Wood Flooring Manufacture

Industry Overview

The US hardwood flooring industry includes fewer than 100 manufacturers, with combined annual revenue of about $1.5 billion. Flooring is still dominated by small independents, but the industry continues to consolidate. There are thousands of distributors and installers. Annual production varies considerably, but is on the order of 500 million board feet (mmbf).

Competitive Landscape

Demand for wood flooring is closely tied to residential real estate construction, both new and remodeling. The industry is highly competitive because the product is largely a commodity. Small manufacturers typically sell their product within a local region. Competition comes from other manufacturers and competing flooring products like carpeting, linoleum, tiles, etc.

Products, Operations & Technology

Wood flooring is milled from hardwoods, principally oak (which accounts for about 70 percent of the market) but also maple, ash, beech, birch, pecan, walnut, hickory, and others. Most flooring is used in residential and commercial buildings, but about 10 percent of production (mainly glued, laminated material) is used in truck trailers and railroad cars. Wood flooring comes in three main shapes: strips, planks, and parquet. Strips account for 80 percent of the market; vary in thickness from 3/8 inch to 3/4 inch; in width from 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches; and are 2 to 3 feet long. Planks are 3/4 inches thick and 3 to 8 inches wide. Strips, planks, and parquet are milled so that one side has a tongue, the other a groove, allowing a tight fit when installed.

The production process involves drying boards of wood in kilns until the wood's moisture content (MC) is reduced to a range of 6 to 9 percent. Pieces are then cut from boards and the sides milled to produce the tongue and groove. The angle of cut partly determines the wood's final appearance: "plainsawn" (the most common); "quartersawn;" or "riftsawn." After the wood is cut, it's given one of four grades for appearance: for oak, "clear," "select," "No. 1 common," and "No. 2 common," which describe the amount of variation produced by knots and color differences; for maple, beech, birch, and most other woods, "first," "second," and "third." After manufacture, the wood is sorted, packed in ready-to-sell bundles, and shipped in pallet loads of about 1,000 board feet.

A typical manufacturer is a sawmill operator who also operates a dry kiln facility and flooring manufacturing plant. Some manufacturers buy rough lumber on the open market. Because of the simple nature of the manufacturing process, most production is highly automated.

Most flooring leaves the manufacturer unfinished, to be sanded and coated with a finish after installation, but some is also prefinished at the factory. Finishes include penetrating stains and waxes that soak into the wood, and surface finishes, blends of synthetic resins (usually urethanes and polyurethanes). Installing hardwood floors requires preparing a subsurface (usually plywood or closely spaced joists). As strips or planks are fitted together, they are nailed to the subsurface with special nail guns. After the flooring is laid, it is lightly sanded and coated with several layers of finish.

Engineered laminated flooring consists of thin layers of wood glued together, with alternating grain direction. The top layer is a finishing veneer. Engineered flooring is kiln-dried to a MC of 5 to 11 percent and produced as both unfinished and prefinished. Acrylic impregnated flooring is produced in various colors and finishes by forcing acrylic into the pores of the wood at high pressure to produce a very hard surface suitable for heavily used commercial areas.

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