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real versus engineered floors

Home - real versus engineered floors

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)
Hat with Southern Yellow Pine Direct Logo
18 Oct

The SYP Direct Philosophy

Wood Floor Shopping

The best part about the SYP Direct philosophy, it is so easy; “One House, One Floor”. We have grown our business organically with referrals and repeat business. Old school customer service, personal and without any sales pressure. In fact, most of the time we are validating what you already knew but because of all the nonsense you hear when shopping for a floor you begin to think; “is laminate just as good as real wood”?

SYP Direct Flooring is all about heart pine
Adding age not buying it
The SYP Direct Philosophy
Salvaged Southern Pine

The SYP Direct Philosophy- “No repeat business unless you move or add on”.

Why do we sell a product that has zero support in the industry? Furthermore, unfinished wood floors have small margins; in addition it is very long and heavy requiring far more work that something you stick down by peeling of the back. Because the SYP Direct Philosophy is about creating value for the homeowner, and frankly, we do not want to lie to every single customer that called us. If we sold laminate, LVT or 2mm engineered flooring, every caller would hear the same garbage you hear in box stores.

Southern Yellow Pine Direct – “No small print, hidden fees or unhappy customers”.

Our success and growth has been organic, not repeat business and certainly not advertising. Imagine, your being told to buy that creates a future liability rather than investing in your home. It is disgusting and it all started with laminate, read my rants for more on this transfer of wealth, from you to shareholders and executives option packages. A+ BBB Rating.

And ask were they “engineered” you floor, somethings are better as imports but not your floors.

(more…)
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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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White washed circle sawn white oak
11 Apr

The eco-friendly floor

Misconceptions, Misdirections and Misinformation

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 plastic or formyldehyde.

 

Marketing is not accurate information not anymore

Today, most of us will choose the product best for the environment provided the price is reasonably close to the other choices. In fact, some of us will choose the green product even with a much higher price. So why is the opposite true when green floor shopping? Simple, most of us are not given the information necessary to make that decision accurately. Want a good example, look no further than recycling.

LVT can be recycled just like carpet- FALSE!

Carpet cannot be recycled despite the propoganda, try it some time. Laminte is just chemical “goo” with zero value after ruining your home. And now LVT is the fastest growing component of our landfills.  It absolutely cannot on any scale be made into anything useful! So, instead of the nice recycling thoughts you knew it was going to spend the next 100 years contaminating your groundwater, would that play a role in your decision?

Because most carpets are made from plastics sourced from the petrochemical industry, they can take centuries to breakdown. As these carpet fibers break downbreakdown in landfill, they release methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gasses, into our atmosphere. Meanwhile, toxic chemicals from the carpet can leach into the surrounding environment, especially in landfills that aren’t properly managed. 

Plus: Have you ever taken up an old carpet? How about when pets were living on it? It is disgusting, no matter how clean you think you keep it. 

Salvaged heart pine

salvaged heart pine turned into bathroom countertop

Carpet is NOT King

For decades, carpet was king. Home remodeling took off with the advent of those little synthetic fibers. A small percentage of carpet wore out, but most was replaced when it became outdated, or the house changed hands. Today decomposing carpet holds an impressive and increasing percentage of total landfill tonnage. The E.P.A. estimates that every year, about 5 billion pounds of carpeting go into landfills. That’s 1 to 2 percent of the total U.S. landfill contribution, or 17 pounds of carpeting per person. (Don’t Sweep Carpet’s Eco-Impact Under the Rug – The New York Times (nytimes.com).  

5 Things to help you buy an eco-friendly (Green) Floor

Engineered floors are not eco-friendly

Real wood is the only green choice

Solid wood is the only green choice

Engineered “hardwood” floors are created using a veneer measured in Millimeters. In case you are curious, 1 MM = .039 inches. So, a 2 MM wear layer is .117 inches thick. The veneer is glued to backing that may be ⅜ to ⅝ thick and created from a huge variety of materials, which is why you see dramatic differences in prices. It is like advertising just the word Car, with various prices and no other information. Makes a comparison almost impossible, which is precisely by design, trust us we know people in the business. (Humor attempt). – Green floors are real floors. 

Quality engineered flooring has a minimum 4MM Wear Layer

Engineered Flooring cannot be refinished without a minimum of 4 MM ‘wear layer’ (veneer).The average lifespanlife span for a quality engineered floor is 7-10 years, then it heads to a landfill including the chemicals used in manufacture. So, where it is made and with what materials are information key to this decision, but so elusive. Terms such as hard scraped and brushed are used interchangeably and the only time you hear the species that comprises the backing is when it is good, not the other way around.

Want a green finish? Moncoat by Rubio

War-anties what are they good for?

We bought it because of the warranty. Please NEVER Buy for the warranty. For the record, all of our prefinished floors come with a warranty on the finish but that addresses manufacturing defects, not every day wear and tear and certainly not all the claims made concerning durability. 

Tough standards

Read the warranty, the actual document and these “hard to meet” criteria jump out quickly.  When claiming water damage for example, if exposed to standing water for more than 20 minutes your claim is in-valid. Question: How is the amount of time verified or proven? Of all your relatives that havehas multiple jobs a year, are anyany of them a certified independent flooring claims specialist?

The truth about real wood

Resistance to moisture real versus faux

LIE: Compared to solid hardwood, engineered wood floors have superior resistance to slightly lower and higher moisture levels, which makes them more ideal for use in damp basements or regions with higher or lower than standard humidity levels.

Truth: Buyers are told how a compressedhow compressed particle board with an unknown adhesive handles water better than real wood? The fact is that Southern Pine handles moisture better than any engineered floor. We build decks out of the stuff because it handles moisture on a microscopic level based on the relative porous nature of the wood.

In fact: Moisture is absorbed and released (expansion and contraction) without the breakdown of the board’s integrity. Ask your pro this question. What if you put poly on the bottomon bottom of real wood during the installation? Simple logic and a solution very few professionals even know and much less share.

Eco-friendly “Green” Info

Monocoat Finish

Real = Green

Urethane and Oils

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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Sustainable Timber
12 Feb

Sustainable Timber

Misconceptions, Misdirections and Misinformation

Sustainable timber, i.e., timber that has been harvested and replenished which may occur naturally or farmed.  ‘Sustainable Forestry’, however, involves more than just planting a tree when you cut one down. Sustainable timber management or forestry means doing no ecological damage to the surrounding environment.

Plant a tree

To those who want to help stop Global Warming- buy a real wood floor and plant a tree.

Healthy, sustainably harvested timber creates forest that become more resistant to wildfire, insects, disease, and the impacts of climate change. Like so many things, the message that the timber industry and sustainable forestry are contributing to climate change has gotten distorted. When you consider the replacement products we use instead of wood, i.e., petroleum-based vinyl, composites, and plastic the eco-friendly product is obviously real wood. What about concrete and steel? “As conservationists, we make building materials that store carbon and require far fewer fossil fuels to produce compared to steel and concrete.” (Forest2Market.com September 2022).

Sustainable timber means green 

As trees grow, they absorb carbon dioxide CO2 from the atmosphere and release oxygen. We learned this in junior high. Not only do trees sequester or hold carbon, but they also put it to use. Great but what happens when you turn this tree into a floor? Wood flooring is about 50 percent carbon by dry weight. Wood products continue to store much of this carbon indefinitely. In the case of buildings, the carbon is kept out of the atmosphere for the lifetime of the structure—or longer if the wood is reclaimed and used to manufacture other products.

Plant more trees

In national parks and designated wilderness areas, the federal government is prohibited by law from sustainably harvesting and replanting trees. According to U.S. Forest Service-Forest Inventory and Analysis data, lands set aside from active forest management – such as parks and wilderness – serve as a carbon source because trees are dying at faster rates than they are growing.

Sustainable timber create floors that last forever

No matter what else you hear while shopping, solid 3/4 floors should outlive the house, i.e., be salvaged one day. On the other hand, all ‘floor covers’ with very few exceptions, everything else ends up in a landfill. Seriously, the bathroom counter-top you see here was produced by a novice salvaged decking.

No clear cutting

To be clear, we are not talking about clear cutting or harvesting non sustainable forest. Anti-forestry activists cling to the flawed assumption that old trees will sequester and store carbon. As if old trees are immortal and should be forever untouched. Not so fast! The science is that younger trees sequester carbon at higher rates than older trees, yes. Even worse, when older trees die, they emit carbon and methane.

Failing to clear dead trees causes wildfires

Conservationists are not to be confused with anti-forestry activists, even though the media often gives them that label. Anti-forestry activists reject Indigenous knowledge and experience that comes from thousands of years of managing forests, while raising millions of dollars to perpetuate the idea that the United States risk deforestation. Far from scarce, many western landscapes, “have overstocked stands with more trees than the forests can support”.

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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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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 […]

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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 […]

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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.

I am text block. Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

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Buying flooring online means knowing your source
16 Aug

Reclaimed or Salvaged

Heart Pine

Reclaimed or salvaged?

What is the difference between reclaimed and salvaged? If you were in the flooring industry someone might say $15 a square foot, and they wouldn’t be far off. So, if you’re shopping for reclaimed oak or heart pine it’s important to know what you’re looking at it’s important to know where it came from or its provenance.

Salvaged Heart Pine Accent Walls

Salvaged is something like an old floor being taken up trimmed out and turned into an accent wall, as seen on the left. (If you are interested in Salvaged dirty top wall skins click the pic) But back to the question at hand what is the difference between salvaged and reclaimed? Reclaimed means to be repurposed reclaimed, i.e., when beam turned into flooring.

New is Reclaimed and Reclaimed is Salvaged, that is the definition of Green.

Accent Walls?

Learn more- easy to install and to make look “cool”. If I can do it anyone can.

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Rustic does not always have knots and vice versa
19 Jul

Laminate is not wood

Misconceptions, Misdirections and Misinformation

Laminate is not wood, nor is it a floor, it is a floor cover made of chemicals and composites. Imagine a photocopy of real wood chemically bound to particle board or cheap composites. Made with synthetic materials or very thinly sliced pieces of wood, laminate equals replica. Made to look like wood grain by using a method similar to printing a photo, i.e., designed to fool those not paying attention.

Laminate is not wood- what is it?

So, in simplest terms, you print a layer of wood-colored plastic and then adhere it to a composite wood substrate like particle board.

Landfills are full of laminate and engineered floors

Laminate = Landfills

As we will discuss later in our post, the variety of substrates used differ widely in quality and components. Chinese laminate manufacturers use a wide range of materials including dangerous chemicals. First, China leads the world in carbon pollution by a large and growing margin. Second, it has virtually no regulations regarding products imported and shipped back the United States.

What is in it?

The chemicals used in manufacturing laminate are dangerous and they are the fastest growing component of our landfills. ’s difficult to quantify what chemicals, will leach from laminates once they hit the landfill. Not to mention the emissions from incineration.  To put it simply, this stuff doesn’t decompose, because of all the chemicals and glues, the material never breaks down organically.

Laminate is not wood imported it is re-imported

Laminated wood is a rimport, a re-imported bi product of our timber. We ship our trees to China only to bring it back home full of toxic chemicals. We send them solid wood, which requires no toxic chemicals to produce, and in return we get plastic ‘wood like’ composite garbage. Today upwards of 10% of Americans have laminate flooring or some type of vinyl.  Every bit of it will end up in landfills poisoning the groundwater and damaging the air quality.

Laminate is not wood nor is it a floor- it is a floor cover

Laminate and Engineered floor covers are filling our landfills. Over the next 4-5 years, deposits into landfills will double from current levels of 300,000,000 lb. per year. Laminate & Engineered, add in LVT too, are a leased floor covers which rot forever on public lands? LVT, laminate and engineered floors are not green, they are not even biodegradable. Environmentalist scream about deforestation, but what is “greener” than One House, One Floor.

 

 

Have your floors reclaimed instead of landfilled

If we put the entire carbon footprint of Southern Pine flooring into the carbon footprint single use floor covers, and their chemicals products it would be like putting a BB into a boxcar.

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Monocoat Rubio Finished Flooring
17 Feb

Why use VOCs?

Misconceptions, Misdirections and Misinformation

Why Are VOCs Still Used?

What a great question? 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.

The footprint of fake wood

If  you listen to most “enviromental” warriors, logging and timber is the equivilent of fossil fuels when accessing a carbon footprint. This is ridiculous. Managed timber doesn’t lend itself to wildfires and real wood doesn’t end up in the landfill. If every house only had one floor over its lifetime, how many tear out and installations would that save, the house? Real wood floors will outlive your house. In fact, one day they will be reclaimed or salvaged as they are reinvented a century later. Try that with laminate.

Real is good

wide plank solid real wood floor finished tinted oils

'Pure' on CHP

Caribbean Heart Pine with Monocoat Pure finish
Moncoat "Pure"

Do not blame others

The manufacturing process no longer occurs in the United States and there is no possible way to regulate the number of vendors sending VOCs into the U.S. However, do not blame the countries doing the manufacturing because they are not the sellers! Consumers depend on the manufacturers to protect their health, first and foremost. Unfortunately, a large majority of retailers continue to use VOCs despite their harmful effects. Why do they continue to use VOCs? Demand for cheap goods always gets the blame, and while it plays a part; that demand was created by the cheap manufacturing processes not vice versa.

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Real wood flooring becomes antique reclaimed
16 Feb

Real equals green

Wood Floor Shopping

What other floors are green, aka eco-friendly? 

Well, dirt and most concrete are certainly in the category, but what about the things that sit on top of those two? No matter what else you hear while shopping, solid 3/4 floors should outlive the house, i.e., be salvaged one day. On the other hand, all ‘floor covers’ with very few exceptions, everything else ends up in a landfill. Seriously, the bathroom counter-top you see here was produced by a novice salvaged decking.  So, before we go any further, real is better than engineered but far less popular.

What is a wear layer on an engineered floor?

Engineered hardwoods are created using multi-layers of wood; the top layer, or veneer will range from 6mm to 2mm and is commonly called the wear layer. Is this important? Yes, the wear layer is the thickness of the (veneer) real wood, not the backing materials. In fact, it determines price along with species and overall thickness. And if 1mm = 1/25 of an inch, each one of those millimeters really matters if you want to have a shot at refinishing them one day. A minimum of 4mm is required and that moves to 6mm with a floor over a decade old.

So many choices

Engineered hardwoods are not all created equal, not even close. How can you be sure you are getting your money’s worth? You have the right to understand what you are buying and putting in your home. And if you are paying too much! The variations are endless. From species & grade to the materials used for the backing, but the wear layer determines longevity.

What is the difference between laminate and engineered flooring?

First of all, neither of them will ever be reclaimed and made into counter-top, or accent wall. Engineered floors have a real wood veneer on the top adhered two composite materials as a backing. Laminate is a photocopy of wood, 100% chemical/plastics using compounds neither of us can pronounce. Laminate, by definition contains a host of chemicals including petroleum based and other harmful VOCs.

What is a wear layer on an engineered floor?

Engineered hardwoods are created using multi-layers of wood; the top layer, or veneer will range from 6mm to 2mm and is commonly called the wear layer. Is this important? Yes, the wear layer is the thickness of the (veneer) real wood, not the backing materials. In fact, it determines price along with species and overall thickness. And if 1mm = 1/25 of an inch, each one of those millimeters really matters if you want to have a shot at refinishing them one day. A minimum of 4mm is required and that moves to 6mm with a floor over a decade old.

So many choices of ‘not’ green flooring

Engineered hardwoods are not all created equal, not even close. How can you be sure you are getting your money’s worth? You have the right to understand what you are buying and putting in your home. And if you are paying too much! The variations are endless. From species & grade to the materials used for the backing, but the wear layer determines longevity.

Reclaim for Green

Antique Reclaimed Heart Pine with saw marks

The King of Green Finishes

Rubio Monocoat offers the first and the only oil that is truly a 0% VOC product. Rubio Monocoat uses a unique molecular bonding technology to adhere to the topmost fibers of the wood it is applied to. Within minutes this technology forms a durable finish that maintains the natural appearance and feel of the wood.

Monocoat Finished New Heart Pine

We offer our New Heart Pine finished using Monocoat! The manufacturing facility, located in North Carolina, offers us the unique options of wide plank and finishes such as Monocoat and BONA. Currently we have 7″ New Heart Pine in all 12′ boards with two options including a ‘French bleed’.

Any floor you buy that is not 100% real will end up in a landfill. A real floor will be salvaged one day when your house falls down- there is no comparison.

Make new look old

saw marks after market on antique reclaimed mixed hardwood wall skins

LVT- The new Carpet

People and companies do not want you to buy real wood 

No matter what else you hear while shopping, solid 3/4 floors should outlive the house, i.e., be salvaged one day. On the other hand, all ‘floor covers’ with very few exceptions, everything else ends up in a landfill. Seriously, the bathroom counter-top you see here was produced by a novice salvaged decking.  So, before we go any further, real is better than engineered but far less popular.

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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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Salvaged pine decking using skins 1/2 thick
25 Mar

Harmful chemicals or VOC’s

Finish and Install

Why Are VOCs Still Used?

Follow the money. nothing is manufactured here. (It is harvested, shipped and then sent back, so no EPA or HIPPA.)

 

What are volatile organic chemicals?

Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) is a term used to refer to organic chemical compounds that evaporate while drying (volatile). Products that contain VOCs release vapors during use and storage that are often harmful to both humans and the environment. According to the EPA, studies have found the levels of several organics average 2 to 5 times higher indoors than outdoors. Not only can contact cause breathing problems, eye, nose, and throat, irritation, and kidney, liver, and nervous damage, but VOCs also amplify the greenhouse effect, damage the ozone layer, and contaminate groundwater.

 

Environmental Impact LVT and Laminate

Over the next 4-5 years, deposits of removed floor covers into landfills will double from current levels of 300,000,000 lb. per year. These compounds continue to produce VOCs after they are in your home. Formaldehyde in toxic levels was found in a major retailer laminate a few years ago, search sixty minutes, scary stuff.  When it comes to sustainability, one of the first issues with wood laminate is the large carbon footprint. It requires a lot of fossil fuel energy to power the required pressure and heat used in the manufacturing process. And more often than not, production occurs in China, that is problematic on a few levels, including VOC regulations.

Real wood is Green

Chemical Ingredients

Monocoat by Rubio

Rubio’s Monocoat uses a unique molecular bonding technology to adhere to the topmost fibers of the wood it is applied to. Within minutes this technology forms a durable finish that maintains the natural appearance and feel of the wood. Rubio Monocoat’s unique molecular bonding technology also allows for a one-coat finish. So, there is no need to continually apply oil or build up layers of polyurethane like with traditional finishes. Three years before the first VOC legislation was put into effect, Rubio Monocoat had strict emission norms and committed to producing products completely free of VOCs.

 

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
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