Hardwood flooring comes in many different species and, depending on your selection, can also come in many different grades. The grading system in hardwood flooring generally falls into three main areas; select, natural and rustic. Depending on the manufacturer there can be variances in the grading system within each area, but to keep things simple you must ask yourself whether you want a wooden floor as described as follows;

Select, Select & Better, Prime, Pacific & A grade

As you can see from the photograph and from the description, Select floors are graded to have the best selection of wood from the tree to try to give a floor with a more complete uniformity of colour selection with very few knots or sapwood or mineral ingress. These floors are always at the highest end of the budget for hardwood flooring and thus when specials are available they are to be taken advantage of...

Natural, Character & AB grade

As you can see from the photograph above and from the description, Natural floors are graded to have a more varied selection of wood from the tree to give a floor with a more "real look" with knots and more variation of colour selection and some mineral ingress. These floors tend to fall into the mid budget range but look out for some spectacular savings in our sales page for ABC grade solid Oak, which is one of the most popular floors available today...

Rustic, Factory, Tavern, ABCD & CD grade

As you can see from the photograph above and from the description, Rustic floors are graded to have a high percentage of variation in wood selection to give you a lot of colour and a "very lively" floor with many knots, which can be either filled or open depending on manufacturer, it may also have visible splits and shakes and cracks in the lacquer and there will be visible mineral ingress. These floors are generally at the lower end of the budget range, however many more manufacturers are deliberately creating these rustic looks and are placing them at the top of their ranges. So sometimes in hardwood flooring appearances can be very deceptive. We will always advise when it comes to your selection and will make sure you are aware at all times of the characteristics of the floor you are looking at...

 If you have been looking at or offered CD grade wood please remember it is very rustic indeed with a lot of filler. Look at the photograph below and this is a true depiction of what you will find in CD grade flooring...

Exceptions

There are many hardwood species across the colour spectrum that nature provides us with and we would suggest that you utilise the floor selector programmes in our "Brands" page. These excellent packages literally allow you to design your own decor including your floor and help you with your final selection. You will notice that in certain species there is only one grade of flooring available and may only be described as "classic" or "natural". If you are unsure about any of these floors then please contact us and we will either provide sampling (please remember that whether you obtain samples from us or anyone else, you are only getting small pieces of wood to look at) or more importantly photographs of one of our own installations in that species or from the manufacturer in order that you have a more realistic expectation of the floor you are looking at and what it will look like.

It is also important to consider that all floors will colour when exposed to daylight, some a lot more than others. When you are looking at a floor that is likely to colour dramatically in time we will point this out prior to purchase and will attempt to show you before and after colour charts