How Do Hardwood Floors Get Made?

Hardwood Floors

Hardwood flooring is currently undergoing a boom in popularity. The term typically refers to flooring which is made from the timber of hardwood trees. Examples of these trees would include the pine and the spruce. The flooring is usually installed with an unfinished veneer. After installation, sanding and finishing take place with the flooring already in place. With modern manufacturers, this trend has begun to die off, with more and more finishing being done at the factory before installation has occurred.

Rotary Peel Manufacturing

There are three major ways in which hardwood flooring is manufactured. The most common of these types is called rotary peel manufacturing. It is characterized by the wood being treated by being boiled in water. After this has been done, the wood is peeled away from the log by a blade working in circular fashion. It peels away layers of the bark, working its way from the outside in. The veneer that is left is then given an enormous amount of pressure in order to create a flattened finished product. Rotary peeled flooring is commonly known to have a plywood appearance running though the grain of the floor.

Sliced Peel Manufacturing

This type of manufacturing differs very little from rotary peeling. Rather than slicing the wood from the log in a circular fashion, however, sliced peel manufacturing involves slicing the wood off the end of the log. This is the only change in the manufacturing process, but it has been shown to decrease some of the problems inherent in rotary peel manufacturing, notably the tendency for the wood veneer to curl back into its previous state. It does not eliminate this defect entirely, however.

Dry Solid Sawn Manufacturing

The last type of hardwood floor manufacturing does not involve boiling the logs. Instead, the logs are stored in a low humidity warehouse and dried out, extracting moisture from within the log. After cutting, it goes through the same flattening process as the previous two manufacturing styles. The benefits of dry solid sawn include the elimination of wood curling, as there has been no added moisture.