Flooring Grades and Technical Information and Sizes

Flooring supplied by BTF comes in three different grades. Some clients assume that, for instance, Prime Oak is better quality than Country Oak because of the price differential. It is important to make a distinction between GRADE and QUALITY. All flooring is of the same quality, this means that regardless of the grade is has been kiln dried in the same manner, it has been machined in the same way, it has been acclimatized in the same way and it has been packed in the same way.

COUNTRY GRADE – most popular- knots of any size, pips, colour variation, sap wood are allowed as long as they do not compromise structural integrity of the floorboard. All boards are supplied with knots pre filled although, boards with knots open can be produced.

CHARACTER GRADE – second best seller – Sapwood is allowed on the back of the floorboard. Healthy knots same colour as the wood are never larger than 20mm in diameter. Dark knots, again, never larger than 20mm in diameter, are allowed if pre filled. Straight splits are allowed up to 20mm in length. Diagonal splits are not allowed. Some variation in colour is allowed.

PRIME GRADE No sapwood, dark knots, straight splits, diagonal splits or variation in colour is allowed. Health knots of no more than 8mm are allowed only if they are the same colour as the wood.

The only difference between the grades is the Size of the Knots.

All our flooring has been Kiln Dried using computerized machinery to moisture content of 7-9 %

All knots are pre filled

All boards have been pre sanded to 120 Grit

All boards have been stress grooved for extra stability

All boards have been Tongue and Grooved to four sides.

All boards are produced with a beveled edge – we can supply square edge boards if required

All flooring has be manually inspected for grading, quality of machining and ease of assembly

All flooring has a quality control stamp

All flooring has been acclimatized within a designated area at the Mill

All flooring is wrapped in polythene