Unfinished White Oak Flooring

Answers to all your questions about unfinished White Oak flooring.

Unfinished White Oak flooring is one of the most common choices for flooring surfaces in homes, restaurants, shops and businesses. In this brief primer, we’ll cover all the available options in White Oak floors and answer frequently asked questions about creating, customizing and caring for White Oak hardwood flooring.

What is unfinished White Oak flooring?

White Oak is a species of hardwood trees found throughout the eastern United States. White Oak wood is durable and resilient, making it an excellent choice for floors in high-traffic settings. White Oak is not actually white, but rather has a nutty, brown hue and tends to be darker than Red Oak, another highly popular choice in hardwood flooring. The term “unfinished” refers to the way the floor is delivered – it arrives without stain or sealant and is intended to be finished on site.

What is wide plank unfinished White Oak flooring?

Wide plank flooring – like the high-end products available from Carlisle – is a floor that uses boards with widths that may range from 8” to 20”, and with lengths up to 12’. In contrast, standard commercial flooring uses boards that are at most 3” wide and 3’ to 4’ long. The effect of a wide plank floor can be stunning – it allows the natural personality and grain in the wood to emerge and creates a more distinctive and less busy look throughout a room.

Find Inspiration from Recent White Oak Projects

Whether you want a look that’s sleek, chic, or unique, we can provide a floor that fits your individual style.

Design Consultation

Options for customizing Carlisle unfinished White Oak flooring.

One of the greatest benefits of choosing unfinished White Oak flooring from Carlisle is the wide range of ways it can be customized to suit the needs of any design scheme. Carlisle unfinished White Oak flooring provides options for customization in:

• The way the timber is cut. The most common method for cutting unfinished White Oak flooring is plainsawn, which produces grain patterns that may range from simple and sleek to intricate, vibrant swirls. Another option is quartersawn White Oak, where each quarter of the timber is cut at a 90° angle from its adjacent quarter to produce straighter and tighter grain patterns. Rift sawn White Oak offers the most consistent grain patterns, with each board cut at an angle that is in line with the center of the wood.

• The color of the stain. Unfinished White Oak flooring is a fairly porous wood that takes stain well. At Carlisle, we offer a virtually unlimited range of options for stains and hues.

• The grade of the cut. Carlisle has developed proprietary grades to help our clients find the style that is perfect for their installation. Our Original Grade offers more variation in color, grain at knots. Our Heirloom Grade offers a more luxurious and refined look. And our Signature Grade combines the characteristics of Original and Heirloom in a perfect balance.

• The structure of the boards. Unfinished White Oak flooring from Carlisle comes in both solid and engineered versions. Solid hardwood uses boards that are a single piece of wood, while engineered flooring is made of multiple layers or “plies” that will help minimize expansion and contraction through a moderate range of humidity.

• The texture of the wood. Unfinished White Oak flooring can be treated with a variety of techniques to give a new floor the look of a century-old surface. Techniques like Timeworn, Hand-Scraped Edges and Hit or Miss marks give a floor an antique look and a lived-in feel. Additionally, customers may opt for reclaimed Oak flooring that has been salvaged from old houses, factories and barns. In addition to unfinished White Oak flooring, Carlisle also provides options in prefinished White Oak flooring that help make installation faster and easier.

White Oak flooring by Carlisle Wide Plank Flooring

Frequently Asked Questions

What are best practices for how to clean unfinished White Oak flooring?

Before the floor is finished, it can be cleaned by sweeping or vacuuming. You’ll want to keep water off of the floor until it has been stained and sealed. After your White Oak floor is finished, mopping the floor with a combination of water and vinegar is one of the best ways to clean it.

Is it easy to stain unfinished White Oak flooring?

White Oak flooring is fairly porous and takes stain easily.

Is unfinished White Oak flooring a durable surface?

With a Janka hardness rating of 1320, White Oak is one of the harder species of hardwood. Consequently, it is an excellent flooring option for areas with high traffic or where the floor is intended to last for many years.

How is unfinished White Oak flooring different than Red Oak flooring?

White Oak is actually darker than Red Oak. Where Red Oak has pinkish hues, White Oak tends to have a nuttier brown color, overall but may include light rosy tones as well White Oak is also slightly harder than Red Oak.

What is the appearance of unfinished White Oak flooring?

White Oak flooring has a more modern and contemporary look. The grain tends to be tighter and straighter than other hardwood floors. The heartwood of White Oak tree is light brown, while the sapwood is white to cream.

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