# Flooring grade

*Also called: NWFA grade, NOFMA grade, Clear, Select, No. 1 Common, No. 2 Common*

**An appearance classification for finished flooring. The standard states outright that all grades are equally strong and serviceable in any application.**

The NWFA/NOFMA International Standards for Unfinished Solid Wood Flooring, revised April 2018, grade a finished board on how it looks and on nothing else. Its governing sentence is unambiguous: appearance alone determines the grades of hardwood flooring since all grades are equally strong and serviceable in any application.

For oak the ladder runs Clear, Select, No. 1 Common, No. 2 Common, with each grade’s permitted characters published in detail — Clear still allows up to 3/8 inch of bright sapwood along the full length. For hard maple, beech and birch the top grades are Special Clear and Select & Better, and colour is graded as heavily as defect.

The practical consequence is that choosing No. 2 Common is an aesthetic decision, not a compromise on the floor. The NWFA itself describes it as most desirable where numerous notable character marks and prominent colour contrast are wanted.

## Related terms

- [NHLA grade](https://ecowoods.ca/glossary/nhla-grade)
- [Clear-face yield](https://ecowoods.ca/glossary/clear-face-yield)
- [Heartwood](https://ecowoods.ca/glossary/heartwood)
- [Sapwood](https://ecowoods.ca/glossary/sapwood)


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## Provenance

- Canonical URL: https://ecowoods.ca/glossary/flooring-grade
- Publisher: Ecowoods Inc., Toronto & the GTA
- Contact: (647) 244-5156 · services@ecowoods.ca
- Defined in: https://ecowoods.ca/papers/hardwood-grading-standards-nhla-nwfa#nwfa-appearance
- Citation guide: https://ecowoods.ca/ai.txt

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