10 Apr

Best Pine Floors

The best Southern Pine floor depends on the buyer. For example, there are some people who want knots, but just not “too many of them”. Rustic does not equate to defects or that many knots. In our #2 grade, for example, would be called heart pine when purchased in a package or from a box store. If a customer wants zero knots, we have that grade with our (c and better) clear grade southern pine.

7″ wide plank Mill Run Heart Pine finished in 7-10′ lengths.

Get a sample

Southern Yellow Pine Direct is your local source for the best pine floors along with the best pine flooring prices. However, we are so much more than just flooring. Custom stairs, lap siding, gap siding, post, and beams, shipped directly to your job site. SYP Direct works with your contractor if you purchase your own materials. The best pine floors rarely found within bundled services, why? Simple, the “best for you” are solid real wood which most take too much time. However, the length of floor provides clues to the origins, i.e. the mill. Say no to bundled services, contract your own floors. SYP Direct provides all the support you need to convince or find a new installer.

Why does SYP Direct have the best pine floors?

The best pine floors, the best pine flooring prices and customer service beyond compare. An A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, in our business, tells you all you need to know about the best pine floors. The best considers, price, % floors returned, quality (i.e. waste factor) and other variables based on where you live. Never do we misrepresent our flooring, in fact educating our buyers is part of our day to day business. We are polite and operate with a transparency that shocks most first-time callers, “we seem too good to be true” has been said on many occasions.

Best pine floors

A + BBB

SYP Direct Pine Flooring Reviews

At SYP Direct we are proud of our pine flooring reviews, we earned our A+ Better Business Bureau rating. So when we see large companies not playing by the rules we get upset, but we have discovered a new low. Purchasing pine flooring reviews and likes while completely suppressing actual customer reviews. Big deal? Search engines use reviews to rank, Google certainly places importance on them when they are Google reviews!

How do the purchase reviews? Not in name, but through a third party ‘management’ company who orchestrates the entire social media search charade. Ask them for a local review, a happy client who might share a photo perhaps? Clover Lea pine floors from Lumber Liquidators has a 4.5 star review, nonsense. Do your research but ask questions locally, do not rely on the public relations firm of a billion dollar company repairing a terrible reputation for dishonest practices.

Built by Customer Service

Read the reviews, the thread is customer service along with the best pine floors. SYP Direct is not magic, things do go wrong, but we fix them. Customer service is the same with 200 to 2000 square feet, furthermore, we are willing educate our clients. In fact, we validate what they know to be true, that real wood is better than fake. Going to bat for the homeowner is not over and above, it is what we do every day. Furthermore, we do increase the ‘best pine flooring prices’ on smaller orders.

Wide Plank 1 x 10 New Heart Pine

08 Apr

Allergies and Wood Floors

Wood Floor Shopping, Finish and Install

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, researchers believe that nasal allergies affect about 50 million people in the United States alone, and that number is increasing every year. Allergies affect as much as 30 percent of the adult population in the U.S. and about 40 percent of children. Hypoallergenic means a product contains few allergy-producing substances known as allergens, and in our world, VOC’s. More on that later. So because there’s no agreed-upon scientific or legal definition of the term, the word “hypoallergenic” printed on a label doesn’t necessarily protect you.

Allergies and wood flooring — Real wood reclaimed one day

Allergies and wood floors — Real wood reclaimed one day

Volatile Organic Compounds, aka VOC.

VOC stands for volatile organic compounds, which turn into vapor at room temperature and enter the atmosphere through off-gassing. In turn, the VOC off-gas process creates that fresh paint smell, for example. Depending on the compound, VOCs can severely impact indoor air quality and result in negative health consequences. While short-term issues might be irritation of the eyes, nose or throat, or nausea and dizziness, some VOCs have the capability of causing liver or kidney damage, or even cancer.

Hypoallergenic has no real meaning and Zero VOC is just a rating.

As the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) writes on its website; “There are no Federal standards or definitions that govern the use of the term ‘hypoallergenic.’ The term means whatever a particular company chooses, i.e. how they market the product. It is a marketing term in that it provides no real information about the product and how it performs. Our unfinished floors can be toxic or hypoallergenic, the finish is up to you.

Monocoat by Rubio- The green finish

Flooring and allergies starts with zero voc finish such as monocoat — 7″ rustic caribbean heart pine.

Rubio Monocoat uses a unique molecular bonding technology to adhere to the topmost fibers of the wood it is applied to. Rubio Monocoat unique molecular bonding technology also allows for a one-coat finish. This means there is no need to continually apply oil or build up layers of polyurethane like with traditional finishes.

Carpet is the worst source for allergens

Carpet is king, of our landfills. The EPA estimates that there is 15 lbs of carpet for every citizen of the United States, in our landfills. It does not decompose quickly or even safely, and no it cannot be recycled, no matter what you read. Try to find a center that takes your carpet, not gonna happen.

Laminate and LVT

Laminate and Vinyl are the fastest growing components of our landfills. It’s difficult to quantify what chemicals, will leach from laminates once they hit the landfill versus the emissions if placed in an incinerator. To put it simply, this stuff doesn’t decompose, because of all the chemicals and glues, the material never breaks down organically.

What flooring is best for allergy sufferers?

Solid wood floors are the only true green, hypoallergenic flooring choice.

What type of floor is the worst for allergy sufferers?

Carpet is the toughest to clean while manufactures have been fined for having too much formaldehyde making a bunch of people very sick.

How can you tell if Formaldehyde was used in your own floor?

You can check if formaldehyde was used in your floor by looking for ULEF (ultra-low emitting formaldehyde) or NAUF (no added urea formaldehyde) labels. This is not hypoallergenic flooring!

What is Laminate?

Laminate is a thin layer of wood-color plastic, adhered to a composite. The processes use a variety of chemicals including formaldehyde. What is Laminate? How about what it is not, it is not green; in fact, it is the opposite of green. Laminate has a huge carbon footprint based on the manufacturing process, which can include dangerous chemicals in the manufacturing process. Laminate is not renewable or recyclable and every bit of it will end up in a landfill.

02 Jan

How to install real wood floors

Finish and Install

How to install real wood floors- it takes time

How to install a real wood floor is the question and finding the right installer is job one. It is the first thing we tell people asking how to install real wood floors. When installing a real wood floor, of course, you want the proper skill set, but being honest is the most important quality. Installing a real wood floor takes time, and time is money for anyone paying labor, such as your local flooring store. Quick sounds great because you want to get your house back in order as soon as possible. However, quick means fake wood floors as installing a real wood floor takes time.

More FAQ

How to install real wood floors when moisture is an issue

Wood is hydroscopic, it will absorb (expand) moisture when exposed to high humidity and will expel (shrink) it in low humidity environments. Southern Pine on the microscopic level is more porous, than Oak for example, which allows the species to handle moisture changes better than most hardwoods. Before wood floors are ready for your home, the moisture content must be normalized, i.e., consistent throughout the house. So, acclimation is one to key when asking how to install real wood floors.

Our Southern Pine- installing a real wood floor

Southern Pine is Kiln dried prior to manufacture or milling into floors. A Kiln is a closed system using temperature, humidity and air flow to lower the woods moisture content. Moisture content is the measure of the weight of the water in the wood, expressed in a percentage. A “kiln dried” grade of Southern Pines moisture content should be at around 12% with a maximum of 15% and settling around 10%-12% depending on width.

Storing your wood floors

Storing your floors prior to installation is about controlling moisture. Moisture will damage wood floors, all of them not just the real stuff. The good news is that we have some time-tested methods designed to prevent moisture issues and visual damage to your floors. Proper storage and handling make the acclimation process much easier.

Pine install and sub floor

Installation picture of peter m caribbean heart pine floor in pa

Pre-condition prior to installing a real wood floor

How to install real wood floors, the right way must include some preparation. Preparation is necessary, including acclimation Do not skip this important step, cheap and takes very little time. The first step, apply a pre-conditioner to the face of every board. Apply a light coat evenly and let it dry. After this application, you will not have to worry about “splotchy” or an uneven finish around the knots. Your installer should insist on that step if they understand pine.

Real wood flooring and job site acclimation

Acclimating a Southern Pine floor allows time for the wood to adjust itself, enabling the floor to a reach a stable, balanced state. In this state the wood neither absorbs nor expels moisture. The state is referred to as EMC or equilibrium moisture content. Simply put, EMC is the consistent and stable differential between wood floor and sub-floor, i.e., no hot spots. Wood floors should be stacked in each room which will be receiving the floors. Acclimation time, generally speaking is between 5-14 days which can be shorten with proper preparation.

New Pins on Pinterest

1x4 Southern Yellow Clear Pine few knots

28 Sep

1×4 Clear Southern Pine

Our favorite Finishes, Wood Floor Shopping

Clear aka C and Better Southern Pine

Clear pine is tricky, how so? Well true C grade looks like our main picture, without any vertical grain or heartwood. However, you have Clear Heart Pine is not not C grade, but may or may not be vertical grain. Furthermore, Souther Pine may be quartersawn, producing vertical grain without heartwood.

SYP Direct is proud to offer our 1×4 Clear Southern Pine for $3.45 per square foot. Now that the price thing is out of the way, let me tell you more about the grade. If you are curious why Southern Pine is desribed as a 1×4 when it is actually neither one of those numbers, blame dimensional lumber. The terminology is what it is, but remember not all Southern Pine is created equally.

More about our Clear Southern Pine

Clear Southern Pine has a formal name, C & Better and it has “altered” names such as Select or Prime. Our C & Better is available in vertical grain (live sawn) Heart Pine, which is actually hand selected or just normal knot free Southern Pine. Vertical grain only available in 1×4, C & Better Southern Pine in 1 x 6 and 1 x 8, which are 5 1/8 and 6 7/8 respectively, both are cheaper than the 1×4 FYI.

Unfinished 5" C & Better

Finished for customer

Finished to order 1x4 clear southern pine flooring

What is vertical grain?

Vertical grain is not quartersawn, but all quartersawn has vertical grain among other variations. Ok, forget that stuff, vertical grain heart pine is the middle of the tree- our 1 x 4 is no exception. Can vertical grain heart pine have knots? Yes, but they will be very tiny, pin knots if any.

Vertical grain clear heart pine

Vertical grain new heart pine flooring from syp direct

Painting Clear Southern Pine

Clear grade is normally what people use when painting, white wash is great example. We see painting used for walls- we offer our customers:

Unfinished Rustic Southern Pine T/G, V Groove, Gap Siding, Shiplap

Unfinished Clear Southern Pine T/G, V Groove, Gap Siding, Shiplap

For more information and or samples contact us now.

Walls and Ceilings

Salvaged pine decking using skins 1/2 thick

25 Mar

Harmful chemicals or VOC’s

Finish and Install

Tung oil on coat on Caribbean Heart Pine

16 Jan

Urethane or Oil Finish

Finish and Install, Our favorite Finishes

Natural matte finished heart pine using bona natural high traffic

Comparing urethane versus Oil finishes

The main distinction between urethane or an oil finish; one sits on top the other penetrates. Beyond that simple definition you get into specific products and there are too many for that exercise. Deciding which finish is best for your project depends upon several variables. Urethane finishes form a layer of protection on top of the wood surface while oils penetrate. Urethane finishes are extremely durable and are easy to clean with a dry mop and hardwood floor cleaner. However, this durability comes with a price; a urethane finish can make it hard to do spot repairs. And finally, as the urethane wear layer breaks down, the entire floor will have to be stripped & refinished. Whereas, if maintained properly an oil finished floor never needs to be stripped like a urethane finish.

Natural Oils

Oil finished floors, except Monocoat, take more time during installation and need a bit more maintenance. Most oil finishes will offer specialized soaps designed to protect the look and durability of your floor. Now for the best part, remember natural oil finishes penetrate the wood, bonding on a molecular level, meaning what? They are much easier to fix when scratched or for spot repairs. Yes, that up front time and the annual care pay off if the floor needs repair. And finally, change is so much easier with oils as stripping a floor requires harsh chemicals and much more labor.

Monocoat by Rubio

Bona High Traffic

Bona high traffic, with the Bona Craft Oil 2K topcoat, offer an amazing natural look. For an oil finish Bona dries exceptionally clean and clear with tremendous protection. Bona Craft Oil 2K has all the benefits of a natural oil finish plus the performance and innovation you expect from Bona. Bona Craft Oil is ready for light use in just 8 hours. An extremely high oil viscosity allows this product to penetrate deep into your wood, in just one coat. The Craft Oil 2K products allow to blend (or apply two colors) for a custom look. And finally, lifetime support from Bona provides reassurance that you have an expert opinion not trying to sell you something.

100% Pure Tung oil is too difficult for most people to use by itself as a finish. You apply tung oil just like linseed oil or oil/varnish blend, but you have to sand tung oil after every coat, not just after the first, and it takes five to seven coats, allowing two to three days drying time between each, to achieve a smooth, attractive sheen.

Milk Paint Tung Oil Blend

Syp direct offers #2 knotty southern yellow knotty pine with tung oil finish

Blended Tung Oil with Milk Paint

One of our favorite finishes for our Southern Pine comes from Milk Paint. Milk Paints 50/50 blend of Pure Tung Oil and natural, food grade thinner. One-part Pure Tung Oil mixed to one-part Citrus Solvent. Most projects require the thick viscosity of Pure Tung Oil to be thinned for better absorption into the surface. Half & Half is the perfect ratio for projects large and small. Milk Paint has done the mixing, so you do not have to DIY.

Why blend Tung Oil?

Pure Tung Oil is too thick to penetrate most surfaces. Thinning with a natural solvent helps the oil penetrate deeper into the material. The 1 to 1 or Half & Half ratio works great all-around for most surfaces like new raw wood, butcher block countertops, cutting boards, concrete, terra cotta clay pots, stone, and slate. This finish is also food contact safe! Generally, 3 to 5 coats are needed to seal and waterproof. This all-natural finish does take 7 to 10 days to develop a water resistance and a full 30 days for a complete cure.

Bona High Traffic Natural

The best real wood floors are heart pine

01 Oct

Waste Factor

Finish and Install

How much extra wood flooring should I order, what is the waste factor? Two questions we get during the first call or at least the first time we quote a price. When comparing floors, the first question you need to ask, how much extra I should order? The reason, 10% is normal and anything different indicates something out of the ordinary. For example, if someone tells you need to order 600 square feet when you need to cover 500 there is an issue. The only time to exceed 10% is with tavern or cabin (#3) grades or with very small wide plank orders.

Waste factor

The waste factor is not all about defects, in fact the defects cuts outs should never equal more than 10%. Unfinished real wood flooring is not like sticking down a laminate or clicking together an engineered floor the boards are large they are heavy and towards the edges of the room often require cutting. The cut outs cut offs, cut arounds and everything that does not become floor, designated the waste factor. The one exception would be a small order of 1x10x12 which has almost 8 square feet per board. If you mess up too many of those during install and your order is small, you have a problem.

Reasons to go above 10%

A small amount of wood means a small number of boards , errors or more important or avoiding them is more important to be more accurate. Just imagine for a minute if you want to order 400 square feet of 1 x 8 x 12, with waste 440 square feet. Each board contains 6.875 or essentially 7 sq feet per board, so the order contains 64 boards. So that, every board really counts.

All floors including covers have a waste factor

It may come as no shock that we are not fans of engineered or laminate flooring, we refer to them as covers. In fact, you do not buy a floor cover, you lease it. One step further, that leased cover ends up in a landfill with the chemicals which created them, and the ones used to stick them down. But I digress, back to the waste factor which like taxes everyone has to address them. A waste factor is about the skill off the installer, the quality of the materials and the shape in which the arrive.

waste factor

How many square feet per board

1 x 4 x 8 = 2.08 sq ft

1 x 4 x 10 = 2.60 sq ft

1 x 4 x 12= 3.125 sq ft

1 x 6 x 8 = 3.42 sq ft

1 x 6 x 8 = 3.42 sq ft

1 x 6 x 10 = 4.27 sq ft

1 x 6 x 12 = 5.125 sq ft

1 x 8 x 8 = 4.58 sq ft

1 x 8 x 10 = 5.73 sq ft

1 x 8 x 12 = 6.875 sq ft

1 x 10 x 8 = 5.83 sq ft

1 x 10 x 10 = 7.29 sq ft

1 x 10 x 12 = 8.75 sq ft

Shipping wood floors

We ship flooring all over the United States, literally that is not marketing. When we ship 1800 miles, 4 pallets weighing 3000 lbs each our biggest concern are the ¼ in edges we call tongue and groove. Many customers do not fully grasp that real wood is long and heavy but should not be manhandled because of those connections that we call the tongue and groove. Remember, our amazing floors and price mean nothing without true delivery cost; i.e. the amount it takes to complete the job.For more on how we protect your order and keep the waste factor below 10% let us hear from you today.

Special Pricing Mill Run Heart Pine

June 6th 2021- Southern Yellow Pine Direct has 5200 sq ft. of 1 x 8 x 12′ Mill Run Heart Pine waiting for you to choose your finish. Choose from 12 standard colors, as well as luxury brands such as Bona, Monocoat and WOCA. For more information contact us right now, first come first serve.

17 Jun

Tung Oil Finish

Finish and Install

Southern yellow pine being refinished oil based

12 Jun

Refinishing Pine Floors

Finish and Install

South Carolina Pine Floors before and after

26 May

Site finished

Finish and Install, Our favorite Finishes

Site Finished the Advantages and Disadvantages

Time, the amount of time and effort to site finish and install real wood versus factory prefinished versions is substantial. The simplicity of factory finishes are an advantage as well. All you do is, acclimate and install it, with a few cuts here an there. Of course, prefinished wood floors offer very few choices as they sell to the masses. Color, widths, edges, length of floors, multi color and stain options are all wide open with a site finish. Beach blue, very popular with actual homeowners but not mass produced very often. Check out Beach Floors from SYP Direct customers.

Lipstick on a pig

Putting ‘lipstick on a pig’ means you are attempting to fool someone, for one reason or another. Prefinished pine floors mass produced for liquidation stores are the absolute perfect example of this practice. A 50% measure of heartwood meets standards for a Heart Pine, it our minimum. However 50% at Lumber Liquidators has a different meaning. Every other board will have some heartwood, seriously the lengths are 8″ and up- do you see the problem? One of the worst, prefinished Caribbean Heart Pine which you will find advertised at cheaper prices than the unfinished version. How? Lipstick baby! The prefinished version is not the same 85% heart pine, not even close but is allowed to share the name. All we can say, Caveat Emptor or buyer beware. .

How long should floors acclimate before installation? How long does acclimating a wood floor take? Acclimation is not about time but moisture content. For example, Southern Pine boards should acclimate to 10% and White Oak, 6The first thing we must understand about acclimating a wood floor; wood is hygroscopic.

What does this mean for your floor?

In laymen terms, it will absorb (expand) moisture when exposed to high humidity and will expel (shrink) it in low humidity environments. So, if we do not have the boards at the same moisture content this process will not be done with a consistency and could result in separation. This is true for both finished and unfinished floors.

Can you glue down ¾ solid real wood?

Yes, if you use a polymer-based adhesive such as Bostiks. Bostik’s Ultra Set “Single-Step2” is a high-performance adhesive with built in moisture control and a sound reduction membrane. Using Bostik’s helps maintain the long-term durability of your Floor based on its polymer technology, allowing for movement just like nails. Bostiks contains one percent recycled rubber and is a certified Zero VOC product along with the Greenguard stamp. Bostiks is the only adhesive SYP Direct recommends for gluing down solid wood.

Southern pine floors from montana and other states

Buying a wood floor unfinished means you are going to finish on site versus prefinished. A site finished floor using Tung Oil much different than Monocoat, more on that later. Site finished wood floors start with unfinished boards, planed smooth and ready for sanding. Site finishing means you are limited by the imagination not inventory. While prefinished floors, which are mass produced, have 10 colors with 100 different names, site finished floors have no limit. However, site finishing real wood certainly has drawbacks centered around inconvenience.

Which one is the best factory or site finish?

So what is best, buying unfinished or prefinished wood floors? Unfinished floors must be site finished, while prefinished floors are finished in a factory. Site finishing unfinished boards allows the artisan to create and no factory finish compares with the look of a hand finished floor. Having said that, installing prefinished floors take much less time than its real wood counterpart.

Site finished wide plank heart pine using 2 c process from monocoat

4 color blend monocoat

Site finished or Prefinished

Prefinished hardwood flooring has been finished prior to arrival. These floors have been run through a flat line factory finish. Many of you recognize the term UV coating, which always means a factory coating for protection applied on top of the stain. Site finished wood floors start with unfinished boards, limited by the imagination not inventory.

How to find a real wood pro

How do you find a professional willing to install and finish real floors? Yes, within a budget helps define the question, so put affordable in front of professional. Wait, capable or experienced should be part of the equation, too. So now the question becomes, how to find a willing, experienced, affordable professional to finish your real wood floor? As you search, remember time is money and real floors take time, but they are an investment not a lease. You will be surprised with the resources we offer once who are ‘in the fold’. Get the floor of your dreams or at least some honesty-hope to hear from you soon.

Tung Oil the best example of “time is money”

The problem with a Tung oil finish is about time not the look or protection. After drying time, this oil finish forms a protective final coat strong enough that to be used by ships, on the deck. Yes, Ships used Tung Oil because of the ease of repair, yes ships on water. We realize you thought boats had Vinyl or Engineered hulls because the way each handles water but no, all real wood finished with natural oils. Tung oil is FDA approved as food safe, butcher blocks, and cutting boards where it again encounters water. As for Southern Pine and Heart Pine our experience has been with blends or additive products, i.e. not 100% pure Tung Oil. However, as long as you are using 50% or greater Tung Oil you can get that amazing protection which looks great on pine

Face Nailing? Face nailing is when the nail is driven perpendicular into a piece of material, with the nail head exposed. We suggest that our customers face nail wide plank Heart Pine when the width gets to 10″ and up. Although our slow-growing Longleaf Heart Pine, as with our 85% heartwood Caribbean Pine, are far more stable than box store versions, we still suggest a little extra prevention in the wider planks. So, while you do not have to face nail our Wide Plank Heart Pine, and in most cases, all will be well, it is still better safe than sorry when the solution takes such little effort or resources.

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Finish and Install

7″ wide plank Mill Run Heart Pine finished in 7-10′ lengths.

Why does SYP Direct have the best pine floors?

Best pine floors

A + BBB

SYP Direct Pine Flooring Reviews

Volatile Organic Compounds, aka VOC.

Hypoallergenic has no real meaning and Zero VOC is just a rating.

Monocoat by Rubio- The green finish

Carpet is the worst source for allergens

Laminate and LVT

What flooring is best for allergy sufferers?

What type of floor is the worst for allergy sufferers?

How can you tell if Formaldehyde was used in your own floor?

What is Laminate?

How to install real wood floors- it takes time

How to install real wood floors when moisture is an issue

Pine install and sub floor

Pre-condition prior to installing a real wood floor

Real wood flooring and job site acclimation

Clear aka C and Better Southern Pine

Unfinished 5" C & Better

Finished for customer

Vertical grain clear heart pine

Painting Clear Southern Pine

Why Are VOCs Still Used?

What are volatile organic chemicals?

Environmental Impact LVT and Laminate

Real wood is Green

Monocoat by Rubio

Natural Oils

Natural Oils

Monocoat by Rubio

Bona High Traffic

Milk Paint Tung Oil Blend

Blended Tung Oil with Milk Paint

Why blend Tung Oil?

Bona High Traffic Natural

Waste factor

Reasons to go above 10%

All floors including covers have a waste factor

waste factor

Shipping wood floors

Special Pricing Mill Run Heart Pine

Pure Tung Oil Finish

Pine and Tung Oil

Refinishing pine floors is restoring

Finish the refinish

Choose finish type with desired characteristics

Refinish & Reclaim

Preparation for Refinishing

Refinishing pine floors requires removing the old one

Site Finished the Advantages and Disadvantages

Lipstick on a pig

Can you glue down ¾ solid real wood?

Site finished or Prefinished

How to find a real wood pro

Tung Oil the best example of “time is money”