Grades & Cuts of Hardwood Floors & Finishing Wood Floor Directory

WOOD FLOORING CUTS & GRADES

GRADES of: OAK & ASH BEECH, BIRCH, MAPLE, PECAN

The appearance of the wood determines how it is "graded." All grades are equally strong and serviceable, yet afford the consumer different looks.

OAK and ASH Basic Grades - Four(4).

CLEAR is free of defects though it may have minor imperfections.

SELECT & BETTER is almost clear, but contains more natural characteristics such as knots and color variations.

"Common" grades (No. 1 and No. 2) have more markings than either clear or select and are often chosen because of these natural features and the character they bring to a room.
RED OAK # 1 Common has a variegated appearance, light and dark colors, knots, flags and worm holes.

RED OAK-# 2 Common is rustic in appearance and allow all wood characteristics of the species.

Hard MAPLE, BEECH, BIRCH, PECAN - Three (3) Grades:

"First" has the best appearance, natural color variations and limited character marks.

"Second" is variegated in appearance with varying sound wood characteristics of

"Third" is rustic in appearance allowing all wood characteristics of the species.
Wood Flooring Cuts
The angle at which a board is cut makes big differences in how the finished product looks. Wood flooring is either plainsawn, quartersawn or riftsawn.

Plainsawn is the most common cut. The board contains more variation than the other two cuts because figure patterns resulting from the growth rings are more conspicuous.

Quartersawing produces less board feet per log than plainsawing and is therefore more expensive. Quartersawn wood twists and cups less and wears more evenly.

Riftsawn is similar to quartersawing, but the cut is made at a slightly different angle. (Graphic)

Also see WOOD PROPERTIES
SOLID vs LAMINATED(Engineered) Manufacturing Method

graphics provided by: floorsearch.com

Types of Construction

Installing Wood Floors - Hot linked to NOFMA Installation Manual, "How To" Procedures, FAQ's, Products, Technical Help, Wood Types, Styles & Trends.

Custom Wood Floors - This detailed site includes: A Photo Gallery, Topics pertaining to ALL types of Custom Wood Floors such as, Accents, Borders, Distressed, Feature strips, Inlays, Medallions, Mixed media, Ornamental, Painted Wood Floors, Parquets, Plank flooring, Stained & Tinted Hardwood Floors. If considering Wood Floors, and want something different than most, this is a must see site !

Exotic Wood Flooring - A detailed site listing over 60 exotic / imported wood floor species.

Plank Wood Floors - A complete site dedicated to Plank Wood Floors from domestic & exotic species, to the latest trends in distressed plank wood floors.

Wood Floor Showroom- This site provides a step by step FAQ's when purchasing wood floor products

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