I am about to purchase 1,300 SF of Engineered, Unfinished Rift and Quarter Sawn White Oak in 6" Wide boards for the main level of my home. It is being installed on a concrete slab.

I can order either Select or Character Grade. Of course the Select Grade costs more. I am planning to stain the floor in a medium-dark brown. Because I am planning to stain, the vendor feels that paying more for Select Grade will not be money well spent, as the color variations that come with Character Grade will be greatly minimized with a medium-dark brown stain. I also want as low-sheen as possible finish (flat/matte) and to be able to feel the grain of the wood, so 3 coats of gloss polyurethane is not an option/acceptable. Given how I plan on finishing the floors, is it worth spending the additional $s on Select Grade?

Thank you.

Debbie

select will normally have longer lengths and being 6" wide it will look choppy if there are a bunch of shorts. If the lengths are good I actually prefer the character myself. Some select grade floors look almost too uniform, if thats what you are after (uniformity) i would go select. A rift and quarter floor has pretty clean lines, you actually dont see much 1 common rift and quartered floors, (think I remember one ive seen personally) most often youll find it in select.

Like Kevin says, depends if you like a cleaner looking wood grain. I like character myself. But you'll pay to have it shipped back if you dont like it. Long as they arn't selling you tavern grade in place of "character grade". Funny how places make up grade names.

Thank you for the feedback. I think I'll go with the character grade, since the look I'm going for is a kind of rustic-contemporary. Regarding the lengths, I was going to go with 2'-10' length boards because it cost quite a bit more to purchase 5'-10' boards, but I don't want to end up regretting that decision. What do you think? The vendor said with 2'-10' boards, I'll certainly have some 2' boards and some 10' boards, but the majority should be in 4-6' range. I'm putting in 1,300 SF total ... The kitchen and family rooms are each 20'x20' with a 10' opening between the two rooms. Foyer is 8'x20 with an 8' opening into family room. Dining room is 11'17 with a 4' opening into kitchen. So lots of open, long stretches/expanses of flooring.

2 thru 10 is above average. Normal packing for wood floors is 1 thru 7. I think going 5'-10' would be nice but I've say once you get your furniture back in there you wouldnt be able to really appreciate it.

Thank you. Oops ... one last (I think) question! I am planning on ordering 4mm veneer. Total thickness of the boards is 3/4". There is an option to upgrade to a 5mm veneer. Again, vendor didn't think it was worth the extra $'s. He said the only difference is getting one additional re-sanding out of it, but that it should be unlikely that I will refinish enough times to even go through the 4mm veneer. Agree?

Thank you so much for the guidance. It's so good to be able to have the recommendations from knowledgable 3rd parties. You never know whether you can completely trust the vendor you are working with. Seems like a good, honest company, but great to have other views.

I would agree w/ above. And, also, I think the 4mm is fine and you won't need more than that while you live there.

I would prob. do 3 coats poly (matte is fine if you like that) to give it more protection and you may want to do a screen and recoat in 3-4 yrs. If you keep doing that every 3-4 yrs you may be able to avoid refinishing the floors for a LONG LONG time.

Debbie Gartner aka The Flooring Girl
http://TheFlooringGirl.com
Westchester County NY

Since you're planning on staining yourself, the character grade would be your best bet. Also, character grade is pretty good even if it's not select grade. The look you're going for is your ultimate deciding factor.

Let us know what you chose! You'll be great.