Oak grades

Wood Floor Shopping

To find the cheapest oak floor you need to understand Oak grades. Red and White Oak grades are  based on the face surface, specifically its appearance. The most common grades of domestic hardwood wood flooring are; clear (c & btr), select (s & btr), # 1 common, # 2 common and a variety of proprietary grades. Yes, proprietary, as in they make it up. Now, this is not always a bad thing, not at all. However, many times these creations are about raising the price, i.e. natural rustic = #2 common everywhere else.

The premium Oak Grades

Clear Grade Oak is cut and harvested from the innermost heartwood of the tree. Color discrepancies of dark to light and variations such as knots and worm holes will be at the absolute minimum if not non-existent in this grade of oak. The grain, however, will still be prominent while having a clean overall look. Due to clear being the highest grade, mills pick carefully through each and every piece to ensure that the milling of the seams, butt joints, and tongue and groove are milled precisely. 

Select and Better. Select and Better will typically have clear pieces mixed into the bundles. You’ll have minimal variation from the sapwood. There will be virtually no knots or worm holes on these boards though some will be present. The appearance of the grain is strong with very slight color variations of heartwood and sapwood. 

The Common Oaks

No. 1 Common. No. 1 Common grade is where much more variation and discrepancies will show through. You will have some knots and wormholes. You will have color variations of the sapwood to heartwood. The color is not as uniform as Clear or Select. There will be some lighter and some darker pieces and depending on the width of the board, you may have that occurring on the same board. 

No. 2 Common. No. 2 Common will have a lot of color variations of dark and light pieces from the heartwood and sapwood. There will be an abundance of knots and wormholes. This floor will have a much more rustic appearance than clear or select. The milling and natural faults of this grade will not be as clean and precise as the above grades. 

Defects, i.e. Tavern, Cabin grades

No. 3 Common. Not many professionals recommend No 3 Common for White oak- especially not for flooring. The pieces are too inconsistent in terms of milling and natural characteristics. More often than not, you will have a large waste pile after having to sort through all the pieces to find the ones good enough to install. With that being said, due to the high waste volume, you’ll have to account for that during ordering. While it is industry standard to order 10% more of the overall square footage, you’ll have to order over 20% more to make up the waste difference. Instead of choosing No. 3, it’s better to order No. 2 Common. You will still have all those natural characteristics but with an overall better product. 

Cabin & Tavern Grades answer the question do you have “cheap oak floors”?

Cheap Oak Floors – Shorts aka micro shorts-  While not technically a grade of flooring but worth noting. Shorts are exactly what that sounds like. Short pieces of flooring typically range from 6 inches to about 2-3 feet. While you will have some shorts in regular bundles (we call them spacers as they help in staggering the hardwood), when you order all shorts the bundles will not contain any long pieces.  Regardless of the grade of shorts, there will be A LOT of seams. As a general rule, we like to keep our stagger to every 6 inches at lease. Meaning that the butt joints from row to row will not be closer than 6 inches. 

Builders Welcome

Builders and installation professionals who understand that real wood takes time, welcome to SYP Direct. We do not take shortcuts and we do not sell to those of you that do, end of story. However, if you are a real wood pro, with or without pine experience, welcome to the best source you will ever find. Select Hardwoods from the best mills, amazing direct prices; White Oak, Red Oak, Hickory, Walnut and more.

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3 1/4 prime grade CHP

CHP customer Pictures

Our favorite Finishes

Caribbean Heart Pine pictures help answer the questions what is CHP and how does it compare to domestic New Heart Pine? At SYP Direct we do not stage pictures, these are actual Caribbean Heart Pine customer pictures.  Both Rustic and Prime grades are represented, all 100% solid real wood with 85% heartwood. The percentage heart is very important as a 50% version of CHP exist in prefinished form. Rustic grade Caribbean Heart Pine has knots, character with red to dark brown colors. Prime grade contains tiny pine knots, if any. The colors are more uniform as the contain less sap than the rustic grade.

Where can you find CHP pictures?

Caribbean Heart Pine pictures, identified as such, are few and far between Caribbean Pine, from Honduras (our source) grows on plantations just like in the United States. A secret no others company will tell you, it grows close to the equator, sub tropics, you know central America? So what? Well, this combination creates heart content (CHP customer pictures) much faster than any North American species. One place where you can find Caribbean Heart Pine pictures is our clients who allow us to show them off. However, some clients like builders may want to rename the species to old growth or even antique, easy enough with up to 90% heart content.

How does CHP compare to Longleaf Heart Pine

Rustic Caribbean Heart Pine has the color and character of full mature old growth Longleaf pine. In fact, with the right finish the look of Antique Reclaimed Heart Pine is possible. Prime grade is what we think of as ‘old school’ Heart Pine. Prime has few knots and clean look which perfect for formal settings. Both grades have 85% (minimum) heartwood on the face of every board. However, rustic will contain more sapwood and color variance- similar to Longleaf Heart Pine. Prime grade will have very few if any pin knots and a much more consistent color pattern.

1 x 4 Prime

1 x 4 prime grade 85% caribbean heart pine

Caribbean Heart Pine

Caribbean heart pine pictures showing 7" prime grade
Prime Grade Wide Plank

More about Caribbean Heart Pine

Caribbean Heart Pine is a beautiful wood prized throughout the world for its distinctive grain, rich, lustrous patina, and durable hardness. Our Caribbean Heart Pine is uniform in color and will range from golden brown to red brown heartwood to lighter brown sapwood. Caribbean Heart Pine deepens in dark red color over time. Perhaps one of the most desirable traits of Caribbean Heart Pine is that natural beauty becomes more evident with time. As the wood ages, its patina emerges providing a palette of rich, vibrant colors ranging from yellows to vibrant reds and coppers that deepen and intensify with age. Below we have a portfolio from Facebook click here to visit Houzz and our more Caribbean Heart Pine pictures.

Caribbean Heart Pine pictures

Pictures matter only if the person showing them to you can tell you what you are looking at, right? If you at our Caribbean Heart Pine pictures they are not the standard shots you see everywhere, they are our customers. Do it yourself customers have created some of the most amazing Caribbean Heart Pine floors. You should be next.

More Pictures

Customer CHP

Houzz Caribbean Heart Pine customer pictures

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#2 Knotty Pine Southern Yellow Pinewith gloss clear coat

#2 SYP pictures

Knotty Pine

Is Knotty Pine a grade?

What is #2 Southern Yellow Pine aka Knotty pine? Simple, it is a generic term for pine with knots, not  a big surprise. What may surprise you, Knotty Pine is not a grade. #2 SYP is not a true grade and differs from mill to mill, i.e. floors or lumber. Lumber mills sort based on defects, knots included. But when a mill produces flooring, Heart Pine flooring, it is sorted based on the amount of visible heartwood, not defects. An astounding 95% of pine floors are produced by dimensional lumber mills using Loblolly or similar farmed species. Age creates not only gorgeous colors and character, it creates stability. When comparing your local #2 SYP with our floors, get samples and ask for local customers. Comparisons reveal the facts, one is plain and void of character, while the other defines character.

#2 Southern Yellow “Knotty” Pine

Our #2 Southern Yellow Pine pictures help everyone comparing our grades, heart content or deciding on a style. Pictures, however are just the jumping off point. Pictures taken from studios for marketing do not give a realistic view of anything, not even color. On the other hand, customer iPhone pictures are not always the best quality. So our #2 Southern Yellow Pine pictures offer a great overview of our floors, we suggest samples to answer an final questions.

Alabama Longleaf Pine

According to a report from the Louisiana State University  Agricultural department; there are over 214 million acres of timberland in the United States, with 30% being Southern Pine.  Remeber, Southern pine is not species rather several species. Longleaf pine is found on private land in small batches, it is not farmed. The average age of a farmed tree will be under 20 years compared to 80 and up for Longleaf pine taken for floors. Want more information? Visit front page and find out more! 

Alabama Pine Lumber

SYP Direct mills Alabama Longleaf Pine lumber into unfinished Knotty and Heart Pine flooring. We mill to order, for homeowners and builders, with no minimum order. We can customize your order in ways that save you time and money. Grades, widths, length (s) are just three of the ways our mill to order model benefits our customers. There is no other SYP Direct, we say yes to real wood, every single time.

Arizona 2021

Arizona wide plank heart pine finished with undercoat for age
Bravo Arizona

Is a picture worth any words?

As with any floor, #2 Southern Yellow Pine, aka Knotty Pine pictures can be staged or done professionally, even in studio. That is not what we do, many of our pictures come from customer phones, but they are real. Our customers are not professional photographers and we love the ‘honest’ look, before and after the finish. Furthermore, each picture we show you, we have access to either the ‘recipe’ or the customer.Almost every customer of SYP Direct made their decision on grade by studying our #2 Southern Yellow Pine pictures versus those of New Heart Pine. 

Heart versus Knotty Pine

Our Heart Pine pictures compared to those of our #2 Knotty pine gives you a feel for the whole floor, not just one sample or board. First time callers often begin by saying ” we saw this picture online and love the look, what is it”? While pictures are not perfect when have multiples and a variety of finish types they do the job.

 

Customer created stair treads using t/g heart pine from syp direct
Love the face nail
Please send us an email. If you need a call back, ask us and guess what? We actually call you back and handle your questions, one by one.
IN A HURRY- TEXT much faster 601 826 1296
Text us now 601 826 1296
Southern Yellow Pine Direct offer homeowners the reliability of an A+ rated BBB company; the best quality, pricing and service bar none. We operate under an "old school" philosophy that the customer is always right. We make sure you are just that by educating and dispelling myths about Southern Pine and Heart Pine flooring.
Remember we are a mill to order manufacturer of unfinished and prefinished Southern Pine, including our speciality Heart Pine. Our lead times are normally about two weeks, with Hardwoods and Imports the lead times vary and that is an understatement. 2 days -2 months has bee the answer since COVID. But things are imporving, as White Oak prices continue to fall. (Jason Howard 9/9/2022)
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Kentucky diy customer pine walls

Kentucky

Walls and Other

Kentucky quick fact: the state has more navigable miles of waterways than any other state in the union. Probably not what you think about when you think about the Bluegrass state, right? Basketball tops my list when I think about Kentucky. As an LSU alumni and Louisiana “boy”, I wonder;  How many times did Kentucky beat LSU in the SEC tournament, all of them? OK, not every time but awfully close! If that doesn’t top your list, how about that little horse race they hold every year.

Kentucky Derby

Frankfort is the capital city of the  Commonwealth of Kentucky, but Louisville is the largest city. Louisville is home to the Kentucky Derby, the renowned horse race held at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May. Dubbed “The Run for the Roses,” stemming from the blanket of roses draped over the winner. It is also known in the United States as “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports” or “The Fastest Two Minutes in Sports” because of its approximate duration. The Kentucky Derby has run uninterrupted since 1875. Even with the Olympics and major professional sports leagues canceled at those points, the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont took place during the Great Depression and both World Wars.

SYP Direct & the Blue Grass state

SYP Direct depends on word of mouth, specifically referrals. Kentucky provides a perfect example of how our business has grown to cover the state. During our first two years, we only had 4 customers from the Bluegrass state, last year (2019) it was 10. And while that number ranks 20th comparing total sales by state, almost ½ of those started with one customer. Word of mouth business is direct result of the quality and service received. An A+ rating from the BBB, confirms, we take care of our customers.

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Ownensboro Kentucky Workshop

We send so much time talking about our tongue and groove floors, walls get over-looked. In Owensboro our customer used tongue and groove on his walls, running the boards vertical, as shown above. “Here is the finished building. I built a bar and workbench (with leftovers) also. I am VERY happy with it. Thank you for all your help!” (McClarty 2020).  When comparing t/g walls to widly popular Shiplap, one interlocks producing straight edges, whereas Shiplap rest on top one another.

Ship-lap or Shiplap

Shiplap southern yellow pine siding profile using pine lumber

Buying Solid Wood Flooring? You have certain rights!

You have the right to real

First, it must be real wood, a floor not a floor cover that will be thrown away one day. Nobody calls carpet a hardwood, but it outlasts most LVT and all laminate. Solid wood, i.e., engineered by Mother Nature! – It is a shame that we even use the same word, hardwood to describe both real and fake flooring. Laminate Hardwoods, the term has no meaning. It is not wood, much less hard. Laminate, LVT and cheap (less than 4mm wear layer) engineered flooring all ends up in the same landfill.

Long boards are not a luxury

Long lengths- When did trees get so short? 95% of all prefinished hardwoods are sold as 7’ nested bundles, meaning box. The average board will be under 30”, all chopped up is what you get. Not the case with our finish to order heart pine, we run long boards up to 10’ with an average over 7’; 80% of boards are 8’ and up. In fact, we offer a version with all 12’ boards; however, the shipping and packaging becomes more expensive. Why long boards are so cool? They look like they cost a fortune because everyone else has chopped up short boards.

You have the right to the truth

You cannot refinish engineered wood with less than 4 mm wear layer, warranties are, in general worthless and nothing is waterproof except water. These are topics that, of course, generate questions; and the answers should be given in the form of true statements not marketing garbage. You will find that with each question answered, the truth becomes clear. Single use floor covers mean repeat business and that is what supports the industry. Nobody wants you to get a solid real hardwood because you will not need another one, nor will the person who moves in after you. Solid hardwood flooring increases the selling price by up to 10% because the new owners can re-finish rather than repurchase.

  • Shows the gorgeous look of real wood floors comparing engineered floors
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One house one floor

Customer Bill of Rights

One House should have one floor

Real wood, solid 3/4 flooring sits at the core of Southern Yellow Pine Directs  ‘One House One Floor’ philosophy. No repeat customers unless you move or add. How? Simple, we do not lease you a floor cover we sell you a floor. Refinish and create a new one every ten years rather than leasing another future landfill cover .

If it is only one floor, it has to be real. 

Our philosophy, One House, One Floor has at its core one absolute; there is never a reason to buy engineered floors unless you are a prison, state university or hospital. Second, laminate and vinyl are future ground poison unless you have tested all the myriad of chemicals used during production.

The solution involves battling a very powerful lobby, an industry literally dependent on these products and installers who cannot nail down real wood.  However, remember Mr. Adam Smith? “Vote with your wallets”  and decide the winner in free markets, it is the only answer. As consumers, we must demand One house, One Floor! No more repeat business. Imagine what we can do with that $10,000 we save every 7 years! Stop giving away our equity, retrain the public from a grass roots approach.

Beams - we use every piece except the nails

Antique reclaimed pine from decking eom

The economics of repeat business

Economics 101 under Dr. Don Diffine, great teacher, he would “argue” you to the right answer. His dry sense of humor and willingness to argue kept my attention. In this setting came my introduction to Adam Smith and the “the invisible hand” operating withing markets. The invisible hand tells us that money will follow the path of least resistance, i.e. it has no conscience. Flash to present day and you can find a salesperson who will tell you to “tear out real wood” to put in LVT In the decade that gave us Wall Street and “greed is good”, Adam Smith helped me understand what this meant.

When did one house one floor stop being a thing?

In 1992 Ross Perot warned of a “giant sucking sound” of jobs leaving. We can argue that point, but we certainly saw a giant sucking of American wealth. Cheap products, planned obsolescence on steroids with the mantra, “ it is just cheaper to buy a new one.” Real wood floors disappeared, along with “one house one floor” and the Maytag man. Now before you think we are pining (pun intended) for the past, not even close. Investment flooring, our promise, has at the core a very simple premise, One House One Floor. In the real world that means our floors will outlive the house, reclaimed and sold again for 10 times the price, i.e. an investment.

One house one floor, no kidding

Financial Crisis, only slower

Remember the last big transfer of homeowner equity? The financial crisis stripped homeowners of any equity, leaving many upsides down for good. The Flooring industry is more subtle, slowing robbing the equity on leased floors every 5-7 years. OK, can we assume, every we replace covers every 7 years? Too frequent? Make it every 10 years- or 14 times if the home reaches 140 years. How much does it cost to tear out the last one to put in the next leased cover, is $10,000 fair? More than, right? 14 x 10,000 is $140,000 for this house, what about the subdivision, the city, the state and nation? Do the math, you will need a special calculator for large numbers before you leave the subdivision. Please, One House One Floor.

Reclaim one day

#1 grade antique reclaimed heart pine

Unlimited uses

Antique heart pine used for bathroom counter

Real is better than fake

Installing a real wood floor begins with pre conditioning
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Character Heart Pine

Heart Pine

Character Heart Pine is a creation designed to save you money as we blend 0-40% #2 grade (heartwood) and 50%-85%  Heart Pine floors. The #2 grade has heartwood and some boards will be just as good as the higher grade, the others go into kids rooms and closets.

Character Heart Pine

Character grade new heart pine from syp direct has 50% heartwood

Character Heart Pine -Save money with creativity

If you are buying the #1 grade 80% Heartwood floor, do you have closets? A mudroom, or a Mother in Law quarters? Just kidding, but you get the point. In fact, our #2 grade Longleaf Pine has up to 40% heart content making it difficult to determine grade. So, blending the grades may reduce heart content by some amount the savings might be worth it, for some customers. The bottom line about heartwood, grades, budget and your order; SYP Direct works for you, we only sell real wood and believe in “One House One Floor”.

Character Heart Pine blends #1 and #2

Our cheapest Heart Pine grade is not really a grade but rather a blend, Character Heart Pine combines Heart Pine with our #2 grade. Same concept as Character Grade White Oak, which combines #1 common with #2 common by extending the length of the board. These grades are very similar but a layperson (should) can tell the difference, same with our #2 and #1 Longleaf Southern Pine. One has enough Heartwood the other doesn’t, not defects but distance from the tree determines these grades.

“Cheapest” Heart Pine Grade

The “cheapest” Heart Pine only works if you are using a value, not price context. These floors, finished clear or stained dark, will be the showpiece of your home so cheap not a great term.  However, we want people to realize that the price per square foot means nothing without context. It is imperative you understand the components within that price. For example, average length and a flooring grade not a marketing term; both very important to avoid being ripped off.

Info on the Cheapest Heart Pine grade

Create an amazing floor

Get more ideas including mixed width floors, vertical grain and lumber, stairs and even custom grade blends- email us for info

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