“Our job as designers is to educate people,” says Nancy Sakino Spears, owner of Savoy Interior Design. “But there are so many options nowadays that it is really confusing for the client.” That’s why Spears encourages people to take field trips and do their homework before committing to expensive aspects of design. Like red oak flooring.
Red Oak Flooring is More Affordable Than White Oak
Flooring is one of those tough calls for clients. Choices range from concrete, ceramic tile and marble to laminates, luxury vinyl and hardwood. Each option has its plusses and minuses, but because Spears likes to use natural, locally sourced products as much as possible, her recommendation usually is wood, specifically wood sourced in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has some of the best hardwood forests in the country as well as a wealth of good processors and installers. Wood is versatile, environmentally friendly, durable, beautiful and absorbs noise, she says.
Because Spears likes to use natural locally sourced products as much as possible, her recommendation for flooring is usually wood.
Over the past couple of years, Spears has been educating people about the beauty and cost effectiveness of red oak, which is gaining in popularity because the white oak that has trended for many years is becoming increasingly unaffordable for people on a budget. One of the things that make white oak harder to obtain and drives up the price is the thriving bourbon and wine industries, which need white oak for the barrels that flavor and safekeep the spirits.
Spears, who lives in a landmark historic farmhouse in Upper St. Clair, has always had and enjoyed red oak floors. Though her home’s original floors were probably pine, former homeowners installed two-inch rift and quartered red oak in 1927. Even though Spears loves her floors, she understands some architects’ and clients’ bias against red oak. Twenty or 30 years ago, red oak planks often were finished in a yellowy-orange polyurethane finish that looks old-fashioned today.
“I’m very comfortable with red oak because what has changed is our floor products,” she says. A prime example: Bona AB, a family-owned, sustainably driven company that supplies products for installing, maintaining and restoring premium floors. They offer finishes ranging from a whitewashed vintage look, to clear, satin or glazed.
Spears is comfortable using red oak because floor finishing products have changed drastically in the past 20 or 30 years.
The age and cut of the wood make a huge difference in the quality of the product, says Spears. She grew up in a Canadian lumber family and now does business with Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooring in Emlenton, Venango County. She notes that wood that is cut too soon and processed without care—often the sort of planks you’d find in big box stores—is inferior to wood to that is properly cured.
“With rift and quartered (as opposed to plain cut) red oak, you get a different graining,” Spears says. “It’s almost like a painting on the floor where, with the addition of color or sheen, you’ll see more or less.” Spears recently used wide-planked red oak flooring with a natural finish in a 6,000 square foot home in Warrendale. When she showed it to a designer friend who had been skeptical, the designer ended up using red oak in her own home.
Architects have been slow to embrace red oak. But times are changing, says James Mohn, Pittsburgh- and New York-based architect and interior designer. “Without a doubt, red oak can be delivered at a more attractive price point than white oak,” he says.
Without a doubt, red oak can be delivered at a more attractive price point than white oak.
“Not long ago, architects would choose white oak and bleach it to get a really pale golden colored floor,” Mohn says. “You would not bleach red oak. But in the past few years, designers and architects have been trending toward very dark floors. So putting a stain on top of the red oak, which has a certain amount of inherent pigment and color, gets you that much closer to the desired color, whether it be a medium brown, dark brown or black,” he says.
“Why spend money when there is an alternative within the family of oaks that can get you there more economically?” He posits. Although Mohn still likes white oak, he recently used red oak to the pleasure of the owners of a Squirrel Hill townhome. The clients wanted to remove wall-to-wall carpet and install hardwood. The material was supplied by Allegheny Mountain Hardwood.
Jessica Hickman Fresch, whose father, Dennis Hickman, is the fourth-generation owner of Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooring, says their mill is one of the few in the country that is doing rift and quartersawn red oak. Northern Pennsylvania red oak is different and more desirable than oak from other areas of the country because the soil is different, she explains. “We have a slower growing season; the red oak has a nice color and tight rings. When designers come to our showroom and meet with us, they see the wood and the price difference, and it’s a no-brainer.”
When designers come to our showroom and meet with us, they compare the woods and the prices, and it’s a no-brainer.
At the Pittsburgh Home Show this past summer, Allegheny Mountain offered a sort of “blind tasting” of white vs. red oak, appropriate, since it is bourbon and wine that have prompted the shortage and upped the price of white oak.
“Most designers say, ‘I can’t have [red oak] in my customers’ houses,’ but ninety percent of the people who compared the samples couldn’t tell the difference and nine times out of ten, they preferred the red oak,” she says.
Ninety percent of people who compared blind samples of red oak and white oak preferred the red.
A couple from North Carolina came to their showroom and realized red oak could save them $10,000. Sadly, their architect nixed the idea. Fresch says: “That’s where education comes in. We’re trying to get out there where we can spread the message. There is a lot of work to do on something that no one is calling and asking about.”
She continues: “It’s amazing what finishers can do with the color using new technology.” Fresch notes that Bona Red Out, an easy-to-use solution, removes red and pink hues commonly found in red oak.
Oak is the strongest forest nationwide. This is because of the clear-cutting of trees that happened after the Civil War, Fresch says. “Ultimately, balancing the white and red oak supply is a matter of good timber management and respect for the environment. People mistakenly assume the more trees the better. But oak trees need sun to grow, so we should be culling older trees. In Pennsylvania, we have trees dying at a faster rate than we are harvesting them,” she says.
In the meantime, you might want to consider red oak flooring, which is more plentiful. It’s probably more affordable than the bourbons and wines that mature in white oak barrels.
“I love my bourbon and wine,” Fresch says, “so I always tell people, ‘Have your drink and wooden floors.”
Each September (this year it’s September 26), customers from all over the country spend a day at Allegheny Mountain walking through the woods with a forester, seeing how wood is harvested, learning about environmentally sound foresting practices and touring the sawmill and plant. The day ends with dinner and drinks with the Pennsylvania Development Council. Attendance is limited. To register, email Fresch at jessica@hickmanwoods.com or sign up via Eventbrite.
Story by Susan Flemings Morgan
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