When it comes to hardwood floors, a grading system is used to differentiate one style of floor from another. Don’t confuse the grade of the hardwood floor with its quality though. The same guidelines and requirements go into manufacturing a hardwood floor no matter what the grade of that floor ends up being. The primary difference in floor grades will be in color character, lengths and allowable defects.
Most all the above hardwood flooring grades are available in a variety of species of wood. White Oak, Red Oak, Hickory and Walnut are the most common and comprise a large percentage of the hardwood flooring on the market. A good hardwood flooring retailer will also have access to other species of wood as well such as Ash, Birch, Cherry, Heart Pine, Maple, Yellow Pine and many others.