Solid Hardwood Flooring in Cary, NC

Cary Hardwood Flooring fits solid hardwood floors in homes across Cary. We check the floor underneath, measure each room and fit the boards to it.

What solid hardwood is

The solid hardwood flooring we fit is one piece of wood from top to bottom, with no glued layers under it.

The U.S. Forest Service's Forest Products Laboratory, in its Wood Handbook, says flooring is made mostly from hardwoods such as oak and maple. It says tongue-and-groove hardwood flooring is the kind most often supplied. The solid boards we fit have a tongue along one edge that slides into a groove on the next board, so the rows lock together.

The handbook lists 3/4, 1/2 and 3/8 inch as standard thicknesses for tongue-and-groove flooring under the rules of the National Oak Flooring Manufacturers Association. It lists 1-1/2, 2, 2-1/4 and 3-1/4 inches as standard widths for the top face. For wider boards, see our wide plank flooring page.

Grades: how the face of the board looks

The handbook says flooring grades are set by how the face of the board looks. It lists four main grades for oak: Clear, Select, No. 1 Common and No. 2 Common.

We bring sample boards in the grades you're thinking about, so you can see the knots and color changes in your own light before you choose.

Red oak, white oak and how the log was cut

When we talk about plainsawn and quartersawn boards, we mean two ways a mill cuts a log into boards, and each cut leaves a different grain pattern on top of the board. The handbook says oak flooring is sorted into red oak and white oak, and by how the log was sawn, such as plainsawn or quartersawn.

It says quartersawn flooring shrinks and swells less than plainsawn flooring and wears more evenly, and the seams between its boards are less likely to open. It also says many people prefer the silver, flaked grain of quartersawn boards to the look of plainsawn ones.

We'll lay plainsawn and quartersawn samples side by side for you. We also fit white oak flooring and hickory flooring.

Moisture in a Cary house

The Forest Products Laboratory says wood takes on moisture from its surroundings, and that the moisture left in wood tends to come to balance with the humidity of the air around it. It says that if the moisture is kept within reasonable limits, major problems from the wood changing size can usually be avoided.

That's why we check the moisture in the new boards and in the floor under them before we start. We don't lay the floor until both are where the maker's instructions say they should be. We also leave a small gap at every wall, hidden under the trim, so the boards have room to move.

How we fit it

We nail solid boards down to the wood floor below, one row at a time, and cut them to fit around doorways, vents and cabinets. If the boards come unfinished, we sand them and put the stain and finish on in your house.

OSHA, the federal workplace safety agency, says wood dust becomes a possible health problem when sanding and cutting put wood particles into the air. So we close off the room we're working in and keep our saw as far from the rest of the house as we can.

What changes the price

We price solid hardwood flooring for your house once we've measured, and you get that quote in writing.

We set our price by the size of the rooms, how many doorways and corners we cut around, and which species, grade and cut you pick. We also count in taking up an old floor, any repairs to the floor underneath, and sanding and finishing in your house if the boards come unfinished.

What to get in writing

Ask for these in writing, whoever you hire:

• The species, the grade, the cut (plainsawn or quartersawn), the board width and the thickness.
• How the moisture of the boards and the floor below will be checked, and what happens if it reads too high.
• Who fixes the floor underneath if it isn't flat, and how that is priced.
• The stain and finish by name and the number of coats, if the floor is finished in your house.
• Whether moving furniture, taking up the old floor and hauling it away are in the price.
• How the new floor meets tile, carpet or another room at each doorway.

Questions about solid hardwood flooring in Cary

Get a quote for solid hardwood flooring

Call us, or send the quote form with your ZIP code and the rooms you want done. We'll measure, go through species, grade and finish options with you, and give you a written quote. To see the other flooring work we do, go to the Cary Hardwood Flooring home page.