ShadeTree Hardwood Floors

The Rim Country’s Hardwood Flooring Specialist

Grading refers to the system used by manufacturers to assess the appearance of hardwood.   The grades established by the Wood Flooring Manufacturers Association emphasize color, grain pattern and other markings that naturally occur in the wood.

 

Color.  Color is determined by what part of the tree the wood comes from.  Heartwood, the oldest, densest, innermost section of the log, is often darker and richer in color than sapwood, which lies closest to the bark. The color difference may be so pronounced that heartwood and sapwood from the same species are marketed under separate names.

 

Grain Pattern or Cut.  The grain pattern is determined by species and how the wood is cut.  Boards can be cut from a hardwood log in several directions: tangent to the annual rings (plain-sawn or flat-sawn), or radially, across the rings (quarter-sawn and rift-sawn). Arched or flame-shaped markings, evident in bold-grained hardwoods such as oak, characterize plain-sawn wood, while rift-sawn and quarter-sawn boards show a pattern of roughly parallel lines.

 

Unfinished Flooring Grades.  If you choose  unfinished oak, you will have four NOFMA grades to choose from:

                                  NOFMA Clear

                                  NOFMA Select

                                  NOFMA No. 1 Common

                                  NOFMA No. 2 Common

 

 

 

                 For more information on flooring grades: http://www.nofma.org/

Grading of Hardwood Flooring