty:  excess water, vinyl or tile care products, acrylic wax, polish, renovator, rejuvenator, household wet dusting products, paste wax, oil soaps, furniture polish, vinegar solutions, or steam mops.

Regular sweeping with a standard broom or dust mop, or a vacuum set for hardwood flooring should be largely sufficient for most households. Be sure to clean up spills quickly and use area rugs and doormats in high traffic areas to avoid trailing dirt around your floors.

REPAIRS AND REFINISHING

Somerset have a specially designed kit for repairing minor scratches you their flooring, the Somerset Touch-Up Kit. However, after several years of wear, Somerset’s 3/4” solid or 1/2” engineered floor can be completely restored if needed,  either by reapplying the UV protective urethane aluminum oxide finish or fully sanding back and refinishing the floor. Experienced flooring professionals are highly recommended for these types of refinishing jobs.

PRICES

Somerset flooring offer mid-priced wood flooring. Solid hardwood collections cost between $6.00 and $7.50 per square foot.

The engineered collections range from about  $4.50 per square foot for the Color Strip collection to $8.50 per square foot for the Wide Plank or Handcrafted collections.  The prices are for product only, installation costs are additional.

Here is a price comparison table where you can compare Somerset Hardwood costs with other popular wood floor brands.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS

Customer reviews are generally positive and indicate that most homeowners feel Somerset provides a good value.

“Friends recommended Somerset engineered for our kitchen. Had it professionally installed. No issues since 2016 install, even with kids that spill stuff. Fair price for a beautiful floor.” A. Morgan

The few negatives seem to indicate an issue with plank ends not being finished properly.

“A couple boxes contained 3-4 pieces with ragged ends. Cost me a few feet of plank per box trimming it myself.” – Javier

Did you know? You should inspect every plank prior to putting in the floor, as installation constitutes acceptance, per the Somerset warranty.

About the Author:

Greca Fotopoulos

Greca is the lead style writer at Home Flooring Pros (more), with a BA in Technical Art, she’s focused on flooring trends, flooring ideas, and flooring brand reviews.

“There’s nothing more satisfying than creating a home that you love. The hardest thing about this job is trying not to covet all the great floors I get to review; if I could remodel my home every month, I would!”