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

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Finishing Pine

Home - Finishing Pine

If you are finishing your own floor, as in DIY, SYP Direct will be the best partner you could have during the process. Finishing pine is not hard despite what you will hear locally. Two steps cannot be skipped; first pre-condition the boards and second take your time, practice to get your “style down”.
Finishing pine
We can help any DIY or installation professional who needs a good “recipe”. Our customers have provide us with some amazing pictures and most of the time, they will tell us how the got the look. Distressed, Antiqued, Face Nailed are all ways to enhance the finish, but for the money we love a clear coat.

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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SYP Direct sells White Oak solid hardwood flooring
28 May

North Carolina

Our favorite Finishes

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 to mountain with everything in between. One of our first big trips was to the Raleigh area where we visited our floor. (The Mercantile Antique Mall). Photo

North Carolina Mercantile Antique mall

Lye treatment

North Carolina finish to order Heart Pine

https://premierefinishingandcoating.com/Reidsville, North Carolina is the home of Premiere Finish & Coating. Please visit their site, the technology is state of the art. “If you can dream it, we can create it”. SYP Direct specializes in unfinished Southern Pine and Heart Pine, but our premium services include ‘finish to order’ flooring.

Our partnership with Premiere centers on finishing our authentic long gorgeous pine, with one caveat. We ship our unfinished pine from our mill in Alabama, sometimes we have floors waiting to be ‘finished to order’. That is a fancy way of saying, not sold yet; and or if the timing is right we can share a ride from Alabama for your pick up. Call us today to find out what we have in Reidsville. 1-888-286-2057

Premiere Finishing & Coating has expanded its capabilities in a significant way by installing two new production lines with enhanced finishing capacity for cabinetry, doors, frames, moldings, panels, and other mill-work.

North Carolina the best deal in Heart Pine- Bona Natural Traffic on 1 x 8 x 12 Mill Run Heart Pine

The photo below or of samples of our finished order bona natural traffic on our 1 x 8 mill run heart pine those floors are finished tongue in groove and left in all 12 foot boards quite unique and available for pickup in Reidsville North Carolina

Bona Traffic for commercial and residential along with Monocoat by Rubio are our two go to finish products. For more information send us an email requesting information about the process of ‘finish to order’, and or follow the links.

Mill Run Heart Pine finish to order Bona Traffic natural
Finish to order

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How long does it take to acclimate pine, how long does acclimation take depends upon moisture content.
04 Dec

Acclimation in six steps

Finish and Install, Wood Floor Shopping

If the flooring material being installed does not have specific acclimation and conditioning instructions, here are the steps to follow:

Step 1: Make sure that the heating and air conditioning units are in operation at least five days before delivery of the flooring, during installation and after the flooring is installed. If it is not possible for permanent HVAC to be operating before, during and after installation, a temporary system that mimics normal living conditions may enable installation to proceed.

Step 2: Once the facility has been confirmed to be at the expected living condition, proceed with delivery of flooring material. Check the moisture content of the wood flooring as soon as it is received at the job site. Southern Pine and Heart Pine should be at 10%- with a consistent sub floor differential. 

Acclimation about moisture differential

Step 3: Check the moisture content of the sub-floor. The moisture content of the sub-floor should coincide with the temperature and relative humidity of the job-site, based on the temperature, relative humidity and average moisture content chart shown below. This moisture content reading will give you a good idea of where the conditions in the facility are being maintained and allow you to compare to the expected “in-use” conditions.

Step 4: Ensure the flooring material is exposed to the “normal” conditions of the environment in which it is being installed. To accomplish this, break the flooring units into small lots and/or open the flooring packages. Cross-stack the material with spacers between each layer to allow air circulation on all sides of all boards. Start stacking elevated from the subfloor. 

Acclimation is not about time

Acclimate to equilibrium moisture content for as long as it takes. Some species will take much longer to reach equilibrium moisture content than others. It is never a good idea to base acclimation on time alone, but rather on actual moisture content. 

Step 5: If the flooring material cannot be delivered to an adequate jobsite, pre-acclimation, an off-site location can work. The site must be set to mimic the expected conditions of the jobsite. Then deliver the acclimated materials to the jobsite; this is common custom floors. Again, refer to the temperature, relative humidity and moisture content chart to determine ideal conditions.

Step 6: Finally, make sure the flooring and wood subfloor moisture content is within the acceptable range for the jobsite. The subfloor should be within 4 percent for strip and 2 percent for plank wood flooring.

Equilibrium floor and sub floor.

Wood is only acclimated or conditioned once it reaches its equilibrium moisture content for the space in which it is expected to perform. Equilibrium moisture content is based on an “unchanging” environment. After a wood floor has been installed, changing conditions within the environment will change the equilibrium moisture content of the wood floor, ultimately resulting in dimensional change.

https://www.pinterest.com/sypdirect/

SYP Direct offers amazing prices with an A+ BBB rating; one in which we have held for 8 years in an industry where very few companies are even members of their local chapter. Call us today for custom prices based on your project, the location and scope. Truckload pricing available on #2 Knotty and Clear Pine, only. New Heart Pine and Caribbean Heart Pine prices will not change (as much) based strictly on volume.

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

Acclimation – what we hope you take away from this post; Acclimation, sometimes called conditioning, is the process of allowing wood to reach its equilibrium moisture content (EMC) within “normal living conditions.” Not properly acclimating or conditioning wood flooring may cause excessive expansion, shrinkage, dimensional distortion, or even structural damage.

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

How long does acclimation take?

Finish and Install, Misconceptions, Misdirections and Misinformation

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 moisture content. For example, Southern Pine boards should acclimate to 10% and White Oak to 6%. The first thing we must understand about acclimating a wood floor. Basically, it will absorb (expand) moisture when exposed to high humidity and will expel (shrink) it in low humidity environments. So, acclimation is about getting the boards exposed to your home and stabilizing moisture content.

Acclimation matters

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

Acclimation matters

How long does it take to acclimate pine, how long does acclimation take depends upon moisture content.

Why is acclimation important?

Acclimation is defined as when any organism makes ‘adjustments’ designed to improve performance or survival in response to environmental change. Same with your unfinished solid wood floors; acclimation improves performance, i.e. no warping or cupping.

How long does acclimation take & time is money

Time is money and acclimation is a process not time. Wood is only acclimated or conditioned once it reaches its equilibrium moisture content for the space in which it is expected to perform. Equilibrium moisture content is based on an “unchanging” environment. After a wood floor has been installed, changing conditions within the environment will change the equilibrium moisture content of the wood floor, ultimately resulting in dimensional change. In short, it can take some time and professional installers like stuff that takes less time and that they can tear up in 7 years, you know anything not real.

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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Local installers found for DIY customers
10 Aug

Local Pine Installers

Finish and Install, Wood Floor Shopping

Local Pine Installers can be a problem if you want real wood

Do we have a local pine installers? No, we have trusted partners but no employees that install our real wood floors. Finding a local pine installer can be a problem, for a number of reasons. From Florida to Maine the question “do we have local installers” frequently opens a first inquiry, call or email.  Our flooring will not finish or install itself; they are great floors not magic floors. Furthermore, a poor finish and your great materials, not so great anymore. Employing local installation professionals nationwide, is not possible. However, promoting our local installation and site finish partners with SYP Direct materials experience.

Interior Designers

Interior Designers                                     

Does your business need an edge? A unique option for your customers which sets you apart for anything local. Do you want 7” and 8” Live Sawn White Oak finished using Bona High Traffic, no problem.

Thanks Rebecca!

SYP Direct customer RD Residential Designs
Love the imagination
Southern Yellow Pine Direct & Local Pine Installers

Looking for local Pine installers?

Southern Yellow Pine Direct can help with your search for local pine installers.  We do not employ local installation professionals, but we work with them when our clients require their service. We realize that many do not understand the significance of this statement, but if you ask a local installer about Southern Pine, the importance becomes clear.

Holding Local Pine installers accountable

 The Bayou state holds a special place in our heart as both Heather and Jason Howard (founders) are from Louisiana. La. is known as the Sportsman’s Paradise, so lake and bayou houses are a common destination for our floors. In 2017, Kathy Jackson purchased our rustic wide plank knotty pine for her lake house in Louisiana. The family was using a local installer, who assured them he had worked with knotty pine several times. Unfortunately, Kathy did not realize this was not true until they revealed her splotchy floor with “bucket” mark in the middle.

Local Pine InstallersInstalling Southern Pine is so easy, site finishing is, however, an art.

Ego and or an ignorance of Longleaf Pine puts most local installers on the defensive when we “interview” them for our clients. Site finishing and installing Southern Pine is not difficult. However, it requires local installers without experience follow some basic rules. We help them understand that not all pine is created equal. Furthermore, their experience may not be applicable to our floors.  Our sources include local installation professionals, contractors and custom home builders. The number of sources varies from state to state. For example, Montana has one, Pioneer Log and Timber whereas North Carolina has multiple. Colorado has no professionals but some amazing DIY floors, check this one out.  For a professional near you, contact us.

 

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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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

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

Bona natural high traffic pine flooring
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Milk paint blended tung oil finish on southern pine
17 Jun

Tung Oil Finish

Finish and Install

Southern Pine handles moisture better than hardwoods making it more durableTung Oil and Tung Oil blends such as Milk Paint make the short list of our best pine floor finish products. Pure Tung oil has been trusted for thousands of years as a water-resistant wood finish. 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.

 

Pure Tung Oil Finish

Tung oil or China wood oil is a drying oil obtained by pressing the seed from the nut of the Tung tree (Vernicia fordii). The oil and its use are believed to have originated in ancient China and appear in the writings of Confucius from about 400 BC. Not that we are directing you away from this thousand-year-old 100% natural product, but it takes a serious commitment. Regular reapplication is a must—once a week for a month, once a month for a year, once a year ever after,” as the saying goes. The results can be gorgeous, as long as you have the necessary patience.

 

Pine and Tung Oil

 But what about Tung Oil and Southern Pine? Every single finish, customer project using oils looks amazing, it is about time certainly not the protection. After drying time, this oil finish forms a protective final coat over top of the surface to which it’s been applied. As for Southern Pine and Heart Pine our experience has been with blends or additive products, such as Milk Paint. However, as long as you are using 50% or greater Tung Oil you can get that amazing protection which looks great on pine.

 

Milk Paint Tung Oil and Mineral spirits finish from our customer shows the colors you get with Tung Oil FinishPenetrating oil look  & ‘Green’

Why do we love it? Two reasons; Unlike almost everything else imported from China, Tung Oil is ‘Green’. And Tung oil “makes pine pop”. Nothing deepens the contrast and colors of our #2 Knotty Pine more perfectly.  Oils period, and certainly Tung Oil (s) have many detractors, but they make some gorgeous floors. And by detractors we mean installation professionals. Most are not keen to 4-5 coats and 2-day cure with sanding in between. SYP Direct can help you with that problem, find out more.

About SYP Direct

What about SYP Direct makes us so unique? Southern Yellow Pine Direct aka SYP Direct is the only true online pine flooring mill. Furthermore, Our mill partnership (s) allows us to manufacture using custom specifications aka milled to specs or milled to order. Milled to order is a really big deal. How so? Nothing is sitting around on a shelf waiting to be. matched with another run, weeks later. Every board of your floor comes from the same timber milled at the same time; we have no inventory. Milled to order and direct from the mill floor eliminates the retailer with all their overhead.

Prefinished New Heart Pine

Bona Natural Traffic

Prefinished 1 x 8 x 12’ (3/4 x 7” x 12’) t/g ends matched with micro bevel 2-10’-end matched; Mill Run Longleaf New Heart Pine- 5800 available – contact Jason 888 286 20 57

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)
Read More
#2 Knotty Pine Southern Yellow Pinewith gloss clear coat
22 Apr

#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)
Read More
Real wood flooring last forever
05 Dec

Real Wood Floors

Customer Bill of Rights, Misconceptions, Misdirections and Misinformation, Wood Floor Shopping

Understanding Solid Wood Floors

Before you shop and buy real wood floors, you should understand them. Before you install them, understanding solid wood floors is key. Please do not take offense to the insinuation you should understand solid wood floors. In fact, we you are referring to our specialty, pine the lack of knowledge among installers is shocking. Solid wood flooring site finish and installation is an art, a lost one for that matter. Not long-ago artisans and craftsmen took pride in sanding, finishing and repeating! Today time is money and real wood takes time.

Buying solid wood usually means a site finish

Site finished pine flooring needs preparation. Preparing for the wood is an important step often overlooked, the preconditioning portion of the finish. When you have unfinished solid wood floors with character, i.e. knots, different grain patterns and variance in density you need a product that prevents splotchy finishes. It is not expensive, but vital. Min-wax, for example has an excellent product.

Sanding unfinished solid wood floors

“Do you have to sand prior to finish?” The short answer is no, but we always add, only if you want your floors to look their best. Sanding your unfinished floor prior to preconditioning allows for deeper penetration and better protection not to mention it raises the grain allowing the colors to pop free. Commonly known as popping the grain and accomplished by simply running a wet rag down the board as you pull them out of the pallet crate.

Mill to order makes install easy

Milled to order is not a marketing term for us, we do not mill inventory to sit on shelves and one day match with another inventory. By milling your floors all together, on the same day from the same “trees” provides a consistent floor which goes together as it should. SYP Direct mills Alabama Longleaf Pine lumber into unfinished Knotty and Heart Pine flooring. We mill to order, for homeowners and builders, furthermore 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 solid wood, every single time.

Stop leasing temporary floor covers

nullLeased flooring all has the same residual value, it cost you and the environment money, every single time. 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. Real is better than fake, real wood is green and yes, the answer is yes you can glue down solid wood.  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, LVT is not waterproof, warranties are worthless, you can glue down solid wood and real wood is certainly more durable than single use leased covers.

Advertising by box stores

Today a Google search for the best solid wood pine floors sends you Clover Lea pine wood floors, LL Flooring formerly lumber liquidators.  These are the exact opposite of quality for a number of reasons.  Buyers many times have no clue the difference in quality, it is substantial to say the least.

Angie’s List wrong on flooring

Real Wood Floors

Buying real wood flooring online can lead you to Angie’s list for an installation professional. Remember, Angie get her money, i.e. the customers are contractors or brands who advertise. Who will tell you the truth about pine and real wood floors in general? SYP Direct presents the A List; a resource without agenda. The amount of misinformation passed off as a “resource” designed to help you find your floor, by our totals, about 95% of it.

Free Markets are good when fair

We are not anti-free markets, not at all. However, under a cloud of propaganda we believe, with zero doubt that homeowners are getting ripped off. A Google search, finding real wood floors, provides Angie’s List as a top result. Not to strange, since they do have hardwood flooring companies on their site (s). However,  further inspection, Angie’s seems to be repeating the same nonsense as the box stores and your local installer trying to sell you “their” floors.  

Buying Real Wood Flooring

Buying real wood flooring online can be aggravating, almost as bad as going into a box store. So how do you find and buy real pine floors online? The age and species are a perfect place to start. Determining the age of pine should determine the price of flooring, not lumber but the ‘stuff we walk on’. Age creates stability, stability and character not to mentions the colors we all love. Patina is a word directly associated with age and light exposure, with older wood the patina is deep and rich; i.e more expensive.

Investment Approach to Flooring

Antqiue reclaimed heart pine wall wood siding only comes from using real woodSo you want to buy real wood floors, solid not LVT or laminate, a floor not a floor cover.   Very few sources of information will provide the truth from the homeowner perspective. Compare heart pine wood floors to a single use floor such as laminate or engineered wood, one last forever the other is just a lease. Single-use floor covers provide returns for the seller, not the homeowner. A single use floor is designed to wear out as it is a product; an investment is a durable good. 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.  Frequent changes in design, termination of spare parts, and the use of non-durable materials make it impossible to match a damaged floor.

Invest in Solid Wood Floors

What is investment flooring? Is flooring an investment or a product? A product is designed to be used for a period of time. An investment, 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.

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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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How to install real wood floors
16 Jun

New Orleans installation

Finish and Install

2500 square feet located in Madison MS as of 4-20-22. Heart Pine 3/4 x 7 finished “Pure” from Monocoat. Hypoallergenic with a zero VOC score based on Rubio’s patented plant base finish. Special value. To find out more send us an email ASAP.

New Orleans installation

Fausto Flooring is a member of the SYP Direct Network specializing in matching existing pine floors and finish + install of the new ones. Our company is proud to have Fausto Flooring as our partner in the New Orleans area. Before we publicize an installation professional, we will have worked with them on more than one occasion. Not only have they installed and finished our floors, but they did a fantastic job, with happy homeowners in the New Orleans.

Caribbean Heart Pine Monocoat Pure

SYP Direct in New Orleans

Southern Yellow Pine Direct aka SYP Direct has been selling floors in New Orleans since 2012. Today, we have a partner in the New Orleans. A trusted professional who understands heart pine. A New Orleans installation professional who works only with real wood. Along with installation options, we also offer homeowners the opportunity to pick up Caribbean Heart Pine, locally. For more information contact sales at Southern Yellow Pine Direct, your local pine flooring mill.

Bona Finished Wide Plank Heart Pine

Bona Finished Wide Plank Heart Pine is one of a dozen unique floors we offer our customers. Currently, we have 5000 square feet of 3/4 x 7″ finished in Bona Natural including the protective UV coating. This industrial strength finish is great for high traffic, including dogs and kids. New Orleans installation professionals love Bona because of the quality and ability to handle high traffic.

Find an expert when matching an old pine floor

One of the keys when attempting to match an existing pine floor, the right materials. Sounds simple enough until you realize the amazing things mother nature can do with time. Have you ever seen a hundred-year-old floor below the existing finish? The short answer, they get better looking with age; meaning each time you refinish it, the patina and colors are darker. Therefore, the question how to match an existing pine floor hinges on choosing the correct materials, i.e., grain pattern, grain type, Knots (if so sizes), and the amount (if any) of heart pine.

Project Homecoming New Orleans

Project Homecoming is a faith-based community development organization building resilient neighborhoods in the greater New Orleans area. These guys are committed to facilitating a culture of care in targeted communities.  SYP Direct had the pleasure of helping with the floors within the main house, and help repair it after water leak.  If you are interested visit Project Homecoming Facebook page to find out more about this amazing work. FYI the floors are 6″ White Oak, the picture a bathroom. SYP Direct matched that little cut out and helped repair with a patch.

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