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Douglas Fir Flooring Blog
Douglas Fir Facts

Types of Hardwood Floors

March 26, 2013 by | Jennifer | There have been 0 comments

Douglas Fir flooring is a beautiful and versatile choice for your home – long-lasting and easy to look at underfoot every day. And, just like your favorite ice cream shop, AltruFir offers wood flooring in a number of different styles, to suit a variety of tastes, uses, and budgets. Here’s a rundown of our different styles of wood flooring:

Clear Vertical Grain Flooring

Clear Vertical Grain, often abbreviated CVG, is one of the most common terms you’ll hear in wood flooring, particularly when we’re talking about Douglas Fir. You’re probably familiar with the term “grain”—it refers to the pattern of growth lines visible on any given piece of wood. But did you know there are different types of grain, varying depending on how the wood is sawn?

Vertical grain is revealed when wood is sawn so that the tree’s growth rings are perpendicular to the cut. This results in a pattern of long, straight lines running up and down the face of each board. The other common type of grain pattern is “flat” or “cathedral” grain. This is revealed when a board is sawn with the growth rings parallel to the cut. This results in a wider, wavier grain pattern.

Other than the way it looks, why does this distinction matter? Because vertical grain boards have an even distribution of growth rings up and down their surface. When the board naturally expands and contracts in response to temperature and humidity variations--as all natural wood products do--the entire board expands and contracts evenly. This means our Clear Vertical Grain flooring is much less prone to warping, buckling, or cupping than other types of lumber.

Reclaimed Flooring

Sometimes, once isn’t enough. Just like environmentally conscious-citizens reuse and recycle paper, metal, packages, and bottles, here at AltruFir, we’re proud to be in the business of recycling lumber. Reclaimed flooring comes from old buildings that are being dismantled, but still contain lumber with a lot of life left in it. Our wood flooring experts sort through the lumber to select flooring that can be re-used and beams that can be re-sawn. We source the majority of our reclaimed Douglas Fir from large-scale industrial buildings around the Northwest.

The beauty of reclaimed flooring is that much of this wood is of a quality that’s not available in today’s new lumber market. When the original buildings were constructed hundreds of years ago, they were built with large-diameter, old-growth timbers that aren’t being harvested any more. These reclaimed timbers offer the chance to re-use a valuable and unique wood product that shouldn’t go to waste.

FSC Certified Flooring

At AltruFir, our commitment is not just providing quality flooring products, but also offering products that are harvested in an ethical and sustainable way. One of the ways we do that is by our voluntary participating in the Forest Stewardship Council’s Chain-of-Custody certification. When you buy FSC-certified flooring, you’re guaranteed that at every link in the supply chain--from the end seller all the way back to the forest of origin--this flooring has been grown, harvested and marketed using methods that are environmentally and socially responsible. So if you want to know exactly where your flooring came from and how it was grown, feel free to ask—we’ll gladly provide you with all in the information you need about our FSC-certified flooring.

Wide Plank Flooring

If you’re looking for Douglas fir flooring that’s unique, check out our wide plank flooring. Wide plank flooring offers an old-fashioned feel. Like something you might find in an old farmhouse or a mountain cabin, wide-plank flooring is both traditional and casual. Most flooring manufacturers offer widths between 2-5”; at AltruFir, we can offer flooring as wide as 11 1/8th” across or more on a custom basis—more than twice as wide as standard flooring planks. For wood flooring that will really stand out, consider wide plank Douglas fir.

If you’re not sure which flavor of flooring is your favorite, feel free to give us a call. At AltruFir, we call ourselves the wood experts because we truly love working with this beautiful material. We can help you decide which type of hardwood flooring is best suited for your home and your lifestyle.


This post was posted in Douglas Fir Flooring and was tagged with Douglas-fir, Douglas fir flooring, douglas fir floors, clear vertical grain, reclaimed douglas fir, hardwood flooring, hardwood floors, types of hardwood floor, types of hardwood flooring, FSC wood flooring, reclaimed floors, FSC, FSC flooring

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