Second hand flooring.

Timber flooring that has been lifted from an existing building. Second hand flooring is generally sold graded and de-nailed and in original condition. Tongue and grooves and surfaces will be in original condition which may present some difficulty in re-laying. Extra meterage may need to be purchased to cover this. Second hand flooring is usually the least expensive option but the range of colours and sizes available will be limited. SMT’s second hand flooring comes with the ends of the boards either docked or endmatched.

Re-machined flooring.

Timber flooring that has been extracted from existing buildings, been de-nailed and then re-machined to apply new tongue and grooves and new surfaces. This material will present as a new floor board, but will generally retain the old nail holes from its previous life (usually about every 450mm). A standard 5 to 7 % wastage allowance should be included when ordering. Re-machined floors will present no difficulty in laying. They will perform just like new flooring with the added advantage of minimal movement due to their seasoned nature.

Re-milled flooring.

Timber flooring that has been cut down from larger section recycled timber. Sections are sliced into planks and then molded to apply new tongue and grooves and new surfaces.

Rough Sawn

This is the finish left on timber after it has been passed through a variety of different types of saws. The finish is usually a bit rough and “woolly” - suitable for construction framing or external use but it does not have the fine finish you might expect of timbers to be used for an internal feature.

DAR: Dressed all round.

This is the smoothest finish usually available from a timber mill. The timber has been passed through a machine to skim (usually off all 4 sides) the layer of rough sawn material off. A dressed finished is how one buys furniture timbers or timber flooring.

Aged

A term that can refer to rough sawn or dressed timber that has been left to grey off or weather in the elements.

Wire Brushed (or Brushed and Ground)

A surface finish applied to timber using a heavy wire brush on the end of an electric grinder to remove an aged finish and reveal the original colour of the timber underneath. This method is usually applied to large section material that may be unsuitable for dressing. A brushed finish will bring out the colour of the timber but still leave the original contours and some of the weathering of an old stick of timber.

Endmatched

End matching is the application of a small tongue and groove to both ends of a floor board or a lining board. It means that the boards will fit together end on end and the boards do not have to be cut back and joined on the nearest joist or batten. Endmatching will decrease wastage and speed up the installation time.

Hewn

Hewn timber is timber that has been shaped by hand with axe cuts. Often in old pieces of large section material the axe marks are still visible. Sometimes if you are very lucky the axeman may even have left his initials in the timber he cut.