A  

Acclimatising — letting wood expand and contract in response to the humidity in your home; wood expands and contracts in response to the moisture content of the air.
Adhesion — the act of adhering two materials together Adhesion is influenced by the surface's state, which must permit some penetration, be chemically clean, and not be overly smooth, hard, or nonporous.
Aged — a chemical procedure that allows new wood to change and deepen its colour without needing to be stained.
Air-dried — Without using any artificial heat, timber was cured by exposure to air in a yard or shed (not kiln dried).
Annual growth ring — the growth of wood on a tree that occurred over the course of a single growing season.
Antique — Original wood that is 200 years old or older, either in its original state or re-machined to a specific size or finish.

  B  

Bevelled edge — A plank's edge that has been rounded off during production to provide a groove or "V" junction between boards when they are laid out.
Bleached/white washed floors — this are the ones that have had their colour brightened by the application of either a white stain or a wood bleach, or even both.
Borders — They are decorative elements, either simple or complex, that frame and distinguish a flooring installation.
Bowed — Bowed refers to the distortion of wood where there is a variation from a straight line from end to end of the item in a direction perpendicular to the flat face.
Brushed — a manufacturing technique that produces a textured surface on wood flooring and is often applied using copper brushes.

  C  

Acclimatising — letting wood expand and contract in response to the humidity in your home; wood expands and contracts in response to the moisture content of the air.
Adhesion — the act of adhering two materials together Adhesion is influenced by the surface's state, which must permit some penetration, be chemically clean, and not be overly smooth, hard, or nonporous.
Aged — a chemical procedure that allows new wood to change and deepen its colour without needing to be stained.
Air-dried — Without using any artificial heat, timber was cured by exposure to air in a yard or shed (not kiln dried).
Annual growth ring — the growth of wood on a tree that occurred over the course of a single growing season.
Antique — Original wood that is 200 years old or older, either in its original state or re-machined to a specific size or finish.

  D  

(DPC) — Damp-proof course. See (DPM)
(DPM) — A horizontal wall barrier called a damp proof membrane, often known as a damp-proof course or DPC, is used to stop moisture from rising through a structure due to capillary action, or rising damp.
Delaminating — the failure of the glue, the separation of layers in a laminate or engineered floor, or the separation of layers between plies or between stain and/or coating layers.
Distressed — A method is used to distress a floor and give it a worn-in appearance. Surface defects, such as dents, scratches, and imperfections on the edges and face, are produced using a variety of processes. Oil is then applied to the boards to hide flaws and provide the appearance of a well-used, but not necessarily vintage, floor.
Durability — the capacity of a wood species or finish to withstand environmental conditions without significantly changing how it looks.

  E  

Eased edge — the bevelled or chamfered edge of parquet, block, and strip flooring that is cut at a 45-degree angle. Eased edges are thought to leave less of an impression than bevelled edges (see "Bevelled Edge").
End joint — where two flooring pieces are connected end to end.
Engineered — Engineered flooring is a multi-layered board of wood flooring that consists of a real wood surface veneer adhered to a softwood core in the middle and a softwood backing for stability.

  F  

Feature strip — Wooden strips known as "feature strips" are used as an accent or as a border around a room. usually of a different species or colour.
Figure — intrinsic patterns, designs, or configurations on the surface of wood caused by knots, rays, and variations in the direction of the normal grain.
Filler — Before applying final coats, a material is used to fix holes and other irregularities in planed or sanded surfaces.
Finish — a wood floor with a protective covering.
Flecks — the noticeably large, uneven shape of quarter-sawn oak flooring.
Floating floor — a floating floor doesn't require any nails or glue to attach to the subfloor. Usually, adhesive or mechanical connectors are used to join the flooring panels together.

  G  

Grade — This term is used to identify and describe the raw timber's structural qualities and quality.

  H  

Hand scraped — a technique for creating an uneven surface on wood floors that mimics the wear and tear of an old floor caused by foot traffic.
Hardness — the ability of a certain wood species or finishing substance to resist denting or marking.
Hard wax oil — a method of surface finishing that combines wax and natural vegetable oils.
Hardwood — one of the botanical classes of deciduous trees that, in contrast to conifers or softwoods, have broad leaves.
Heartwood — the wood that connects the pith and sapwood and whose cells are no longer involved in a tree's life processes; often darker than sapwood (see "Pith" and "Sapwood").
Herringbone — a common parquet flooring design is called herringbone, and it involves interlocking pieces that are about eight inches long.
HDF — One variety of fibreboard, an item made of engineered wood, is high-density fibreboard. It resembles particleboard and medium-density fiberboard, but is stronger, harder, and denser since it is constructed of compressed, exploding wood fibres.
Humidity — the quantity of airborne water vapour (see "Relative Humidity").
Hygrometer — a device for calculating the atmosphere's relative humidity or degree of humidity.

  J  

Joist — a smaller beam that is supported in turn by larger beams, girders, or bearing walls and is used to sustain floor or ceiling loads.

  K  

Kiln-dried — using artificial heat to dry in a kiln.
Knot — the section of a branch or limb that the stem's following growth has encircled.

  L  

Lacquer — nitrocellulose-based finish that is frequently applied as a sealant. The quick curing characteristics of this finish are produced by using a solvent with an extremely low flash point, which makes it very flammable. When applied in an environment with high humidity, ambers tend to water spot and become murky but cure quickly.
Laminate Flooring — Available in blocks, planks, and squares, laminate is a hard surface flooring with a fiberboard core and melamine wear coating.
Loads bearing — denotes a form of floor that can withstand the weight and force being applied to it.

  M  

Mineral streak — a type of wood that has accumulated mineral materials from sap flow, giving it an artificial colour that can range from green to black.
Moisture content — the percentage of the weight of oven-dried wood that is made up of moisture.
Mosaic parquet — Each basket is made of five wood fingers, and each one is laid in the opposite way of the one before it. Each panel has about 16 baskets.

  N  

Nosing — the outside corner of a step is covered with a hardwood moulding.

  O  

Open grain — a finish's inability to create a film over low-density areas, which are typically connected to springwood's softer qualities.
Overlay — a conventional way of installing wood flooring that uses planks or pieces with square edges but no tongue and groove. typically fastened with pins and wood glue to a base of wood or concrete.

  P  

Parquet — inside the continent of Europe Wooden flooring is referred to as parquet (Parkett) (any wooden flooring, from solid, wood-engineered to woodblock design patterns like herringbone) The latter is a geometric mosaic of wood pieces used for decorative effect; in the UK, the term "parquet" is frequently used to describe it. However, some producers and merchants in the UK advertise wood-engineered (or 3-strip wood-veneer) flooring under the title "parquet."
Pine Holes — Typically brought on by finish dripping into low-lying or sparsely populated areas, like springwood. Even though it's not a finish flaw, it may frequently be fixed by adding another coat of finish.
Plain sawn — the typical method of log cutting, which results in a mix of random grain patterns.
Plank — 3.5" or wider solid or engineered boards intended to be put in parallel rows.
Plywood — board or panel with layers of wood and/or cross-directional veneers for dimensional stability.
Polyurethane — a kind of finish applied to hardwood to keep it safe from harm. Waxing is not necessary for polyurethane finishes.
Prefinished — hardwood flooring that has been coloredly stained and protected with a finish by the manufacturer before being installed.
PVA — A rubber-like synthetic polymer adhesive for porous materials, particularly wood, is polyvinyl acetate.

  Q  

Quadrant — a piece of wood with a convex shape that is offered in several hardwoods in lengths of about 2 to 3 metres. used to fill in expansion gaps left on a wood floor's edge.
Quarter sawn — wood with a grain that is frequently referred to as "vertical grain" that runs parallel to the length of the board. The boards made of oak have diagonal ray-like patterns on them.

  R  

grain — a flooring surface that has been roughened or fuzzy and has dense summerwood raised above softer springwood without being split or torn.
Rays, wood — Strips of cells that range in length from a few cells in some species to four inches or more in oak, ranging widely within a tree. The main purpose of the rays is to store and move food horizontally within the tree. The rays, also known as flecks, produce a noticeable figure on quarter-sawn oak flooring.
Reclaimed — To give the new setting an antique look and feel, timber that was previously used in other places was recovered.
Relative humidity — the ratio of the amount of water vapour in the air that, at the same temperature, the air would contain at saturation.
Rustic grade — Rustic grade floors provide for virtually endless natural colour diversity through knots, sapwood, and heartwood.

  S  

Sanded & filled — describes a product that has not yet been finished but has been factory-prepared for treatment. All exposed shanks and open knots have been filled, and the finish is smooth.
Sapwood — the wood close to a tree's outside; it is typically lighter in colour than heartwood.
Scotia — Scotias are concave or half-round timber shapes that are often sold in 2-3 metre lengths in different hardwoods. used to fill in expansion gaps left on a wood floor's edge.
Screed — a latex levelling compound that is applied to subfloors to level them out before adding flooring.
Sealer — any finishing substance used to prevent subsequent coats from absorbing the previous one.
Secret nailing — a method of securing a tongue and groove board that involves driving a 2" lost head nail at a 45-degree angle into the upper side of the tongue.
Select grade — a phrase for wood that has been chosen for its colour, which excludes the presence of knots and will represent a consistent colour throughout an entire floor.
Shake — a separation that happens along the grain, with the majority of it happening between the yearly growth rings.
Spline/slip-tongue — When laying typical tongue-and-groove strip flooring, a small piece of wood or metal is utilised to shift direction or reverse the installation.
Smoked — a technique for drying wood floors that darkens them.
Softwoods — term used to designate wood made from trees that generate needles and/or cones (conifers).
Solid — 100% hardwood individual strips or planks of wood.
Solid wood flooring — Boards, which are continuous pieces of wood from top to bottom, are used to create solid wood flooring.
Solid engineered (semi-solid) — a 20 mm-thick board with a 5-6mm-thick real wood veneer attached to a plywood core. Although technically an engineered product, because it can be hammered down to create a structural floor, it resembles real wood more.
Species — the type of tree, such as oak, cherry, or walnut.
Split — wood fibre separations that follow the grain.
Square edge (parquet blocks) — without tongue and groove flooring. may also be used to describe square-edged strip flooring that is laid with face nails.
Square — a strip or plank of flooring having tongue and groove joints and edges that are not softened or bevelled.
Staining — applying transparent or semitransparent liquids composed of dyes, finely ground pigments, or chemicals to change the colour of wood.
Stair nosing — The forward edge of stairs, step-downs, and landings can be finished with stair nosing to give them a rounded appearance.
Strip flooring — Less than three-inch-wide solid or engineered boards, available in a range of thickness and widths, are intended to be installed in parallel rows.
Strip — solid wood floors with a width of under five inches.
Subfloor — what a floor covering rests on, such as brick, chipboard, floorboards, or concrete.

  T  

Texture — the phrase used to describe how flooring feels and looks on the surface; it might be silky smooth or hand-scraped and damaged.
Threshold — A threshold is a decorative element added to a wood floor where it transitions to a different level or kind of flooring.
Tongue & groove — In strip, plank, and parquet flooring, a tongue is milled on one end and a groove is cut on the opposing edge. Each strip or unit's tongue is inserted into the groove of the one next to it as the flooring is being installed (see "End-matched").
Trim — the finishing materials used in a building, such as mouldings used at the floor and ceiling of rooms or around openings (window trim, door trim).

  U  

Underlay — Underlay is a cushioning layer that is placed beneath the flooring to offer support and protection. It can be constructed of sponge rubber, foam, felt, or crumb rubber.
Unfinished — a product that needs to be stained or finished after installation and requires sanding.
Urethane — One of three distinct chemical processes produces the synthetic chemical structure known as urethane (see Polyurethane).
UV-cured polyurethane — special polyurethane that is cured by being exposed to ultraviolet light (see 'Polyurethane' and 'Ultraviolet').

  V  

V-joint — a word used to describe plank flooring that has softened or bevelled edges to mimic the fissures found in early colonial American homes' floors.
Vapour barrier — a substance that has a strong resistance to vapour, such as foil, plastic film, or specially coated paper, and is used to regulate condensation or stop moisture migration.
Varnish — a finish made of natural or synthetic oils that has been dried and refined through frying and boiling.
Veneer — Hardwood leaves with square edges were joined to create the surface face of engineered wood floors.

  W  

Warping — a flooring piece's deviation from its true plane during seasoning.
Water-based — a wide group of finishes that share the characteristic of having the solids suspended in the solvent, which is usually water. Clear to the eye and very organic on wood.
Wax — For the purpose of creating polishes and other products, resinous, pliable materials of plant or animal origin are utilised. frequently used to give wood floors a soft, worn-in lustre.
Wide-board — phrase used to denote board widths more than or equal to seven inches.
Width — the size of each wood floorboard individually.
Wire brushing — a technique for giving the surface of hardwood flooring an artificially distressed or textured appearance.
species — the main species used to create the wood floor.
Wood stain — Very thin or low-viscosity paint that is designed to allow the pigment to permeate the surface rather than stay in a film on top of the surface.