Shaw Laminate Help

Q: Hello, I have been reading your articles on different brands of laminate floors. In your articles however I did not see any ratings of Shaw laminate although I did noticed that Ifloor.com does sell this brand. In particular I am interested in the Shaw VersaLock Nob Hill for the Kathy Ireland Home collection. Do you know this brand or have any advice to give me on it?
I have found your articles very helpful. I want to use the laminate floors in my family room. 1 dog and 2 adults.
Thanks again,
Shadylou
A: We currently do not carry the Kathy Ireland Home collection, but from our experience Shaw has had a reputation of making good products. Steve added that in the past 6 – 8 months Shaw has encountered some issues with quality, so beware.
With nearly any product, it has been an age old adage that higher price means higher quality. This is not always true as in many cases you begin paying a premium price solely for a name and not the quality such a price would normally mean. There are plenty of floors, laminate especially, where you can find a higher quality product at a cheaper price. This can be because they have not built their name yet, or simply are willing to make less money on their products in order to give their customers a better deal on good product. The opposite case is true as well, where there are some garbage floors out there being sold at high prices solely because they carry a big name or wish to give the illusion of quality based on their price.
As Steve always says “buyer beware!” Do your research before making a purchase and ensure you are getting a good product. I caught up with Ryan W., iFLOOR.com’s product guru, to get a bit of his insight on your question. Here is what Ryan had to say:

Some Shaw Product Features:
Do-It-Yourself Friendly
High Traffic
Kid Friendly
Suitable for Above Ground Level, Below Ground Level or On Ground Level
Glueless

Over all Shaw is a good line of laminate and this is an good collection but for the spec type and product value I think there are other better options. This pattern is a basic oak decor and every manufacture has an oak similar to this the the options are endless. The price for this product is higher then some of the new random length bevel products on the market from Pergo, Westhollow and Quick-Step so if I was looking for a floor that could live up to dogs, family but had more bells and whistles plus did not break the bank I might buy another brand that had those newer features. If they buy Shaw they will also have a great floor, for me I wanted the new features so my floor looks like hardwood but also is a good value so I installed Westhollow 12mm South pacific in my home and with my large lab I can say he has not put 1 mark in the floor in the two years its been down.

Here you can see a picture of Ryan’s home along with his Lab.

As Ryan mentions, Shaw has many great benefits and you pay a bit more to get them. As Steve and Ryan have both hinted toward, you can get some better quality flooring at better price points (Ryan mentioned his Westhollow floor), but for certain features Shaw could be the way to go. If your primary concern is durability, I would look into lines such as Pergo Select, Quick Step‘s perspective or Eligna and Westhollow‘s Vise-Loc series.
To sum up: Shaw has some great features, such as being DIY and Kid friendly, but as of late they have had some quality related issues. If your main concern is durability look into some alternatives as you can find similar appearing floors that are better built for similar or lower prices, but you may sacrifice slightly on the DIY friendly side.