Our specialties include:


  • Installation of hardwood, engineered, floating, pre-finished, eco-friendly and laminate floors.
  • Sanding and refinishing pre-existing hardwood floors.
  • Installation of custom designs, patterns, borders, inlays and more.
  • Repairs of damaged hardwood floors, including creak-reduction and patchwork.
  • Use of the best stains, including options for custom stain colors.
  • Removal of carpet, tile and old hardwood floors.
  • For more detailed information about Waz Flooring services, please see the services tab.

Hardwood Floors

Solid floors are all solid wood. Regardless of width or length, they are one piece of wood from top to bottom. Solid flooring gives you a great opportunity for customization. Your choice of species, stains and finishes all contribute to the personalization of a solid floor. This is an excellent choice in most areas of a home on the ground level or above. Hardwood flooring not only provides a great look, but it is the most durable solution for a floor. It can be re-sanded and refinished several times over a period of dozens of years.



Red Oak

Color: Heart and sapwood are similar, with sapwood lighter in color; most pieces have a reddish tone. Slightly redder than white.

Grain: Open, slightly coarser (more porous) than white oak. Plainsawn boards have a plumed or flared grain appearance; riftsawn has a tighter grain pattern, low figuring; quartersawn has a flake pattern, sometimes called tiger oak, tiger rays or butterflies.

Availability: Commodity item available in ALL types, styles and sizes of flooring.

Properties:
Hardness: 1290 Janka Table (benchmark)
Durability: Stiff & dense, resists wear, less durable than white oak.

Workability:
Sawing: Above average
Nailing: Good
Sanding: Satisfactorily, better than white oak
Finishing: Strong stain contrast, because of pores


White Oak



Color: Heartwood is light brown; some boards may have a pinkish tint or a slight grayish cast. Sapwood is white to cream.

Grain: Open, with longer rays than red oak. Occasional crotches, swirls and burls. Plainsawn boards have a plumed or flared grain appearance; riftsawn has a tighter grain pattern, low figuring; quartersawn has a flake pattern, sometimes called tiger oak, tiger rays, or butterflies.

Availability: Commodity item, available in ALL types, styles and sizes of flooring.

Properties:
Hardness: 1360 Jankas Table, 5% harder than Northern red oak
Durability: More durable than red oak. Tannic acid in the wood protects it from fungi and insects.

Workability:
Sawing: Good
Nailing: Good
Sanding: Satisfactory
Finishing: Absorbs finishes more evenly than red oak.




Maple



Color: Maple Heartwood is creamy white to light reddish brown; Sapwood is pale to creamy white.

Grain: Closed, subdued grain, with medium figuring and uniform grain texture. Occasionally shows quilted, fiddle back, curly or bird's-eye figuring. Figured boards often culled during grading and sold at a premium.

Availability: Commodity item; figured grains limited.

Properties:
Hardness: 1450 janka Table, 12% harder than Northern red oak
Durability: Dense, strong, tough, stiff, often used in bowling alleys and sports floors

Workability:
Sawing: Density makes it difficult Nailing: Good, fair resistance to splitting
Sanding: Satisfactorily
Finishing: Good in natural finish, DOES NOT stain uniformly


Cherry



Color: Heartwood is dark to reddish brown, lustrous; sapwood is light brown to pale with a light pinkish tone. Some manufacturers steam lumber to bleed the darker heartwood color into the sapwood, resulting in a more uniform color.

Grain: Fine, frequently wavy, uniform texture. True quartersawn has distinctive flake pattern. Texture is satiny, with some gum pockets.

Availability: Limited

Properties:
Hardness: 950 janka Table, 26% softer than Northern red oak.
Durability: Strong, moderately hard. Usually considered too soft for an entire floor-mostly used for accents and borders.

Workability:
Sawing: Good
Nailing: Good
Sanding: Satisfactorily
Finishing: Good

Walnut



Color: Heartwood ranges from a deep, rich dark brown to a purplish black. Sapwood is nearly white to tan. Difference between heartwood and sapwood is great; some manufacturers steam the wood to bleed the darker heartwood color into the sapwood.

Grain: Mostly straight and open, but some boards have burled or curly grain.

Availability: Moderately

Properties:
Hardness: 1010 Janka Table, 22% softer than Northern red oak
Durability: Moderately dense, very strong

Workability:
Sawing: Excellent
Nailing: Fair
Sanding: Satisfactorily
Finishing: Nicely

Ash



Color: Heartwood is light tan to dark brown; sapwood is creamy white. Similar to white oak but more yellow.

Grain: Bold, straight, moderately open grain with occasional wavy figuring, and can have strong contrast in grain in plainsawn ash wood flooring boards.

Availability: Moderately available

Properties:
Hardness: 1230% Janka Table, 2% harder than Northern red oak
Durability: Elastic, hard, excellent shock resistance.

Workability:
Sawing: Good
Nailing: Good holding; good resistance to splitting
Sanding: Satisfactorily
Finishing: Stains well, no known finishing problems.

Beech



Color: Reddish brown heartwood, with pale white sapwood

Grain: Mostly closed, straight grain, uniform texture. Coarser than European beech.

Availability: Limited

Properties
Hardness: 1300% Janka Table, 1% harder than Northern red oak
Durability: Elastic, hard; excellent shock resistance. Wears wells, stays smooth when subjected to friction - popular for factory floors.

Workability:
Sawing: Good with machine tools, difficult to work with hand tools. Nailing: Good holding ability, has tendency to split.
Sanding: Satisfactorily
Finishing: Good

Birch



Color: Sapwood is creamy yellow or pale white in yellow birch; heartwood is light reddish brown tinged with red. Sweet birch has light colored sapwood and heartwood is dark brown tinged with red.

Grain: Medium figuring, straight, closed grain, even textured. Occasional curly grain or wavy figure in some boards.

Availability: Moderately

Properties:
Hardness:1260 Janka Table, 2% softer than Northern red oak.
Durability: Hard and stiff; very strong.

Workability:
Sawing: Good machine tools, difficult with hand tools.
Nailing: Excellent
Sanding: Satisfactorily
Finishing: Good

Hickory



Color: Hickory heartwood is tan or reddish; sapwood is white to cream, with fine brown lines

Grain: Hickory is closed, with moderate definition; somewhat rough-textured.

Availability: Readily, not parquet patterns.

Properties:
Hardness: 1820 Janka Table, 41% harder than Northern red oak.
Durability: Combination of strength, hardness, toughness and stiffness not found in other commercial wood.

Workability:
Sawing: Difficult to season, good
Nailing: good, prone to splitting
Sanding: Difficult due to density, sanding marks may show
Finishing: Good. Although hickory hardwood floors are most often suited to a rustic or ranch-style home, they are not limited to that type of decorating or architecture styles. Different grades of hickory hardwood floors can be chosen to create an entirely different look depending on what you are trying to achieve.

Pine



Color: Heartwood is yellow after cutting and turns deep pinkish tan to warm reddish brown within weeks due to high resin content. Sapwood remains yellow, with occasional blue-black sap stain.

Grain: Dense, with high figuring. Plainsawn is swirled; rift or quartersawn is primarily pinstriped. Curly or burl grain is rare.

Availability: Limited

Properties:
Hardness: 1225 Janka Table, 5% sifter than Northern red oak.
Durability: Natural resistance to insects in heartwood; dense

Workability:
Sawing: Good
Nailing: Good
Sanding: Use course paper for 1st sanding, may clog paper.
Finishing: Accepts surface and penetrating

Pecan



Color: Pecan heartwood is reddish brown with dark brown stripes; sapwood is white or creamy white with pinkish tones

Grain: Pecan is open, occasionally wavy or irregular

Availability: Readily, not parquet patterns.

Properties:
Hardness: 1820 Janka Table, 41% harder than Northern red oak.
Durability: Combination of strength, hardness, toughness and stiffness not found in other commercial wood.

Workability:
Sawing: Difficult to season, good
Nailing: good, prone to splitting
Sanding: Difficult due to density, sanding marks may show
Finishing: Good. Although pecan hardwood floors are most often suited to a rustic or ranch-style home, they are not limited to that type of decorating or architecture styles. Different grades of pekan hardwood floors can be chosen to create an entirely different look depending on what you are trying to achieve.