Red oak hardwood flooring in Toronto — supply, grades and what to specify

Specification

The assembled specification

Botanical name

Quercus rubra

Side hardness, 12% MC

1,290 lbf (USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Wood Handbook Table 5-3b)

Ontario range

East of Lake Superior and across Central and Southern Ontario (Ontario Tree Atlas)

Ontario status

One of the seven principal tolerant hardwoods named by the Ministry of Natural Resources

Ontario growing stock

85,019,702 m³ (Forest Resources of Ontario 2021)

US growing stock

17.9% of the US total, 2.62 billion m³ (American Hardwood Export Council)

US annual growth against harvest

60.6 million m³ grown against 31.9 million m³ harvested per year

Flooring grades published

Clear, Select, No. 1 Common, No. 2 Common (NWFA/NOFMA oak rules)

Reference

What each NWFA/NOFMA oak grade permits, as published

Failure modes

Where this goes wrong

• Red oak and white oak are different woods and are routinely quoted as "oak". Red oak is 1,290 lbf against white oak at 1,360; the grain is more open and it takes stain differently. Ask for the botanical name on the quote.
• A very common claim — that red oak historically dominates Ontario housing stock — has no source we could find. We looked hard, found only unattributed blog content, and do not publish it. Neither should anyone quoting it to you.
• Ontario publishes growing stock, not hardwood harvest. Nobody can tell you what share of Toronto red oak flooring is Ontario-grown, because that number is not published by anyone.

Answer

What we recommend

Red oak is the correct default for matching or extending an existing Toronto hardwood floor, and a sound choice on its own merits. Specify the botanical species and the NWFA/NOFMA grade in writing; both are free to ask for and neither is usually offered.

• If the floor is being matched to existing boards, red oak is very often what is already there — confirm by inspection, not by assumption.
• If a whiter, tighter grain is wanted, white oak is the comparison to make, and it is a different guide.

Also asked

Related questions this guide answers

Is red oak harder than white oak?

No. The USDA Forest Products Laboratory publishes red oak at 1,290 lbf side hardness at 12% moisture content and white oak at 1,360 lbf. The difference is real but modest, and it is not the reason to choose between them — grain openness, colour and how each takes a stain matter more in a finished floor.

Is red oak flooring sustainable?

On the published inventory, red oak grows considerably faster than it is cut: the American Hardwood Export Council records 60.6 million cubic metres of annual growth against 31.9 million cubic metres of annual harvest across the US resource, and Ontario holds a further 85,019,702 cubic metres of standing red oak. That is a statement about the resource, not about any individual supply chain — for that, ask who milled the boards.

What grade of red oak flooring should I buy?

Grade is an appearance decision, not a durability one: the NWFA/NOFMA standard states that all grades are equally strong and serviceable in any application. Clear gives a near-uniform heartwood face, Select allows sapwood and small tight knots, and No. 1 and No. 2 Common carry progressively more character. Choose the look, then require the grade by name on the quote.

Provenance

Where every claim on this page comes from

• Provenance — tolerant hardwoods
• Provenance — growing stock
• Provenance — ash
• Grade — nwfa appearance

Framework pillars this bears on

• Pillar 3 — Product specification

Once this is decided

What the work actually is

Hardwood Flooring Installation · Hardwood Floor Refinishing · Dust-Free Floor Sanding · Hardwood Floor Restoration · Custom Inlays & Borders · Stair Refinishing

Prices for all three bands are published before you call — hardwood flooring in Toronto for a new floor, refinishing for an existing one, stairs for the part usually left out of the quote. If the floor is already cupping, gapping or lifting, this is a diagnosis rather than a decision: what your floor is telling you.

Proof, with the numbers

Where these decisions were made on real jobs

Each publishes the readings and the reasoning, not only the result — which is what makes them worth reading next to a guide rather than instead of one.

Every case study publishes what was measured, not only what was achieved — all of them are here, and each one names the substrate, the species, the readings and the protocol it followed.

Next

More reference installations