Flooring Options & Styles
Rochester Hardwood Floor installs premium quality hardwood floors in two different ways, unfinished and prefinished. We'll work with you to determine your individual needs, and help you choose the best flooring solution that will last for the lifetime of your home.
Hardwood
The term hardwood designates wood from broad-leaved (mostly deciduous, but not necessarily, in the case of tropical trees) or angiosperm trees.
Unfinished Wood
Unfinished wood is the oldest and most popular type of hardwood floor installation. A totally-natural product, the variety and density of the wood provides an infinite selection of patterns and colors that can be stained and finished in a variety of color and brightness choices.
Prefinished Wood
Prefinished wood flooring is a very popular installation. Most prefinished floors have a micro beveled seam between the boards, which may or may not be appropriate in all rooms. This flooring is available in a multitude of species, board widths and stain colors and finishes.
Engineered Wood
Engineered wood floors have become popular in recent years as another available option for builders and homeowners. By bonding wood and veneer together, this style of wood product is versatile enough for glue-down installation or float-in installation at or below grade. These floors are perfect for add-on projects, expansions, and areas like basements that have cement foundations or are more susceptible to moisture.
Strip Flooring
Most wood floors in the Rochester Area are strip flooring. Strip flooring allows more design possibilities.
Plank Flooring
Any wood flooring material 3" wide or more is termed "plank flooring." Plank flooring is available in both square edge and bevel edge (V groove).
Parquet Flooring
Historically, parquet flooring were installed in royal palaces, churches, and the like. Today, many museums and other large scale public buildings feature parquet floors. Typically comprised of 24" or larger squares.
Herringbone Flooring
Herringbone is an elegant, upscale flooring style, most often found in museums and high end homes. This effect is generated by installing flooring pieces of equal length, usually between 9 to 24 inches, at a 90 degree angle respectively, with the ends cut at 90 degrees. A chevron pattern is basically the same but with a 45 degree cut corner where the boards meet at a square angle.
Wood Species
White and Red Oak are still the most popular choice by far, due no doubt to their relatively low cost, serviceability, and elegant good looks. However, these days, more than ever before, an immense variety of other wood species is available as flooring materials, most of them available in 2 or 3 grades, (which vary from clear to rustic). For more information, call us, and/or visit the National Wood Flooring Association at www.woodfloors.org.
Learn more from the Wood Species Hardness Scale
Borders and Inlays
Living room and dining room floors have the potential to become significantly enhanced esthetically by a tastefully designed border or inlay. A simple border can be accentuated and customized further by integrating one or more feature strips of another wood specie, and/or a corner block design, and/or other inlays, all of which could vary from simple to intricate. A simple border with one or two feature strips will not add very much in cost to the job, and in our minds is well worth the additional expense.
Grades
Grades describe the appearance of the wood. All wood grades are as serviceable. Grades were developed to bring a degree of consistency to wood floors appearance specifications regardless of where they were milled.
Grades (for the most part), are assigned by the appropriate authority, notably the NOFMA, (National Oak Flooring Manufacturers Association, and the MFMA, (Maple Flooring Manufacturers Association). Softwoods and lumber are graded differently. Engineered flooring, and other products are also graded differently. Most engineered flooring are graded by the manufacturer in image conscious terminology, i.e. "Cabin Grade", "Tavern Grade" to designate a rustic, knotty look.
Oak Grades
1. Clear: Mostly heartwood with a minimal amount of character marks and discoloration.
2. Select: Wood is still very clean. (This is by far the most commonly used grade).
3. No. 1 Common: Contains prominent variations in coloration. Includes knot holes, worm holes, mineral streaks, checks, splits, etc.
4. No. 2 Common: More imperfections than no. 1 common.
Cuts
Plain sawn: Most flooring is plain sawn, resulting in a varied grain pattern , tight grain to wide grain.
Quarter/rift sawn: Grain pattern is generally a tight vertical pattern in rift sawn, and the grain has "fleck" and "tiger patterns" in the quarter sawn.