NOTE: This text has been added following the response to this review from Megan at Chelsea Plank and an email exchange yesterday with their Sales Manager. First, Megan's assumption that Chelsea Plank was not contacted by the retailer is erroneous, the retailer did reach out to them and their Sales Manager did respond to the retailer, I saved the original email exchanges with our retailer who mentions the Sales Manager by name. At the time the retailer replied "he (the Chelsea Plank sales manager) stated that the knots in the flooring are standard due to it being a character floor. And he does not supply or have recommendations on an epoxy to fill." I replied through their website yesterday as Megan instructed and was contacted by the same Sales Manager that responded to our retailer. He, like Megan, blamed the retailer, saying it failed to adequately describe to us the characteristics of the flooring we ordered. He completely ignored our complaint regarding the fully open holes in flooring, going so far as to say; "From the pictures, it looks that they are partially open (not all the way through)" despite my photo showing the pencils through the flooring(!), and my description of the problem in item 2 of my review below, quote "we found about half a dozen fully open knots that the installer overlooked" and also completely ignoring item 3 of my review, quote "It's been 4 months since installation, the 'partially open knots' continue to crack and become fully open knots!" I asked the Sales Manager to carefully re-read my concerns so he understands the issues before replying again, it's been 24 hours and no reply has been received. I stand behind my original comments regarding the poor quality of the Character Grade flooring and of their customer service. --------------Original review begins below---------------- We purchased the Craftsman Series, Heirloom Red Oak flooring from Chelsea Plank because we wanted hardwood flooring with a lot of character. 1. When the flooring was delivered I noticed a damaged box with wood splinters protruding. I told the delivery person I wanted to open and inspect the box before accepting it. I was told, "Sir, if you open the box I can't take it back." So I replied, "Then take it back and bring me another one." He replied, "If I take it back I can't guarantee the replacement will be of the same lot number, and so it might not match the others." So either accept the box and hope for the best, or reject it and hope for the best. I accepted the box but set it aside to be opened last if necessary. We had sufficient flooring to complete the job and that box was returned for a refund (we were charged a restocking fee, I thought this was inappropriate given the box was delivered damaged). 2. The Craftsman Series is a 'Character grade' hardwood. Chelsea Plank says that this flooring is "character grade lumber that includes partially open knots, bird peck, worm holes and mineral streaks". That's fine, we like wood with character and it's why we chose it, however after installation we found about half a dozen fully open knots that the installer overlooked, their warranty claims "each box may contain a small percentage of defects (normally less than 1%)" but our experience says 5% will be defective if a fully open knot is considered a defect. To the installer's credit he returned and filled each with a special blend of epoxy wood filler at his own effort and expense (when we asked Chelsea Plank for advice about filling the knots they said they didn't recommend it, but didn't offer an alternative), the only other option would have been to pull up the defective planks and ask for replacements. 3. It's been 4 months since installation, the "partially open knots" continue to crack and become fully open knots! My wife had been using a vacuum with a hard floor attachment and we discovered it has been sucking up the loose wood from the cracking knots. So now I'm keeping an eye on the floor and as I observe knots cracking I apply wood epoxy to secure them in place. 4. We reached out the Chelsea Plank through the retailer who we bought the flooring from, through their contact page on their website, and even to them through linkedin but basically we've been ignored. The Craftsman series is their highest grade of the 'Character grade' flooring, if that's true then God help you if you purchase the Cottage or Lodge series. I assume our experience with their customer service after the purchase, i.e., non-existent, will be true for others regardless of the grade of flooring you chose. These are the reasons I can't recommend Chelsea Plank Flooring. read more

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Used Chelsea flooring on first floor remodel 6 years ago and am extremely happy with it to this day. Now doing the upstairs. Contacted them last minute, and they were able to accommodate my order. Jessica was extremely helpful, as were the rest of the staff. GregO Riverview, Mi read more

We stopped in to look at flooring samples. We had some ideas of what we wanted. Spoke with Jessica Benson who was extremely knowledgeable and provided us with a wealth of information. She was absolutely wonderful. read more

Do not recommend. Just finishing installing a wood Hickory Wood Floor. The boards were warped & bowed, knots holes that go all the way thru on about 30% of them. Some board off by 1/16" Not the quality I paid for. My installer has taken twice as long to lay this wood floor and it working all the problems out. This is my first time ordering and putting in real wood floor so I wasn't sure what to expect. We started laying the floor and thought because it was real wood that we would just have problems with a few but we were wrong because it was most of the boards. I usually do not write reviews but wanted to warn the next potential buyer. The company I bought it thru said we should have called in the beginning but I guess we didn't think we would have problems all the way thru. And I thought when they received this order they would have looked at it and gone thru to see if it was the quality I ordered. read more

We are so pleased with the quality of the wood flooring from Chelsea Plank Flooring! In 2012, We have installed pre-finished 3" Clear Grade Golden Oak, in the natural finish in our living room, dining room, entry and hall. The quality of this beautiful wood sure made us look like pros! We installed it ourselves and were pleased with the outcome. We get compliments from everyone who sees our floors. We have just, this week, ordered enough to do our up north home and can hardly wait to get this next project completed. The wood floors we considered, at Lowes, don't come close to the quality of Chelsea Plank Flooring. If we could give them more than 5 stars we would! read more

We bought wood flooring from Chelsea Plank Flooring in February of 2017, and installed the floor ourselves. The floor came out beautiful and we love it. We choose ash. This floor will still be here for the next generation, in my opinion. read more

We purchased Chelsea Plank flooring 4 years ago and had a professional do the installation. Our hickory floors are really beautiful and we've had many many compliments on them. I read the other review and it's difficult to realize that we're talking about the same company. Our entire house (with the exeption of the bathrooms and laundry room) has their hardwood floors and we've had absolutely no problems. read more

My husband and I purchased our hardwood flooring here when we remodeled our home in 2012. We really wanted to support small business and buy "Michigan made", huge mistake! Next time we will utilize the big box stores!!!! Our hickory wood floors are a mess. More than half of the boards have large splits going through them and many boards have several splits. The boards were brought into the house and allowed to acclimate as they suggested (over 3 weeks). Our professional installer has never seen wood do that. The company rep was out and took photos and telling us "there is a real problem" and then would not respond to our calls for follow up. After months of attempts to reach anyone at Chelsea Plank Flooring we were finally told our installer could CUT OUT the bad boards and get replacement ones. Really?? We have other hardwood floors in the house for 20 years and are still beautiful. This was not our installers problem and would still cost us $$$$$ as well as lousy looking floors. We have left the floors as is only because we are retired and do not have the money to replace them ourselves. Use caution with this company read more