Fantastic Floor Presents: French Connection White Oak

Welcome back to your favorite hardwood spotlight series on the web, Fantastic Floor Presents! This week we're straying from the traditional format a bit and taking a look at not just a species of wood, but an specific line of flooring products. Namely, the White Oak French Connection from the Garrison Collection. Enjoy!

We've talked about white oak hardwood flooring before. A lot. But the French Connection line from Garrison is special. Why? For starters, there are fifteen styles to choose from in the series, making matching your floors to your current or planned design scheme a breeze. I mean, take a look at some of these beautiful examples:

Beautiful, right?

The flooring also comes prefinished, so the wire-brushed oil finish that gives the flooring its allure and luster is built right in to the boards — no onsite finishing required. And because the line is engineered, the boards are ready to go right out of the box. Engineered flooring is lighter and generally easier to install, meaning you can use French Connection White Oak flooring in any room and any floor of your home. It also features enhanced dimensional stability, making it less likely to bend and warp than standard solid white oak floors.

On a broader note, white oak hardwood is one of the most popular, beautiful, and durable hardwood flooring products on the market today. It's light tones and pale heartwood complement almost any design scheme and lend themselves quite well to different color finishes. It is also extremely resistant to wear. In fact, white oak hardwood used to be used as mine timbers and boat planks. That's pretty tough.

Want to learn more about the White Oak French Connection line at Fantastic Floor? Call us today at 888-448-9663 or send us an email at customer.service@fantastic-floor.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

Our Top Green Certified Hardwoods

As you well know, Fantastic Floor takes a strong stand on environmental practices in the timber industry. We pride ourselves in selecting only legally harvested hardwood flooring products. We're certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and require our suppliers to be the same. We believe selective harvesting in tropical forests can be a benefit to local economies, and we're firmly opposed to the real source of Amazon deforestation - forest clearing (or clear cutting) for farming and ranching purposes.

That said, we often get asked if we have a favorite green-certified hardwood flooring product. While everyone at Fantastic Floor has a personal favorite, we all agree that the following five hardwood varieties are the best-of-the-best. Enjoy!

1. Brazilian Cherry
Also known as Jatoba, Brazilian Cherry is the most popular exotic hardwood flooring material in America. It features reddish-brown heartwood and beautiful dark striping, giving the wood eye-catching depth and contrast. It is also incredibly durable, featuring a Janka hardness rating of 2,350 lbs. and a density of 800 KG/m3.

2. Ipe
Ipe is the toughest exotic hardwood flooring material you can find. It has a cell structure so dense that it boasts a Class A fire rating, the same class of fire-retardant materials as steel. Its density makes it naturally resistant to moisture and wood-boring insects. It's also quite beautiful. The natural variations in color give the wood an eclectic yet sophisticated look.

3. Purpleheart
For those wanting a one-of-a-kind hardwood flooring material that is also green-certified, look no further than Purpleheart. With its deep purples and rich browns, Purpleheart flooring is definitely one of our most talked about hardwood varieties. It also has a high level of durability, with a density of 1,057 KG/m3 and a Janka hardness of almost 2,000 lbs.

4. Tarara
Tarara hardwood flooring is a colorful exotic that features bright yellow and orange heartwood with streaks of brown, red, black, and even purple. It has a tight, irregular, interlocked grain pattern and has hardness and density ratings similar to other durable exotic hardwoods.

5. White Oak
White Oak has been a standard flooring material in U.S. homes for years, and for good reason. Its light, crisp tones and complementary deep brown heartwood make it suitable for nearly any flooring purpose. Its versatility is matched only by its durability - a Janka hardness rating of 1,360 lbs. and a density of 900 KG/m3.

What is your favorite green-certified hardwood flooring material? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Questions? Contact us today to speak to one of our knowledgeable flooring representatives. We look forward to hearing from you!

What's So Great About White Oak, Anyway?

White oak flooring has been one of the most popular hardwood flooring varieties in the U.S. for years, and for good reason. It's beautiful, costs less than more exotic hardwood varieties, and is complementary to many different design schemes. But beyond its great value and looks, why is America so enamored with this specific variety of oak flooring? While we can't speak for everyone, the following are the 5 top reasons why we believe white oak flooring to be one of the best hardwood flooring options on the market today:

Looks
Not only is white oak flooring a stunning shade of pale whites and warm light-browns, but its tight, intricate grain pattern adds depth and visual intrique as well. It is also a very versatile flooring option; the neutral tones match nearly any home design scheme you can imagine.

Durability
While not as durable as some exotic hardwood species, white oak flooring is still as tough as nails. With a density of 900 KG/m3 and a Janka hardness rating of 1,360 lbs, white oak can certainly stand up to a lot of everyday wear and tear.

Stability
Buckling, bending, and warping can be major problems for hardwood floor owners. Not so with white oak. This species of flooring experiences shrinking and expansion at a relatively even rate, meaning your floors are less susceptible to the warping and bending you see more commonly among other species.

Green-Certified
The White Oak Natural products available at Fantastic-Floor.com are green-certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. This means the white oak floors you're installing in your home come only from well-managed and regulated forests or other controlled sources.

Price
White oak flooring from Fantastic Floor comes in a wide price range, but even the lowest priced products we carry are of extremely high-quality. We have many beautiful white oak varieties priced at under $3.00/SF, and have a steady line of high-quality sale items as well.

It should be clear by now that we think white oak is one of the best flooring materials you can find. What do you think of the species? What's your favorite hardwood flooring variety? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Want to learn more about white oak flooring? Call our knowledgeable sales team today at 888.448.9663. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

This Just In! White Oak French Connection (ooh, la la!)

Earlier in the week we ran a post espousing the virtues of oak flooring - it's strength, durability, versatility, etc - and now we have a beautiful new line of white oak flooring in stock! What timing!

The French Connection is a beautiful new line of white oak flooring that has a wire-brushed texture and a beautiful oil finish, giving it a bold and aged appearance. The dark colors and tight grain pattern make this oak flooring a distinctive addition to any room in your home. The boards are available in a number of different sizes, and for a limited time Fantastic Floor is offering this amazing new product line at a great price.

Learn more about the new White Oak French Connection line by visiting www.Fantastic-Floor.com