#2 grades rustic heart pine southern yellow pine direct

12 Jul

Rustic in eye of beholder

What is #2 Southern Yellow 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, durability and stability.

More about Rustic #2 Southern Pine

Southern Yellow #2 Knotty Pine differs from mill to mill depending on the end product. For example, we produce Heart Pine, therefore our #2 knotty pine simply lacks the heart content. Distance from the middle of the tree, not defects, determine our #2 grade. Southern Yellow Pine Direct tells you truth about your options.

More about Rustic Flooring from SYP Direct

Rustic floors, or rustic by definition refers to simplicity, rural or country style. What about flooring? Do knots automatically indicated a “rustic” style or simplicity? The word comes from Latin Rusticus or Rus, “to be country”, or Shabby Chic as we call it today.

Find your inner rustic

Knots or No Knots Email Us

Sometimes you feel like a knot, sometimes you don’t! (Anonymous with apologies)

1×8 Mill Run Heart

Our Mill-Run (rustic) Southern Pine floors might be perfect for you, if you understand real wood grades. And more importantly, when purchasing the unfinished version, experience and or a real wood professional are a firm requirement. Unless you simply buy enough it to “learn as you go”, made possible by the low price. We do not suggest the latter and the 1×8 Mill Run Heart Pine requires only 10% waste just like any other grade.

08 Feb

Character Heart Pine

Heart Pine

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

Character Heart Pine

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

Character Heart Pine -Save money with creativity

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

Character Heart Pine blends #1 and #2

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

“Cheapest” Heart Pine Grade

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

Info on the Cheapest Heart Pine grade

Create an amazing floor

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

Local installers found for DIY customers

02 Jan

Rustic Floors

Knotty Pine

The best rustic floors are all about character and color, derived from knots

The word rustic, is subjective. It is Southern Pine with sap and heartwood, a 7″ wide plank mill run heart pine. We shipped our unfinished 12′ boards to our finish partner who created for us an amazing floor, just perfect really. Fawn, the finish name sits on top of our 3/4 x 7″ tongue and groove, ends matched including a micro bevel along all four sides. This floor offers, what I consider to be the common characteristic of gorgeous rustic flooring, color variations. Rustic floors are how we define character

Do all rustic floors have knots?

Rustic floors, or rustic by definition refers to simplicity, rural or country style. Rustic handwriting and lumber, but what about flooring? Do knots automatically indicated a “rustic” style or simplicity? The word comes from Latin Rusticus or Rus, “to be country”, or Shabby Chic as we call it today. All well and good but some may believe rustic indicates a lack of sophistication and style. We will argue that those two characteristics are not always one the same, simple is good. Want great recent example what rustic means in Colorado?

Caribbean Heart Pine Rustic Grade

Caribbean Heart Pine gives you the type of floor that creates envy, intended or otherwise. Every single person that comes into your home will complement the floor while having no idea what type of pine they are admiring. Perhaps one of the most desirable traits of Caribbean Heart Pine is that its natural beauty becomes more evident with time. As the wood ages, its patina emerges providing a palette of rich, vibrant colors ranging from yellows to vibrant reds and coppers that deepen and intensify with age. Want to see more pictures, Pinterest site.

“Sometimes you feel like a knot, sometimes you don’t”

NO, I will ‘knot’ apologize for that and if you do not get it, you are too young to remember! How about Not all Knots are created equal? No, the perfect example our #2 grade, aka Knotty Pine. Our #2 SYP does not indicate defect but rather a lack of heart pine. Remember not all Southern Pine is created equal, age and species matter.

Rustic with Knots

“Knots are not holes

“A few knots are ok, but”; the number of times we hear this or some version probably exceeds 50% of all callers. Rustic yes, but that does not mean huge knots all over every board, no. Of course, we get those of us that believe it is not the frequency but the stability of the knots that matter most. A knot is solid, not falling out or on the edge of board and never holes. However, notches or small holes a very different story. (see waste factor)

Repairing Scars

Repairing scars pays off

Repairing a knot with a notch missing, what we call a scar, is easy and looks amazing. Ok, with dozens of wood fillers on the market which one works best? Well, just like our customer service we prefer to go old school with sawdust. For information on the process check YouTube, but essentially you mix some adhesive with sawdust, fill and sand. If your floors have a color/stain, drop some of that into the mix but don’t give up unless you can see all the way through.

rustic floor pictures

Rustic in eye of beholder

What is #2 Southern Yellow Knotty Pine?

More about Rustic #2 Southern Pine

Find your inner rustic

Sometimes you feel like a knot, sometimes you don’t! (Anonymous with apologies)

1×8 Mill Run Heart

Character Heart Pine

Character Heart Pine

Character Heart Pine blends #1 and #2

“Cheapest” Heart Pine Grade

Rustic Floors

Do all rustic floors have knots?

Caribbean Heart Pine Rustic Grade

“Sometimes you feel like a knot, sometimes you don’t”

Rustic with Knots

Repairing Scars