Hardwood Flooring
Why to choose hardwood flooring?
Few things can enhance the quality of a living space the way a hardwood floor can. It adds warmth, luster, and charm to a home, whether in a bedroom, a dining room, a livingroom, or a kitchen. And it's much more economical than one might imagine. Because of the outstanding insulating properties of wood, it can help keep a room warmer in the wintertime and cooler in the summer, which in turn saving the homeowner on energy bills over the long term.
Professionally installed or refinished wood flooring can dramatically increase the beauty and value of your home. The stock market may rise and fall, but the money spent on installing and maintaining a wood floor in a house is an investment that can pay for itself many times over; both in the cash value it adds and in the pleasure it gives homeowners year after year.
Learn more about hardwood flooring by scolling down this page...
Types of Hardwood Flooring
Wood flooring is either solid or engineered wood and is available in strip, plank, and parquet form.
Solid wood flooring is commonly available in various hardwood flooring species. Because it is very susceptible to the effects of moisture, solid-wood flooring is generally unsuitable for below-grade applications. Solid wood can be sanded and refinished numerous times with a variety of methods.
Engineered wood flooring is made up of surface veneers, generally hardwood, laminated to one or more supporting plies that add strength and dimensional stability. Engineered-wood flooring is less susceptible to the effects of moisture than solid wood and can be used in below-grade applications (basements). Engineered wood flooring can be sanded and refinished numerous times with a variety of methods, although its wear layer is not as thick as that of solid hardwood flooring.
Strip flooring is 1 1/2 to 3 1/4 inches (38 to 57 mm) wide and usually comes in random lengths.
Plank flooring is 4 to 8 inches (76 to 203 mm) wide and usually comes in random lengths.
Parquet is the term for a patterned floor. Parquet strips or planks are regular-length boards arranged in a pattern, such as herringbone. Solid-wood parquet blocks are "tiles" made of up individual wood pickets that are factory assembled and adhered to a removable paper facing or cotton-mesh backing. They are not necessarily square or regular in dimension. Engineered-wood parquet tiles simulate solid-wood parquet blocks using face veneers of one or more wood species laminated to supporting plies.
Hardwood Flooring Grades
There appearance of the wood determines its grade. All grades are equally strong and useable for your flooring project, but each offers you a different look based of the species, grade and finish you choose.
Clear Grade:
Clear grade hardwood flooring is free of defects and may only contain minor imperfections. This grade generally has the most consistent color and no open characteristics that will require wood filler.
Recommended Waste Factor = 10%
Select Grade:
Select grade hardwood flooring is almost clear of defects all together, but does contain some natural characteristics such as small pin knots and color variation. This grade is mostly clear resulting in a fairly consistent appearance in the floor.
Recommended Waste Factor = 10%
Common Grades:
Common grade hardwood flooring combines the natural beauty and unique characteristics of hardwood flooring such as knots and color variations than the clear or select grades do not and often is chosen because of these natural features and the character they bring to a room. Common grade hardwood flooring is broken down into two categories - No. 1 Common and No. 2 Common.
No. 1 Common Grade:
No. 1 Common grade hardwood flooring has a variegated appearance, light and dark colors, small knots, flags and worm holes. This grade offers more color variation than select or clear grade hardwood flooring. Wood filler may be required on any open characteristics to produce a smooth surface of flooring.
Recommended Waste Factor = 10-12%
No. 2 Common Grade:
No. 2 Common is more rustic in appearance and emphasizes all wood characteristics of the species including light and dark color variations, knots, flags and worm holes. This grade offers more color variation that No. 1 common grade hardwood flooring with more natural characteristics of each species. Wood filler will be required on any open characteristics to produce a smooth surface of flooring.
Recommended Waste Factor = 10-15%
Rustic/Cabin/Tavern Grade:
Rustic/Cabin/Tavern grade hardwood flooring contains all natural wood characteristics including but not limited to large open faced knots, splits, cracks, checks, worm holes and grain burls. Wood filler will be required on any open characteristics to produce a smooth surface of flooring. This grade has a short overall average length with most pieces ranging from 10" to 30".
Recommended Waste Factor = 20-25%
Hardwood Flooring Cuts
The angle at which a board is cut determines how the finished flooring product looks. Wood flooring is cut with either plainsawn, quartersawn or riftsawn methods. The cut of solid-wood flooring affects its appearance, durability, and dimensional stability.
Plain or Flat Sawn
Plain or flat sawn is the most common hardwood flooring cut. The board contains more variation than the other two cuts because grain patterns resulting from the growth rings are more obvious. Plain sawing logs produces about 80% of the boards with the grain running across the board face and 20% with the grain running perpendicular. Therefore, if the grain or annular rings run across the width of a board, the board's cut is called plain or flat sawn. When a plain-sawn cut is specified, some boards are usually vertically grained.
Quarter Sawn
Quartersawing produces less overall board feet per log than plainsawing and is therefore generally more expensive. Quarter Sawn wood twists and cups less and wears more evenly than plainsawn. Quarter sawing logs produces boards that are primarily vertically grained. Therefore, if the grain runs at right angles to the face or across the thickness, the cut of a hardwood board is called quartered or quarter sawn. The cut of a softwood board is called vertical or edge grain. Because quarter sawing lumber produces narrower boards and more waste than plain sawing, saw mills generally cull boards with vertical grain from plain-sawn lumber to provide vertically grained boards and charge more for them.
Rift Sawn
Rift sawn is similar to quartersawing, but the cut is made at a slightly different angle. Rift sawing logs produces boards with characteristics similar to quarter sawing; however, it creates more waste than quarter sawing and is generally more expensive. Because rift sawing reduces the number of cuts parallel to a log's core it reduces the flake effect common to quartered oak.
Click here to view our HARDWOOD FLOORING INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE GUIDES
|
