Oak Wood Flooring - How to Select the Correct Type

Oak Wood Flooring can be an elegant addition to your home. Oak hardwood floors also add value as well. Buying this floor covering can present many different choices. Purchasing Oak hardwood flooring can be a confusing process if you aren’t familiar with the typical industry terms. You will need to knowledgeable of common definitions and options to make the right purchase for your desires and application.

When shopping for hardwood floors, you will have to decide on the construction of the material, the finish, the size, the color and the grade of the wood boards. I’ve broken these down into categories below to explain each of these decisions you will face. It’s really not that hard once you have an understanding of these terms.

1. Construction - Solid or Engineered - Solid Oak wood flooring is what most people think of when they think of hardwood floors. A solid construction is ¾" thick and is a nail down product. The term solid means that the board is a single, solid board made from one piece of wood. This type of construction is extremely popular. The nail down installation give a permanent product. Solid hardwood floors also can be refinished many times over. In fact, they can typically be refinished all the way down to what is called the tongue. The tongue is the part that fits into the groove on the other board like a puzzle. Solid wood floors add the most value because they can refinished by numerous owners of the home for years to come. The only drawback to Solid floors is that they can be susceptible to moisture and humidity. They also cannot typically be installed over a concrete slab. Engineered wood flooring on the other hand can be installed over concrete as a glue or floating floor design (loose lay).

This is possible due to the design of Engineered floors. This design has a true Oak veneer layer on top and then multiple layers beneath of standard wood. It is very structurally sound and performs better in basements than Solid designs. Usually Engineered Hardwood costs less than Solid, but it will not add nearly the value to your home. One warning to remember, many of the large home improvement stores sell an Engineered wood product that has 5 layers. The top is the true species (Oak in this case), the middle and bottom layers are also wood. However, to cut the cost of the product, the two other layers are pulp fiber instead of a real solid wood layer. This decreases the cost of manufacturing but also greatly decreases the stability of wood. If each layer is not a solid wood layer and looks like recycled cardboard, keep looking for another product!

2. You can buy a pre-finished Oak Wood Floor or purchase an unfinished, unstained floor for a custom installation. A pre-finished hardwood floor will have dramatically harder surface and will maintain is luster much longer than a custom finish. The factory can apply multiple coats of Aluminum Oxide and Polyurethane using heat and pressure. A custom finish cannot come close to a factory one. Also, a pre-finished oak hardwood product will have a longer warranty on the finish than a custom. Unless you need a very, very specific color stay with pre-finished.

3. The size (widths) of the boards will range from 2 and ¼" wide to about 7". Most popular Oak Wood Flooring products fall below 5". This is strictly an aesthetic choice on your part. Some think wider boards give added structure but that’s not usually the case.

4. Color is another choice that is totally up to you. Just make sure you get a color or stain that is the right fit for now and later.

5. The Grades of Oak flooring apply to all other types as well. There are actually 7 grades, but I'm going to stick with the most common you will see as choices. The highest grade is Select. Then working from top grade down, you have #1 common, #2 common, and then cabin/tavern grades. Select will have very even grains, little to no mineral streaks, and an even coloring of the base wood.

The #1 common will very slight grain differences, minimal mineral streaks, small occasional knots and some slight base color differences. #2 Common will have more noticeable differences and wider variances in grains, some mineral streaks and some prevalent knotting. Cabin and Tavern grade Oak wood floors are boards that cannot fit into any of the above categories. They will either have quality issues, highly irregular streaks and knots and color, or will be too short a board for use in the normal quality lines. If you can only afford a cabin or tavern grade wood floor, be sure to buy extra (at least about 15% overage).

A final word on how to save money when shopping, is to find a series of Oak Wood Flooring that offers a blend of the grades. By choosing a blend, it will simplify your choices down to just a few. These blends offer a choice of two floors. One is a premium series with a mix of Select and #1 common. The other option is a mix of #1 and #2 common to give a budget priced floor but with far less irregularities and a drastically better warranty versus cabin and tavern grades (which usually have no warranty).