How the wood is cut during the manufacturing process will affect the stability and appearance of the wood.  For most installations, plain sawn will be adequate. In damp or humid environments, consider quarter sawn as a better option.

Plain Sawn. This is the most common method of cutting real wood flooring. Each cut of the lumber is made parallel with the last cut. This is the most economical method since it produces the least waste. This also produces wood that has more variations than the other cutting method.

Quarter Sawn. For this method, lumber is first cut into quarters before being cut into strips. This creates wood flooring with a vertical grain that will expand and contract vertically instead of horizontally during humidity changes. Flooring cut this way have a very tight-grained appearance.

Quarter sawn, in addition to being a better option for damp environments also has a more unique look to it. Because there is more waste when wood is cut in this manner, real wood flooring produced this way will be more costly that plain sawn flooring.

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