Understanding Timber Grading In Flooring

When it comes to flooring, nothing compares to the striking elegance and unique character of timber flooring. Having real timber underfoot not only elevates the look of any interior, it also comes with a wide range of advantages that Australian homeowners are enjoying more and more.

With the current biophilic design movement encouraging a connection to the natural world through nature-inspired interiors, Engineered timber is being used more and more, even in unexpected places throughout design-led homes, from floors, now to walls and ceilings.

What Is Timber Grading?

Contrary to popular belief, timber grading does not necessarily indicate inherent quality, it simply categorises naturally occurring quirks, such as knots, sapwood and pin holes, which enhance the charm of hardwood floors.

All Flooring Online’s European Oak timber flooring is ABCD grade, combining wood types containing few flaws with more rustic, character filled timber to produce beautiful flooring with strong visual appeal.

Flooring Online’s Rustic Oak range is ABCDE grade, mixing in additional feature heavy boards for a distinctive timber aesthetic.

Timber grading by visual means the sorting process of wood flooring based on the size and number of features present in each floorboard. During manufacturing, boards with fewer and smaller features are sorted into one grade and separated from those with more frequent and larger features.

The knots and flaws embedded in the wood only serve to add a striking elegance and beauty to your timber flooring, however the size and frequency of knots, sapwood, pin holing and filler are key identifiers of timber grading. The natural colour variation of genuine wood flooring however is not graded. 

ABCD Timber Grade Flooring
Celebrating the natural embellishments of wooden floors, Flooring Online’s standard ABCD grade European Oak timber flooring features more natural characteristics including, filled knots greater than 40mm in size, checking, sapwood, worm holes and filled pinholes. Where filler is used, the colour is chosen to compliment the wood and may vary from batch to batch. 

ABCDE Timber Grade Flooring
Used for our Rustic Oak range, This grade utilises rustic, feature heavy boards, along with aesthetically quieter boards. ABCDE European Oak timber flooring highlights the naturally embedded knots and flaws of the wood. 

For more information on timber grading get in touch with our experience team.