Solid wood floors have been used for centuries and never seem to loose their charm and warmth. We generally think of solid hardwood floors as a 3/4" thick plank that comes in a narrow 2 1/4" strip and has to be finished on the job-site. This is the classic hardwood strip floor.

Today, manufacturers offer solid hardwood floors in a variety of widths, thicknesses, finishes and wood species. The most common North American hardwood species used for solid wood flooring are red oak, white oak, ash and maple, walnut, but you can also get solid hardwood flooring in many exotic wood species, such as Brazilian cherry, Tiger wood, Australian cypress and many others from around the World. Red Oak is still the most popular and commonly used hardwood floor.

Engineered wood floors also refrred to as laminated wood floors are often confused with laminate floors by consumers. Engineered wood floors are NOT laminate floors, so be careful when shopping for a new floor. Engineered wood floors are constructed differently from solid wood floors and offer some advantages over solid wood floors. Thanks to advancements in manufacturing technology, engineered wood floors can be used in almost any room in the home. This includes installing over dry, concrete slabs and some types of existing flooring. So now homeowners can enjoy the beauty of a real hardwood floor in areas they thought not possible before with solid wood flooring.

All three have their pros and cons. Rotary Peeled provides the highest use of raw materials for lowest cost, lowest visual appeal and weakest grain structure. Sliced provides better yield with medium cost, better visual appeal, and better structural integrity. Sawn Face lowest yield for the highest cost, best visual appeal, and strongest grain structural due to a natural sawing process vs slicing or peeling of the grain.