Amarone Engineered Hardwood starts at $8.99 per square foot installed in Fort Myers — a deep charcoal American Hickory floor from LW Flooring’s Sonoma Valley collection. The wirebrushed and handscraped surface gives it genuine texture and tonal depth, not a printed approximation. Wide 7½-inch planks mixed with 3-inch strips create a casual, collected look that suits both modern and transitional interiors.
Amarone is a practical choice for Southwest Florida homes built on concrete slabs. Its engineered construction — American Hickory over a layered plywood core — handles the humidity swings that come with coastal living far better than solid hardwood would. The glue-down installation method in particular is suited to slab foundations, where moisture vapor pressure is a real and ongoing concern.
The medium-variation color pattern helps conceal the fine sand and grit that gets tracked in from beaches and screened lanais. That same wirebrushed texture hides minor scuffs and surface scratches better than a high-gloss finish would. For seasonal or rental properties, the lifetime residential warranty provides meaningful coverage without requiring the floor to be babied.
| Plank Width | 3″ & 7-1/2″ |
|---|---|
| Plank Length | 82-5/8″ Random Length |
| Thickness | 1/2″ |
| Wear Layer | 2 mm |
| Finish | Polyurethane with Aluminum Oxide |
| Species | American Hickory |
Flooring Queen installs Amarone at $8.99 per square foot, and that number covers more than the planks themselves. It includes delivery to your Fort Myers-area home, removal of the existing floor covering, standard subfloor preparation, full installation, baseboard reinstallation, transition strips between rooms, and debris removal once the crew is done.
Some situations do carry additional costs: significant subfloor leveling beyond routine prep, stair nosing where the floor transitions to a staircase, decorative inlays, or complex room layouts with many angled cuts. To get a firm number for your specific project, schedule a free in-home measure — Flooring Queen provides a written quote before any work begins.
Shoppers who want the look of real wood often weigh engineered hardwood against solid hardwood. Amarone is genuine American Hickory — it’s not a vinyl print — but the layered engineered core makes it fundamentally more stable than solid planks in humid environments. In Southwest Florida, where indoor humidity and slab foundations are the norm, solid hardwood is a genuine risk: it can cup, gap, and warp seasonally in ways engineered construction resists.
Where solid hardwood wins: it can be sanded and refinished more times over its life, potentially extending the floor another 50 years with enough wood above the tongue. Amarone’s 2 mm wear layer allows careful refinishing once, possibly twice, but not the repeated passes a thick solid plank can absorb. If multi-generational refinishing is a priority, solid hardwood is the honest answer — just not the right one for most SWFL slabs.
| Amarone | Solid Hardwood | |
|---|---|---|
| Water resistance | Surface-resistant; no standing water | Highly moisture-sensitive; swells and gaps |
| Scratch resistance / wear layer | 2 mm wear layer; poly/aluminum oxide finish | Full solid thickness; same finish options |
| Comfort underfoot | Warm, natural wood feel | Identical warmth and feel |
| Installed price | $8.99/sq ft installed | Typically $10–$14/sq ft installed |
| Best room | Living areas, bedrooms, slab installs | Above-grade rooms with wood subfloor |
Sweep or vacuum Amarone regularly using a hard-floor setting — avoid beater-bar attachments, which can abrade the wirebrushed surface over time. For damp mopping, use a hardwood-specific cleaner like Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner or a similarly pH-neutral formula; do not use steam mops, oil soaps, or ammonia-based products, as these can cloud the polyurethane finish or cause the wood fibers to swell. Wipe up spills promptly — the aluminum oxide finish resists surface moisture, but standing liquid allowed to sit will work into the micro-beveled edges and cause edge swelling that cannot be reversed. For technical guidance, see the National Wood Flooring Association consumer hardwood information.
Amarone should acclimate in your home for at least 72 hours before installation, and in Southwest Florida’s humidity that window matters. Leave the boxes flat and stacked in the rooms where the floor will go, with your HVAC running at normal living conditions. This lets the planks reach equilibrium with your interior before they’re locked down.
Amarone can be lightly refinished once, possibly twice, given its 2 mm wear layer. That’s thinner than a solid plank, so each refinish pass has to be conservative — a professional screen-and-recoat rather than a full sand. If you want a floor that can be sanded five or six times over 100 years, you’d need solid hardwood instead.
Real-wood flooring consistently adds perceived value in SWFL resale, even in a market where tile is common. Buyers recognize the warmth and authenticity of American Hickory. The honest caveat: if your buyers are investors or rental-focused, they may prefer tile for pure durability — but for owner-occupant buyers, wood reads as an upgrade.
The polyurethane finish resists surface moisture, but Amarone is not waterproof. A drink wiped up within a few minutes will not harm it. Water that sits — a slow leak, a pet puddle left overnight, a wet mop left pooled at the edges — will penetrate the micro-beveled seams and can cause irreversible swelling. Prompt cleanup is the key variable.
Engineered hardwood uses a real-wood veneer bonded to cross-directional plywood layers, which makes the plank far more dimensionally stable than a single solid piece. On a concrete slab in Southwest Florida — where moisture vapor moves upward through the concrete and humidity fluctuates seasonally — that stability prevents the cupping and gapping that solid hardwood is prone to. Solid hardwood simply wasn’t designed for slab installs.
A single room typically takes one day once the floor has finished acclimating. A whole-home project covering 1,500–2,000 square feet generally runs three to four days, accounting for removal of the existing floor, any subfloor work, and the installation itself. Rooms with many doorways, angles, or transitions add time. Your written quote will include a projected schedule.
Flooring Queen has over 20 years of experience installing engineered hardwood across Southwest Florida — slab foundations, humidity, the realities Florida throws at real wood. We install everything ourselves. Free in-home measure: (239) 763-0770.
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Reviewed by Jack Maya, Lead Installer at Flooring Queen — 20+ years installing flooring in Southwest Florida.
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