In factory finished wood flooring sales and technical support work, questions often arise regarding product grading. Some end users/consumers begin their search for a wood floor assuming there must be “industry standards” by which all manufacturers are required to grade wood flooring. Frequently, those who have heard a few grade terms kicked around or began shopping online assume these products must be either clear, select, #1 common, or #2 common grade; obviously based on well-established NWFA/ NOFMA unfinished grades.
All wood flooring grading standards should first be understood as voluntary. Wood flooring
manufacturers are not required to grade by any specific standard. Caveat emptor applies – let the buyer beware. Of course, NWFA/NOFMA certification long has been the benchmark by which North American wood flooring manufacturing is measured.
Regarding factory finished wood flooring specifically, current production standards are detailed in the document “NWFA/NOFMA International Standards for Factory Finished Solid Wood Flooring,” revised in April 2018 and available to NWFA members at nwfa.org. These standards establish consistent measures for such details as machining tolerances, moisture content, board lengths, etc., for those manufacturers that maintain NWFA/NOFMA certification. Regarding flooring appearance criteria, however, these standards state, “appearance guidelines all are proprietary to individual manufacturers.” Unlike NWFA/NOFMA unfinished grades, there are no defined limits regarding character – knots, worm holes, mineral streaks, etc., that may be included in a specific branded item. Each manufacturer sets its own appearance criteria for its various products. Typically, a manufacturer will offer a range of appearances.
INSTALLER RESPONSIBILITIES
It is the responsibility of the installer, and/or the buyer, and/or the end-user to ensure that the wood flooring product meets their expectations for visual appearance and manufacturing quality prior to installation. Prior to commencing installation, the seller, installer, buyer, and end-user should, when possible, loose-lay several boards on the floor in the room where they will be installed. If the visual appearance, color, sheen, or manufacturing quality of the product is deemed unacceptable, it should not be installed. Installation of flooring constitutes acceptance of the material and the site conditions at the time of installation.
Some dealers and installers are unaware there are also industry standard installer responsibilities. These are found in the NWFA Installation Guidelines, 2025 edition, page 27, E. 2-3:
Regardless of how a specific product is selected, once flooring is delivered to the jobsite the installer and/or buyer/end-user are responsible to “…ensure that the wood flooring product meets their expectations for visual appearance and manufacturing quality prior to installation.” That section of the guidelines recommends the installer and their buyer/end-user “…should… loose-lay several boards on the floor in the room where they will be installed.”
The last part of this section of the NWFA Guidelines states “Installation of flooring constitutes acceptance of the material and the site conditions at the time of installation.” Some manufacturers include this information on their packaging.
While an end-user may not be available always for this review, anyone in our business now can send photos.
Rack out a carton or two and take a photo of that product in that space and get the end-user’s approval in writing. It is well worthwhile for an installer to obtain assurance that the flooring meets the expectations of their client before proceeding. Then make sure the installation appears consistent from start to finish.
A common source of post-installation call backs is that an installed floor doesn’t look like the website presentation or physical samples in the retail showroom. Installers can avoid this complaint by conducting this pre-installation review. Manufacturers also address natural variation in their print and electronic merchandising, often printed on the very display sample from which the selection was made.
The customer with these concerns also can be reminded of a few basic facts:
- The typical showroom display or product sample only can exhibit so much flooring; typically, far less than one percent of an installation.
- When a customer narrows down their choices but wants further assurance of their selection, they should order a carton and lay it out in the space. That’s a small investment to assure them of the right choice. That carton then becomes part of the installation.
- What we generically call “wood,” is far more diverse than humanity. Even within a given species, the range of color/grain and character varies from one individual tree to another, and even from board to board. No two pieces of wood flooring ever have been or ever will be identical.
One of the primary attributes of wood flooring, and something that long has positioned wood flooring at the top of consumers’ flooring “aspiration” rankings is its natural beauty. We are mere stewards of this natural beauty.
Tony Miraldi is the director of technical services for Bauwerk Group North America. He can be reached at tony.miraldi@somersetfloors.com.
