Once you’ve selected what species of wood flooring you’d like installed, it’s time to think about the grade of flooring. It’s important to know what the quality of the flooring will be that you have finally installed in your home.
Alas, often manufactures don’t label the flooring with these designations unless the product is select or better. Wooing consumers with low prices and fancy names ( i.e. natural ,rustic or country grade) in an effort to sell inferior products to unsuspecting consumers is a trap you don’t want to fall into. Buyer Beware…
Let’s take a look at what the grades are called, and what they mean.
A. Clear grade has less color variation amongst the boards, and usually little or no knots. Clear grade wood is very high quality, but also is more costly than other wood flooring options..
B. Quarter sewn and rift sewn woods are usually a specialty product used in extreme enviromental circumstances- for example, with radiant heated floors, homes with crawl spaces instead of basements, or homes close to water. This type of wood is more durable and can withstand more, and also is more costly than other wood flooring.
C. Select and better comprise 90% of all wood flooring used. For the most part, the board length is longer and the color is fairly consistent. This wood flooring has a moderate cost.
D. 1- Common has more color variation. This flooring comes in shorter lengths and there are more character marks in wood (more knots). This type of flooring also has a moderate cost.
E. 2- Common has extreme color variation, is very knotty, and comes with mostly short lengths- and lots of waste.It’s difficult to install correctly, and is also the least expensive type of wood flooring.
We hope this helps you understand what type of wood floor you are buying, and what type is right for you!