Discount Hardwood Flooring

When looking for a discount hardwood floor you really need to understand some of the different types of prefinished hardwood flooring and what that means to you. Hardwood flooring is graded and not all grades are the same. Armed with this sort of information you help you better understand your options when comparing discounted hardwood flooring and why some hardwood flooring pricing vary.

Comparing Hardwood Flooring Grades

• Clear Grade - the color and graining is uniform and there are virtually no wood knots, pinholes or blemishes on the surface.
• Select & Better - slight variation in the color but still virtually no wood knots, pinholes or blemishes on the surface.
• Country Grade - more variation in color and graining and lighter to darker contrasts. Could have small pinholes and small wood knots causing more waste during installation.
• Character Grade - these planks will show considerablly more natural character and have more pinholes and wood knots. May also be called: Rustic Grade or Traditional Grade.
• Tavern Grade - is also called Cabin Grade. Planks may have a lot of visual character in both color and graining, as well as wood knots and dark colored mineral streaks.

As you can see from the above hardwood flooring grades there are differences that will definitely effect the prices of the hardwood flooring. That is not too say a Tavern or Cabin Grade Floor at a considerable discount is not a great deal. It depends on what you are looking for and that you realize there may be more waste. As example, a tavern grade could have more mineral streaks and lots of color variation but the finish is fine and will last for years. In this case, you would need to order extra cartons to allow for throwing out boards that you don't want because of the visual appearance and mineral streaks. You might have to do more dry fitting of planks to observe the overall appearance before installing permenantly.

When comparing hardwood flooring prices between stores be sure you are comparing apples to apples. Sometimes the product names may be switched to make it more difficult for shoppers to compare prices with other hardwood flooring dealers. Also, dealers who stock lots of hardwood flooring should have the best discounts on hardwood flooring. Stocking wood dealers are buying pallets or truckloads from manufacturers and getting much better pricing that dealers who have to special order your flooring.