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Southern Yellow Pine Direct, the only A+ BBB rated online mill direct flooring company.

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Customer Bill of Rights

Home - Customer Bill of Rights

Antique Reclaimed Heart Pine with saw marks
02 Jun

Baseball, Apple Pie and Southern Pine

Customer Bill of Rights, Misconceptions, Misdirections and Misinformation
LSU with American Flag blend

It has to be real wood.

Southern Pine, real wood, is the most Eco-friendly choice for your floor, period. The exceptions, of course, are endangered or illegal timber, but that is not relevant to our discussion. Our New Heart Pine is not farmed and take from private landowners. While our Yellow Pine is sourced from North Louisiana, farmed timber. That is great information but the reason the real wood is green? IT LAST FOREVER. In fact, it will be reclaimed or salvaged one day and turned into an accent wall or kitchen table, for example.

Southern Pine Farms

Southern Pine farms are far more productive than natural stands. Although
farms represent only about 14 percent of the southern forests, they provide more than half of the wood harvested each year.

Real wood is ‘Green’, like earth friendly green. Managed timber such as Southern Pine regenerate quickly and pose zero threat to global warming. However, plastic does and LVT certainly does. Real wood last forever, everything else ends up in a landfill.

Southern Pine has a rich history in America’s construction industry. It’s important to note that Southern Yellow Pine isn’t a single species, but a group of species that grow in the south. So, when we talk about Southern Yellow Pine, we’re talking about a range of strong and durable wood options. This type of wood, known as Southern Yellow Pine, encompasses several hard species that are known for their durability. It is the word Yellow that tells us these are the “hard” pines versus Whites for example which are too soft for floors.

For centuries, Southern Pine floors have proven to be extremely durable, serviceable, and attractive options for homes and all sorts of other structures including schools, churches, sports venues, and commercial buildings. With its distinctive grain pattern, the golden beauty of a Southern Pine floor is a feature well known to – and often preferred by – designers, builders, and homeowners.

Southern Pine stairs from SYP Direct

Southern Pine Durability

Southern Pine has been a staple in the construction industry of the United States for many years. Its versatility and strength make it a popular choice for various applications. And while we specialize in Heart Pine floors, our source for building materials is an option for larger orders. See more.

Minwax Provincial finish on southern pine from syp direct
Provincial from Min-wax

Southern Pine Durability is legendary.

You have probably seen the evidence of Southern Pine durability, such as Antique Reclaimed Heart Pine. Ever seen a 100-year-old house with pine floors? What about the price and beauty of Antique Reclaimed Heart Pine. Think about it, Antique Oak looks a lot like new oak in that, unlike pine, it does not get better looking with age. Southern Pine purchased today will outlive the house, only to be reclaimed one day and sold for triple today’s price.

Pine Wood, Water and the Kiln

Wood is hydroscopic – it will absorb moisture and expand when exposed to humidity. Conversely, wood also expels moisture and shrinks in low humidity environments, changing and balancing with its general surroundings. A door that periodically “sticks” is a good example of this expansion and contraction behavior. Good news! Southern Pine completes these task more efficiently than almost any species.

Moisture equilibrium is the goal

The fact that Southern Yellow Pine is used for dock, decks and exterior siding gives us great example but one many do not consider when thinking about pine wood floors. Moisture equilibrium is the goal, better yet it is a tenant of our goal, a great installation. We Kiln dry your boards at the same time, they are not waiting around to be matched up on day.. this matters but more on that later.

Southern Pine should be sold like wine

IF Pine were sold like wine it would be easy to find the best pine flooring prices.  What a concept that Heart Pine and Pine flooring should be priced based on age, species and region.  Remember, Southern Yellow Pine doesn’t refer to any one species. In fact, SYP consist of a dozen species, ranging from Texas to Virginia. Unlike the wine market, the pine flooring industry does not value the diversity of species. If SYP was like wine, Alabama Southern yellow pine would be the measuring stick for all other species.

Southern Pine made in the USA, “engineered by God”.

Southern Yellow Pine Direct minimizes the amount of time between the kiln and the jobsite. What does this mean for the pine wood floor installation? Kiln drying is a standard practice in wood production mills and serves to efficiently bring green lumber moisture levels down to “workable” range–moisture content levels that will not end in the myriad of problems that can be caused by excess moisture levels in wood.

(more…)
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Made in America?
13 Jan

Made in America?

Customer Bill of Rights

Made in America means real wood

What is the made in USA rule?

“Of course, it is made in American it came from Home Depot, and it says so in the name, American Walnut.!” But like many things (cars), this term is added to make you feel good about the purchase even though you wanted real wood. Terminology

Made in America today means the finish with engineered floors and only boxes with anything else such as laminate. It leaves of lumber and comes back a Veneer assembled to a composite of undetermined origins. Yes there are Made in America engineered floors, but they are so expensive and almost always unnecessary.

Not so fast. Would you believe that very little of this “engineering” is done here? We send our trees around the world, and they come back as veneers ‘engineered’ with composite pressed board backs. 

Floor Covers. A floor cover by (our 100% made up) definition is any temporary cover designed to be placed on top of something for a period of time, torn and repeat until the house falls down. On the other hand our (actual) floors will outlive your house, one day be reclaimed and become a coffee table, or accent wall.

Floor Covers typically not made in America

Solid real wood made in america

Made not re-imported

Re-imported? We call them rim-ports and yes they count as exports of lumber and imported back as veneers or worse. Our industry sends timber to South East Asia where it is “engineered”, why go to all that trouble? Money of course, saving it on labor, materials and regulations.

LSU with American Flag blend
Ask about Wall Skins
Nordic Construction: Spotlight Made in America? Jason Howard, SYP Direct Co-Founder November 20 2023

Southern Pine in the great Northwest

Nordic Construction, Dreary Idaho and owner Mike Rosen are the focus of our Made in America post, for good reason. Mike Rosen, is a retired United States Marine, 10 years enlisted and 12 years as a commissioned officer. Today Mike does some amazing work as hunting guide for a program called Freedomhunters.org. Nordic Construction absolutely represents the best of Made in the USA; and we are truly grateful to have them as our partner.

Nordic Construction is a member of the SDVOB Small Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses.


 

Nordic Construction is our exclusive distributor for Southern Yellow Pine covering the Inland Northwest, as well as California and the Oregon Coast. Want to talk to Mike, our first partner west of Austin, email him by clicking here.

Made in America?
Nordic Construction 1 x 8 2nd coat Min-wax
Why does this stuff matter so much to SYP Direct Floors, the owners; including the writer of every word on this site?

Call us homeowner advocates, the only honest folks in a horrible dishonest business. We have over a decade carrying an A+ BBB rating because we do not lie or charge to much, it is that easy. The idea that some box store will sell you something that adds value to your house, when that entity has shareholders to keep happy, is rather naive. Price to Earnings Ratio and Shareholder Equity is important, not your home equity; in fact your house is the customer and it will repeat over and over. It matters, real wood matters.

TEXT ME NOW- Jason 601 826 1296
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Hand finished inspiration for finish to order "tank"
04 Oct

Investment floors

Customer Bill of Rights

The trust about Investment floors

LVT, engineered and all floor covers are man made and end up in landfills one day. Our floors are solid wood; engineered by Mother nature and designed to outlive the house. Real wood flooring, i.e. 3/4 or more solid, can be re-invented several times.  Real wood, not engineered floors increases the value of your home. In the market today, misinformation and single use floor coverings are praised as “better than real wood” for a number of reasons all of which 100% untrue. So we cut through the nonsense and our customers like that about us, for sure.

What is an investment floor?

Is flooring an investment or a product? A product is designed to be used for a period of time, i.e. LVT and laminate.  An investment floor, while it may fulfill the same purpose as the product such as walking on the floor, it is not designed to fail one day. An investment floor provides a return as well as a function, i.e. increased home value. Real wood floors are an investment, single use floor covers are just a lease. Yes a lease, you are paying to use a product that will have no residual value. On the other hand, a real wood floor will last forever, saving you money every seven years or a dividend of sorts, like a bond or preferred stock.

single use floor covers such as laminate and LVT

Laminate = Landfills

Future landfill

One house, One Floor mandates no person should ever have to buy laminate or engineered floor covers because they have no local real wood options. 4,000,000,000 lbs of landfill materials is produced every year in the United States with somewhere between 200,000,000 and 250,0000,000 lbs of it singe use floor coverings, including carpet.  Laminate and (more every year) engineered flooring, will be close to 30% of this by 2025. We consider this not only an environmental issue, but also the greatest wealth re-allocation from so many to so few in the history of the modern economy.

Investment (no kidding) Flooring

Green & Eco-friendly, and using any other terminology indicating ‘good for the earth’ cannot be used in the same comparison with solid real wood. Unfortunately, our site is one of very few that will tell you the truth because it is not profitable for those marketing flooring. Not profitable with regards to repeat business, ease of installation and so many other factors all designed to rob your home equity, from someone if not you. 

What are floor covers? 

Any floor created to be replaced and or not salvaged is a cover, not a floor.  LVT, laminate and engineered wood with very few exceptions are all the new carpet, i.e. they are manufactured with ‘planned obsolesce’. Real wood floors, as in 3/4 solid will be the last thing of value left in your home and salvaged one day, imagine them becoming an accent wall and lasting anothere 100 years or so. 

One House One Floor

Southern Yellow Pine Direct welcomes all of you homeowners told solid wood is too expensive or cannot be glued down. Welcome to a place where logic still exist, we tell the truth. For example, warranties,worthless, and engineered floors cannot be refinished. It all comes down to this, real wood takes time and since time is money, most floor covering companies choose to sell single use floor coverings because every seven years they get repeat business.  Our “one house one floor” promise is not popular with most contractors especially if they sell covers such as carpet, engineered floors, vinyl or laminate.

Engineered to fail

Does anyone remember the phrase planned obsolescence? To refresh your memory, it is by definition; “a policy of producing consumer goods that rapidly become obsolete.  This is done by frequent changes in design, termination of the supply of spare parts, and the use of non-durable materials.” In an update (2023) of sorts, we do an amazing source for 3/4 solid engineered Walnut, unfinished with a 6mm wear layer. And yes, it can be refinished and you finish it the first time, which we advise since it cost so much. 

Laminate is the new carpet

Laminate and LVT are the new carpet for the industry. And like carpet, these fake floors allow retail shops to keep a steady supply of repeat business. With floor covers such as engineered and laminate; you are really just leasing the floors. The question of engineered or real wood floors is easy to answer. Real wood will be the last thing of value salvaged from your home one day. Whereas, every single piece of engineered flooring will end up in a landfill. In fact, laminate is huge problem, as it remains in landfills for up to 1000 years

Carpet & now Lamiante

number of landfills in the United States
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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dog friendly southern pine floors
19 Apr

Customer Service

Customer Bill of Rights

#1 Customer Service - SYP Direct

Customer Service and SYP Direct- The best in customer service produced our A+BBB rating. From your first source of information, navigating you to the right person acting as shipping concierge for your delivery. It is the last one that might go un-noticed but when dealing with common carriers the pitfalls can cost money.

Shipping company customer service is oxy-moron

SYP Direct does not own trucks, we utilize LTL routes with trusted common carriers. Even so, it seems some issue needs attention with 20% of shipments. The amount of money Heather has saved our customers versus shipping themselves would be greater than our income during that same time period.

It takes more than customer service to keep an A+ rating. The product has to meet the quality of experience and our manners.  When you ship long heavy pallets to Idaho for example, a bunch of things can go wrong and a beat up floor is not good regardless of price!

Customer Service means becoming your advocate

The main ingredient- Selling to homeowners sometimes requires dealing with installers that prefer to bundle services. We offer SYP Direct customer service for that situation starting with nice, sometimes ending with finding them a new installer. Our role, epitomized by Heather, is to increase homeowner equity with real wood floors and today that means arguing the status quo more times than not.

Did you know that 75% of people shopping for floors think that laminate and hardwood sound ok together. Laminate hardwood flooring is like saying aluminum foil armor.

Customer Service from first contact

“She explained it in way that made perfect sense”, part of recent Idaho customer’s email represent a common theme when describing interactions with us, specifically Heather our co-founder.  Transparent customer service for the Do-it-Yourself Homeowner continues to be the foundation of our business.

Image

SYP Direct welcomes homeowners and those searching for solid wood floors. Keep reading or visit our homepage.

Same service no matter what size the order

Telling the truth is serving the customer

“I’ve done multiple orders with SYP Direct and have had fantastic service! Heather does a great job of getting you the exact flooring you need at a great price. If you try to get your flooring from the same place you get your 2x4s you will waste a lot of time and money. You’ll also end up with a subpar product at a high price. If you need pine flooring, call these guys first! I will definitely be using them again for future project. I’ve done multiple orders with SYP Direct and have had fantastic service! Heather does a great job of getting you the exact flooring you need at a great price. If you try to get your flooring from the same place you get your 2x4s you will waste a lot of time and money. You’ll also end up with a subpar product at a high price. If you need pine flooring, call these guys first! I will definitely be using them again for future projects.”(Gregory, G May 2022).

The truth matters

Talking to customers, actually talking not a text- is a lost art with some companies. Unfortunately, words are what got us into this mess. Most have misconceptions going into their search and all the marketing does not help. The industry is driven by repeat business and commissions based on volume, especially when a new line comes into the store. Customer service becomes secondary to paying lease, lights, employees and advertising.

Customer Service

Repurpose real wood

Repurpose real wood – salvaged or reclaimed. We want everyone to repurpose real wood. With that in mind, please enjoy this video which cost us $75.00 six years ago, We are “thrifty” like most of our customers, but the content is good. Salvaged is ‘saved’, reclaimed is repurposed; and not the kind of repurposing we are talking about with our folk art. The video should clear it up and if you are shopping for reclaimed […]

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Knotty Southern Yellow Pine floors MI lake

Glue down Southern Pine

In reality, you can glue down Southern Pine in standard 3/4 thickness. No problem, you want to glue down Southern Pine you use Bostiks Best. It has a built in moisture barrier and is urethane based so that is allows movement like a nail. But today, in this blog glue down Southern Pine is 1/2 inch, with the long lengths up to 14′ an option. SYP Direct does not sell anything but real wood and […]

Read more
How to identify Heart Pine

How to identify Heart Pine

Welcome to our blog post on how to identify heart pine. To be clear, we are talking about how to identify New Heart Pine. In this informative guide, we will provide you with valuable insights on recognizing heartwood, and in a broader context, ‘heart content’. Both of these are essential for those homeowners (installation professionals) looking for quality New Heart Pine. Quality is easy to define, with the end result being an installation and a […]

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single use floor covers such as laminate and LVT
15 Apr

Engineered versus solid wood Floors

Misconceptions, Misdirections and Misinformation, Customer Bill of Rights

Searching the internet provides ads in disguise

Research and compare engineered versus solid wood floors; throw in LVT and laminate floor covers for kicks. As a buyer, online marketing and most local stores will have you buying covers not floors. What do we mean? Real wood is floor you buy whereas engineered and the rest, a floor cover. Comparing engineered versus real wood floors and you are comparing an investment to a product designed to fail. Yes, some are better than others, but all floor covers have planned obsolesce in the blueprints. Want to read more- Investment Flooring. No matter how you keep score, engineered versus real wood is an unfair comparison. Hailed as a great innovation for homeowners, engineered floors are more popular than ever. Flooring companies love them because of the repeat business, huge margins and time savings compared to real wood.

Solid versus engineered

Solid versus engineered wood floors should be rhetorical, but not today. The market has convinced buyers that veneers glued to composites are a better way to go than real solid wood. Plastics that will end up in landfills handle moisture better than real wood, give me a break. Repeat business demands reusable products and engineered floors are perfect in the role. Real wood last forever, engineered, laminate and others all end up in landfills.

Marketing in disguise

Remember, the “media” or resource pages such as Angie’s List are paid for by marketing dollars paid by people wanting to sell you LVT or laminate. Therefore, the research articles you read are 100% generated by someone with a product behind the posts, a sponsor of sorts.

Antique Reclaimed Heart Pine with saw marks

Baseball, Apple Pie and Southern Pine

It has to be real wood. Southern Pine, real wood, is the most Eco-friendly choice for your floor, period. The exceptions, of course, are endangered or illegal timber, but that is not relevant to our discussion. Our New Heart Pine is not farmed and take from private landowners. While our Yellow Pine is sourced from North Louisiana, farmed timber. That is great information but the reason the real wood is green? IT LAST FOREVER. In […]

Read more
Box store pine floors are short and this are 14 feet long

Box Store Pine Floors

Box store pine floors are not as good as ours and they are more expensive. Let me repeat, apples to apples they way more expensive. And even their cheaper stuff is stupid expensive for what it is, or certainly what it is not. In world where laminate and hardwood are regularly used to market some floor cover, you might want to use a healthy skepticism when floor shopping. Rule number 1- or at least the […]

Read more
Engineered versus solid wood Floors

Dog Friendly

2024 Dog Friendly Floors Update Dog friendly floors are all about the finish. Of course, you will here that real wood is not good for big dogs or even dogs in general. This is simply not true, at all. However, before we talk about the finish, we should address the question of Southern Pine and if it is a dog friendly floor.  There is so much confusion regarding pine because there are so many variations [...]

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Girl laying on pallet while pine acclimating prior to being glued down and face nailed

How long does acclimation take?

How long does acclimation take? Asking how long does acclimation take has no honest answer only experience and product knowledge. Acclimation, sometimes called conditioning, is the process of allowing wood to reach its equilibrium moisture content (EMC) within “normal living conditions.” It is also one of the most important steps of hardwood floor installation. How long does acclimation take? My installer said 2 weeks! How long does acclimation take?  Acclimation is not about time but [...]

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White washed circle sawn white oak

The eco-friendly floor

Green, eco-friendly floors are about longevity Our company offers homeowners the power to choose an investment versus a product. The difference? An investment increases in value when a product is designed to wear out and then replaced. One outlives the house, the others on average, about 7 years. So I ask, which is the green floor? But wait don't you cut down trees to get real wood? Yes, once and it does not involved any [...]

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Southern Yellow Pine durability should not be in question as one day it will be the only thing of value left of your home.

Southern Pine Durability

Southern Yellow Pine durability should not be in question as one day it will be the only thing of value left of your home.

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New Heart Pine wide planks tung oil
08 Feb

Pine Buyers Guide

Customer Bill of Rights

The only pine buyers guide

[ez-toc]

The Southern Yellow Pine Direct ‘Pine Byers Guide’ & Promises

  1. Always Solid Real Wood

  2. Heart Content Percentages are accurate

  3. All of our photos are real and of our clients or the builders’ client.

  4. Customer service will beat your expectations

  5. Apples to Apples (i.e. width length and Heartwood) our prices are always the best.

A pine buyers guide with investment flooring at the core offers answers based in logic while comparing; heart, #2, Southern, Clear or Antique grades. For information on our New Southern Pine, visit “our floors”.  Our pine buyers guide will provide information from the unique perspective of the investment flooring. SYP Direct, our pine buyers believed in something more than fake floors. We are your resource for battle against fake wood floors or plastics. Our materials, prices, honesty, and transparency provide the truth to industry propaganda. Creating a

Arizona 2022

To display the amazing job Arizona DIY did with SYP Direct wide plank Southern Pine
See the "Bean Bleed"?

April 19 2023 updated offers

Current inventory on the ground of 3/4 x 6 7/8 x 12′ Character (mill run) wide plank new Heart Pine, 5200 square feet. Located at Premiere Finishing in Reidsville NC, ask about the finish options. Do not want to wait- send us message and ask for a call back.

Pine buyers guide prefinished or unfinished

Prefinished Factory or Custom, i.e. man or machine. Have you ever seen a floor where the grain has texture, not flat?  Those are custom or by hand finishes because factory or ‘flat-line finishes’ must be planed smooth. Are the edges beveled? You are walking on a factory finish, shadowed or distressed edges indicates custom. New Heart Pine-  is not antiqued flooring or reclaimed. New pine does not mean young pine, on the contrary, Heart Pine takes time.

Heartwood, is identified by color with variations based on age and geography.   It is usually darker than sapwood. Heart Pine is function of age and species. Heartwood, specifically the percentage on board face, along with length dictate price of new as well as antique pine.

Pine buyers guide for Laminate

There is not a buyers guide for laminate, it is not wood and is actually future garbage which stays around as long as carpet. If you believe the industry fake is better than real. Not true- and we can help you understand and navigate the marketing garbage to avoid buying garbage.

Antique Reclaimed Floors

Any pine buyers guide would be incomplete without addressing antique reclaimed floors. Of course age matters, if you care about price. When prices get out of line as they are with Antique reclaimed heart pine, people create “bootleg” products. Nowhere more evident than Antique and Salvaged wood flooring market. People can pay upwards of $40.00 a square foot for what they assume is Antique Reclaimed Heart Pine when in reality it was never heart pine, plus it may be salvaged.

 

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1x10x12 wide plank new heart pine flooring
18 Aug

Is it Kiln dried?

Misconceptions, Misdirections and Misinformation, Customer Bill of Rights

We use 2 step, air and then computerized steam. “Is it Kiln dried to 6% like White Oak”? We get this a whole bunch even from installers, mostly up north. (joke, sort of). All of our floors are kiln dried to 10% or just under. Yes, Oak is 6% but Heart Pine is not White Oak. At a molecular level pine allows moisture to both ‘come and go’ without losing integrity, not so with many hardwoods. Kiln dried with relief grooves on the back. Our boards are precision milled; tongue and groove with straight edges and ends every board is barefoot ready.

Is is Kiln dried using air?

Air-drying lumber simple means to stack lumber and expose it to the outdoors. Depending on the species of wood and desired moisture content the air-drying process could take several months to almost a year. Make sure to properly stack the wood for sufficient air circulation and acclimation.

Call now for quotes, samples and answers 888 286 2057

Is it Kiln dried to reduce moisture?

Kiln drying is a standard practice in wood production mills and serves to efficiently bring green lumber moisture levels down to “workable” range–moisture content levels that will not end in the myriad of problems that can be caused by excess moisture levels in wood.

What Is Kiln-Dried Wood?

Kiln-dried wood is wood that has been dried in an oven (kiln). With a kiln, you can control the environment such as temperature, humidity, and steam levels for a set period. Allowing you to dry wood to the desired moisture content faster than air-drying.

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Salvaged pine decking using skins 1/2 thick
16 Aug

Why homeowners buy LVT

Customer Bill of Rights, Wood Floor Shopping

Why do people buy ‘single use’ floors? (A product designed with planned obsolescence ridiculous promises and useless warranties.)

LVT MARKETING- Waterproof- Lifetime Warranty-and Luxury in the name.

Homeowners buy it because the marketing is amazing and frankly trying to find real wood wears them out over time. Hand it to the majors, they’ve created a repeat customer product line; a new one about every decade or so. The industry is a mess everyone wants fake wood or vinyl or plastic; whatever can be torn up and thrown in a landfill one day to make room for another ‘single use’ cover. Manufactures and their distributors have four conventions per year and one huge one just to talk about all the new and latest technology that they are going to sell homeowners. All of this is to perpetuate a population of consumers and salespeople buying into a false premise, fake is better than real.

Real wood is Green

barnwood wall skins accent wall
Why homeowners buy LVT

Repurpose real wood

Repurpose real wood – salvaged or reclaimed. We want everyone to repurpose real wood. With that in mind, please enjoy this video which cost us $75.00 six years ago, We are “thrifty” like most of our customers, but the content is good. Salvaged is ‘saved’, reclaimed is repurposed; and not the kind of repurposing we are talking about with our folk art. The video should clear it up and if you are shopping for reclaimed […]

Read more
Knotty Southern Yellow Pine floors MI lake

Glue down Southern Pine

In reality, you can glue down Southern Pine in standard 3/4 thickness. No problem, you want to glue down Southern Pine you use Bostiks Best. It has a built in moisture barrier and is urethane based so that is allows movement like a nail. But today, in this blog glue down Southern Pine is 1/2 inch, with the long lengths up to 14′ an option. SYP Direct does not sell anything but real wood and […]

Read more
How to identify Heart Pine

How to identify Heart Pine

Welcome to our blog post on how to identify heart pine. To be clear, we are talking about how to identify New Heart Pine. In this informative guide, we will provide you with valuable insights on recognizing heartwood, and in a broader context, ‘heart content’. Both of these are essential for those homeowners (installation professionals) looking for quality New Heart Pine. Quality is easy to define, with the end result being an installation and a […]

Read more
Antique Reclaimed Heart Pine with saw marks

Baseball, Apple Pie and Southern Pine

It has to be real wood. Southern Pine, real wood, is the most Eco-friendly choice for your floor, period. The exceptions, of course, are endangered or illegal timber, but that is not relevant to our discussion. Our New Heart Pine is not farmed and take from private landowners. While our Yellow Pine is sourced from North Louisiana, farmed timber. That is great information but the reason the real wood is green? IT LAST FOREVER. In […]

Read more
SYP Direct sells White Oak solid hardwood flooring

North Carolina

In 2018 SYP Direct was named Houzz Hardwood flooring dealer of the year in South Carolina, but North Carolina was the #1 state for sales. In fact, the two Carolina’s have both been in our top 5 states by sales volume for 14 years in a row. The reasons are not all about style and taste because when are talking about North Carolina and ‘her’ sister to the south, the population varies dramatically from coastal […]

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Why homeowners buy LVT

Shipping to California

Yes, we ship to California, Oregon and Washington State. Nationwide with A+ BBB rating.

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Box store pine floors are short and this are 14 feet long

Box Store Pine Floors

Box store pine floors are not as good as ours and they are more expensive. Let me repeat, apples to apples they way more expensive. And even their cheaper stuff is stupid expensive for what it is, or certainly what it is not. In world where laminate and hardwood are regularly used to market some floor cover, you might want to use a healthy skepticism when floor shopping. Rule number 1- or at least the […]

Read more
Why homeowners buy LVT

Dog Friendly

2024 Dog Friendly Floors Update Dog friendly floors are all about the finish. Of course, you will here that real wood is not good for big dogs or even dogs in general. This is simply not true, at all. However, before we talk about the finish, we should address the question of Southern Pine and if it is a dog friendly floor.  There is so much confusion regarding pine because there are so many variations [...]

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Why homeowners buy LVT

Prefinished or Unfinished floors?

When you are deciding between prefinished or unfinished floors the first consideration should be your experience, or a trusted professional with the experience. Prefinished hardwood floors have had all the work done to them before they arrive in your home and are ready to be installed. In most cases this means sanded, stained, and finished with a UV aluminum oxide coating as a topcoat. On the other hand, unfinished boards require; acclimation, finish, drying time, […]

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What do ‘not know’ about VOC’s (AND FYI that picture is Independence Hall)

The answer is that very few of us know they exist in almost everything manufactured for mass merchandising. Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs) can be used to produce products and created as biproducts. VOC’s can be harmless; they can be dangerous but the majority of just the “unknown” as is not enough information to make a determination. Paint, wood-finishing products, lacquers, hydraulic fluids, petroleum fuels, adhesives, pesticides, cleaning supplies, building materials, furniture, and electronic equipment such as printers all contain VOC’s.

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Wood Flooring Shipping Pallet
22 Jun

Delivery and Shipping

Wood Floor Shopping, Customer Bill of Rights

No Surprises during delivery

The best way to have a good shipping experience starts with no surprises. Gate codes, overhead powerlines, gravel road, bridges; no detail is too small. Why? Because commercial shipping companies charge for everything. If there is some type of last-minute change or “surprises” they can abort the delivery and take your pallet back to the terminal. Does not sound too bad until you get the re-delivery charge. Think of LTL carriers as ‘land-pirates,’ they can, if they so choose, hold your floors for ransom.  

Long & Heavy

Buying flooring online means custom crates and pallets
Crated with usable boards

“Waste factors are 10%, period. Over that amount is a tavern or ‘unusable grade’.

The good news

Only about 5% of deliveries have any type of issue because our team addresses them upfront. After 10 years we navigate all of it for you, until the delivery (residence). You become the boss, so we impower you to handle the role if necessary. And more importantly, our A+ BBB rating tells you what you need to know about SYP Direct. Homeowners, we are your advocate and can be trusted to make things right 100% of the time.  

View of back grooves

Shipping nationwide bundle of Caribbean Heart Pine backside with grooves
wide plank Heart Pine back view

Current Lead Times Southern Pine

In GENERAL, we run 10- 14 days on our Clear, Heart and #2 or better flooring. We have dedicated logistics partner who will speak with you prior to shipping if there are any issues to resolve. We track your floor from pick up to destination insuring you have plenty of time to prepare for your delivery or arrange your pickup.

“The price per square foot means nothing if installation takes twice as long.”

Document damages

Shippers are not on our team. Note any damages, no matter how small, on that release they have you sign. This must be done at delivery – you cannot call the terminal later & say you found damage. Documenting damages on the release form allows you to take delivery, then access any damages. Once you open it up – if there is real damage, we can get a detailed inventory & file an official claim, if you document the damages on the release.  

Shippers want to make money and they have your stuff

Be there when the floors arrive, they do not hang around.  The driver is not going to wait and certainly will not off-load your floors. Herein lies the difficulty with residential delivery, the catch if you will. SYP Direct floors are long, and they are heavy, so lift-gates are hardly ever an option. In plain language, the floors must be off-loaded by (your) hand and or your equipment.  

Click picture more CHP

Caribbean Heart Pine prefinished uv
wide plank
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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20 Mar

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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