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Cabin Grade Hardwood Flooring - You Might Want to Think Again
By Eric M Dyer
Cabin grade prices on Oak hardwood flooring appear attractive at first glance. You may see an ad in a magazine or on TV promoting a cabin or tavern grade floor as low as $2.39 per foot. Seems to good to be true huh? You think to yourself “Wow, I can afford that!” That’s the thought the liquidators or salvage centers want you to think. You might even find these super cheap deals on cabin and tavern grade hardwood at various online flooring stores as well. If you are thinking about purchasing one of these floors, you may want to think twice before you buy. There is another option available to you that you might not be aware of that is quickly catching the eye of the hardwood flooring industry. So why should you reconsider a cabin grade floor and what is the alternative if you’re on a budget?
First and foremost, the quality of a cabin or tavern grade hardwood floor is not what you think. This classification of wood was created to lump all of the boards not considered very useable by the manufacturers. Cabin grade floors will consist of very short pieces, boards with heavy, irregular mineral streaks, accentuated knots, and possibly even cracked boards. Sure some of the wood floor will have character with the extra knotting in the product, but the rest will look almost too rugged. If you think I’m pulling your leg on this, ask about the warranty. If there even is a warranty, compare it to other grades. You might get a 1 year warranty at best on a cabin grade wood floor.
Secondly, you’re probably not saving as much as you think. Take for instance you need 1000 square feet. If you are paying $2.39 per foot for a solid oak cabin or tavern grade hardwood, that’s $2,390.00 less tax or shipping right? Actually it’s not. That’s when you are told you need to buy an extra 20% just to cover some of the pieces that you may not want to use (which is a correct statement by the way). So let’s re-figure it again. 1000 feet plus 20% is 1,200 feet. 1,200 feet times $2.39 a foot is $2,868. The waste is a hidden factor that usually isn’t realized until it is too late. Now you have paid more that expected for a floor with little to no warranty. What if there was a better way?
There certainly is another option. Some hardwood manufacturer’s are now offering economical blends of Oak wood flooring. By combining a 50% #1 common stock and a 50% #2 common stock you can give a first quality floor, with a very good warranty and still have some of the character you get with a cabin grade wood product. You will have far less mineral streaking, smaller, more attractive knots, and useable sizes in the boards creating little to no waste. You will probably also go from little to no warranty to a 10 year or so finish warranty on the floor. If you look hard enough, you should be able to find blends like this for around $2.89 a square foot. Let’s figure the job again but with this blend. At $2.89 per foot with 1,000 square feet, that’s $2,890. There should be no waste either. If you are concerned about boards, you can add 5%, but I wouldn’t add much more than that. The difference between the blend and cabin grade is only $22 total. You will get a dramatically better looking floor and a real warranty. It quickly becomes a no brainer!
Economical, blended products are out there but may take some reasearch on your part. A great place to start is OwenCarpet.com in Dalton, Ga. Owen Carpet offers a blend in Oak Hardwood Flooring called Black Mountain. Black Mountain is a 3/4″ solid Oak wood blend, available in 3 colors and offers a 10 year warranty.
The author, Eric Dyer is an Owner of Owen Carpet based in Dalton, Ga. Owen Carpet was featured by NBC’s Today show as the #1 place in America to buy Floorcovering.
For more information you can visit, http://www.owencarpet.com or call Owen Carpet at 1-800-626-6936.
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