NHLA grade
Also called Lumber grade, FAS, No. 1 Common
A hardwood lumber grade set at the sawmill by how much clear material a board will yield when cut up — not a statement about a finished floor.
The National Hardwood Lumber Association grades lumber on clear-face yield, expressed in twelfths. FAS requires 83-1/3%, or 10/12, from boards 6 inches and wider at 8 to 16 feet. No. 1 Common requires 66-2/3%, or 8/12. No. 2A Common requires 50%. No. 3A Common requires 33-1/3%.
The grade is fixed at the sawmill and never improves. A flooring mill works within it; a finish does not change it.
This is not the grade on a flooring quote. That is an NWFA/NOFMA appearance grade, published by a different body in a separate document with the opposite logic, and the flooring standard does not cross-reference the lumber rules at all.
Related
Terms this one depends on
- Clear-face yieldThe proportion of a board’s face that will produce clear cuttings of a stated minimum size — the measurement an NHLA lumber grade is built on.
- Flooring gradeAn appearance classification for finished flooring. The standard states outright that all grades are equally strong and serviceable in any application.
Provenance
Where this definition comes from
Framework pillars this term is material to
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