Buyers beware. Please be very careful when buying from Dan Cosgrove and his company Brazilian Direct, Ltd. (he also seems to use other names, so really make sure who you are buying from before you order). We ordered $13,822.00 of Brazilian Walnut from Brazilian Direct, Ltd. with great excitement. Specifically, the wood was to be "Brazilian Walnut (Ipe-Clear) Solid unfinished 3/4" x 4" Premium/A grade wood". Despite being assured that the wood would be only the best, premium quality, what was delivered was 9,000 pounds of completely defective wood flooring. The board widths varied by 1/8 inch and more, leaving tremendous gaps throughout our entire home.
Unfortunately, we used an installer highly recommended by Dan as the only person to use (he essentially insisted that we not use anyone but "his guys" since they are Brazilian and know the wood like no one else.
To be even more persuasive, Dan warned that no other installers would know how to deal with such a strong exotic wood. He even helped arrange for "his" installers to drive all the way to Long Island, NY from southern New Jersey.
The reason all of this is so important is that any other installer would have refused to install boards of such varied width ( as you can see from other reviews and complaints about Brazilian Direct throughout the internet. Unfortunately, there were no such warnings that we found at the time we worked with Dan).
Our project was part of a very extensive renovation. As soon as the floors were completed, they were immediately covered so that work could continue on the house. As our builder and workers gathered for the unveiling of our exotic floors, we all looked on in absolute horror. Everywhere we looked there were gaps. (except in the Oak and the Koa, both of which were installed at the same time and under the same conditions) .We immediately called Dan. He proceeded to do everything possible to explain why it was all out fault. The usual excuses from not acclimatizing the wood (which was in fact done in accordance with Dan's instructions and confirmed by "his" installer), to insisting that the variations were due to the fact that we used water based paint in the house and the moisture was absorbed by the Ipe. That argument might have been interesting if it was not for the fact that not one single board exceed the proper width. Instead, the variations were all improperly small).
Dan's solution was something he clearly was prepared for and had experience with. He sent Mark Scheller, a very talented exotic wood flooring expert from Lemoyne Pennsylvania. Mark was to stay on Long Island for a few days while he worked in my garage ripping slivers of Ipe of varying sized and colors. The idea was to hammer the slivers into the gaps and hope that they would be unnoticeable. The reason we allowed this was that the removing nearly 2,000 feet of flooring and starting over would have caused such an enormous delay in our renovation schedule that we would likely have lost our builder and would have continued to live in a trailer for months extra.
Mark spend several days. After ripping hundreds of slivers, he began the arduous project by removing dozens of boards with gaps so big, no amount of filling could ever conceal them. He proceeded to install hundreds of slivers in an effort to hide the atrociousness of our new Exotic floors. The installer who initially installed the floors, then returned to create a special paste with Ipe sawdust and glue. We were assured that the paste would become as solid as the wood and, when smeared on the floor like grout, would leave us with beautiful Brazilian Walnut floors.
That was NOT the case. I will gladly send pictures (I have hundreds) to anyone who might be interested in taking their chances with Brazilian Direct. The paste has dried and cracked and the slivers have separated leaving a our $38,000 floors (that was the total approximate cost with installation and finishing) looking as if an amateur installer bought the cheapest 3rd quality lumber and installed it.
It might help to know that we have whole house humidification and that the two other types of wood installed at the same time (the Koa which was installed on our den and oak which was installed on the steps) have NO spaces or gaps. The reason, is that those boards are the correct sizes. The lumber came from Robinson Lumber Company in New Orleans, LA, the same place others had the same issue with.
Our hope is simply to help others be aware. Had we known to be on the lookout for a great sales pitch and a terrible product, we might have been saved from the disaster of our Brazilian Direct experience. Please feel free to email me with questions or for pictures.
Brazilian Direct, Ltd. Reviews
Buyers beware. Please be very careful when buying from Dan Cosgrove and his company Brazilian Direct, Ltd. (he also seems to use other names, so really make sure who you are buying from before you order). We ordered $13,822.00 of Brazilian Walnut from Brazilian Direct, Ltd. with great excitement. Specifically, the wood was to be "Brazilian Walnut (Ipe-Clear) Solid unfinished 3/4" x 4" Premium/A grade wood". Despite being assured that the wood would be only the best, premium quality, what was delivered was 9,000 pounds of completely defective wood flooring. The board widths varied by 1/8 inch and more, leaving tremendous gaps throughout our entire home.
Unfortunately, we used an installer highly recommended by Dan as the only person to use (he essentially insisted that we not use anyone but "his guys" since they are Brazilian and know the wood like no one else.
To be even more persuasive, Dan warned that no other installers would know how to deal with such a strong exotic wood. He even helped arrange for "his" installers to drive all the way to Long Island, NY from southern New Jersey.
The reason all of this is so important is that any other installer would have refused to install boards of such varied width ( as you can see from other reviews and complaints about Brazilian Direct throughout the internet. Unfortunately, there were no such warnings that we found at the time we worked with Dan).
Our project was part of a very extensive renovation. As soon as the floors were completed, they were immediately covered so that work could continue on the house. As our builder and workers gathered for the unveiling of our exotic floors, we all looked on in absolute horror. Everywhere we looked there were gaps. (except in the Oak and the Koa, both of which were installed at the same time and under the same conditions) .We immediately called Dan. He proceeded to do everything possible to explain why it was all out fault. The usual excuses from not acclimatizing the wood (which was in fact done in accordance with Dan's instructions and confirmed by "his" installer), to insisting that the variations were due to the fact that we used water based paint in the house and the moisture was absorbed by the Ipe. That argument might have been interesting if it was not for the fact that not one single board exceed the proper width. Instead, the variations were all improperly small).
Dan's solution was something he clearly was prepared for and had experience with. He sent Mark Scheller, a very talented exotic wood flooring expert from Lemoyne Pennsylvania. Mark was to stay on Long Island for a few days while he worked in my garage ripping slivers of Ipe of varying sized and colors. The idea was to hammer the slivers into the gaps and hope that they would be unnoticeable. The reason we allowed this was that the removing nearly 2,000 feet of flooring and starting over would have caused such an enormous delay in our renovation schedule that we would likely have lost our builder and would have continued to live in a trailer for months extra.
Mark spend several days. After ripping hundreds of slivers, he began the arduous project by removing dozens of boards with gaps so big, no amount of filling could ever conceal them. He proceeded to install hundreds of slivers in an effort to hide the atrociousness of our new Exotic floors. The installer who initially installed the floors, then returned to create a special paste with Ipe sawdust and glue. We were assured that the paste would become as solid as the wood and, when smeared on the floor like grout, would leave us with beautiful Brazilian Walnut floors.
That was NOT the case. I will gladly send pictures (I have hundreds) to anyone who might be interested in taking their chances with Brazilian Direct. The paste has dried and cracked and the slivers have separated leaving a our $38,000 floors (that was the total approximate cost with installation and finishing) looking as if an amateur installer bought the cheapest 3rd quality lumber and installed it.
It might help to know that we have whole house humidification and that the two other types of wood installed at the same time (the Koa which was installed on our den and oak which was installed on the steps) have NO spaces or gaps. The reason, is that those boards are the correct sizes. The lumber came from Robinson Lumber Company in New Orleans, LA, the same place others had the same issue with.
Our hope is simply to help others be aware. Had we known to be on the lookout for a great sales pitch and a terrible product, we might have been saved from the disaster of our Brazilian Direct experience. Please feel free to email me with questions or for pictures.