Comparison sheet: candidates side by side
Two or three candidates per surface, each on the room's questions, filled in from the makers' own sheets, with installed cost, life figure and source, warranty term and main exclusion, and your sample result. A second sheet keeps the questions you need answered and who answered them.
Essential on a first pass when you are choosing: two candidates for one surface, side by side, is the result How to compare finishes asks for. Optional when you are caring for what is there, except the questions sheet, which also holds questions for a landlord or installer.
Candidates
One row per candidate. Fill each cell from the maker's own sheet or warranty, and leave a cell blank when no document answers it: a blank means not known yet, never "fine". The cost column is installed cost per square foot (or per square meter in metric) from a written quote.
Questions to settle
One row per question you need someone else to answer. Write the answer in their words and the date; if it matters, ask for it in writing.
How to use this sheet
- One row per candidate. Two or three per surface. Fill each cell from the maker's own care sheet, spec sheet or warranty, and leave it blank when no document answers it: a blank means not known yet.
- Quote the document, not the salesperson. Where a claim matters ("waterproof", "lifetime"), write the words the warranty uses and where they are.
- Cost is per square foot (or square meter) installed, from a written quote. For the cost per year, carry the totals to the Cost per year calculator.
- Life figure and source together. Write the number and who published it ("15 to 25, NAHB 2007"); where none exists, write "no published figure" and your own assumption.
- Record, do not conclude. The Chosen box is the only decision column. Nothing here adds up to a score.
The example rows are the Brennans' three counter candidates: a granite, an engineered quartz and a plastic laminate, with invented quotes. The granite passed the stone tests on the Sample tests sheet and darkened briefly with oil, so a sealer is on the questions sheet for the fabricator. The quartz row shows blanks where its documents did not answer.
The sheet holds what the documents say and what you saw; it does not predict how a surface will wear in your home, and it does not interpret a warranty. A disputed warranty goes to the maker's claim process and, where needed, a lawyer or your state attorney general's consumer office.