Hardwood Floor Wood Grades

Take a look at this article on flooring hardness and the janka test for more info on the density and durability of different wood species.

Hardwood floor wood grades.

While the national wood flooring association or nwfa has established a grading system it only applies to certain domestic species there is no universal system for international grades of hardwood. 3 or utility grade frequently has dark machine burns shattered ends large broken knots broken pieces a high percentage of. The hardwood grading system was created to help both home buyers sellers and flooring professionals to have a common point of reference for describing batches of wood with similar qualities. The grade of a wood floor does not refer to the quality of the wood although a higher price tag is often attached to higher grades of wood nor does it concern the durability of the flooring.

This is an interesting area for shoppers retailers and manufacturers. Grading of hardwood floors is more prevalent with unfinished flooring as it is with prefinished. Plus most grading rules also dictate the average length of the boards involved. Higher graded wood is typically more expensive due to its more uniform appearance free of knot holes and other unique markings.

Reasons being you will find prefinished manufacturers prefer to stay within a defined area of flooring that is basically more uniform in appearance unless otherwise specified. Under grading rules developed by nofma there are four levels of oak flooring. Prefinished hardwood floors have a coating that protects them and they re ready to install right out of the box. Unfinished hardwoods allow you to apply your own stain color.

In our opinion 3 common also known as tavern grade or utility grade is not worth purchasing to use for wood flooring because even though it will be significantly less per square foot so much of it will be unusable that this negates the lower price. Engineered hardwood floors have a solid wood top and bottom but the middle or core layers are made of plywood. Among the many qualities that influence the appearance of any particular hardwood flooring is the grade of the wood. Almost all boards sold for hardwood flooring in the u s.

Higher grades of flooring usually have longer boards so be prepared for many shorter boards if you order a lower grade of wood flooring. Appearance alone determines the grades of hardwood flooring since all grades are equally strong and serviceable in any application red oak and white oak flooring grades below is the national wood flooring association nwfa grade descriptions for red oak and white oak and continuing down are the grade descriptions for other common domestic. Are graded according to standards originally laid out by the national oak flooring manufacturers association nofma to help create consistency in the quality of oak flooring in the u s.