R - S wood flooring terms

R
Raised grain - a roughened or fuzzy condition of the face of the flooring in which the dense summerwood is raised above the softer springwood, but not torn or separated.

Rays, wood - strips of cells extending radially within a tree and varying in height from a few cells in some species to four inches or more in oak. The rays serve primarily to store food and transport it horizontally in the tree. On Quartersawn oak flooring, the rays form a conspicuous figure, sometimes referred to as 'Flecks' (see Medullary Rays).

Reclaimed - timber salvaged from use in other locations.

Reducer strip - a strip of wood used to join two floors of different heights, or that finishes the space between wood or laminate flooring and other flooring surfaces, like vinyl or carpet.

Refinish - sanding a previously finished floor to bare wood and applying new finish.

Relative humidity - ratio of the amount of water vapor present in the air to that which the air would hold at saturation at the same temperature.

Retarder - a slowly evaporating solvent that decreases the evaporation rate or slows up the drying of lacquers and similar materials.

Rift sawn - primarily hardwoods in which the annual rings make angles of 30° to 60° with the surface of the piece. Also known as bastard sawn.

Ring-porous woods - a group of hardwoods in which the pores are comparatively large at the beginning of each annual growth ring and decrease in size, more or less abruptly, toward the outer portion of the annual growth ring.

Rustic grade - a term used in the grading of wood flooring. This grade permits almost unlimited natural colour variation via sapwood and heartwood, and knots.

S
Sapwood - the wood near the outside of a tree - usually lighter in color than heartwood.

Scotia - a concave or half round shape of timber usually supplied in 2-3 meter lengths in various hardwoods. Used to cover expansion gaps left around the perimeter of a wood floor.

Screed - a wood member laid to provide a nailing surface - usually a 2" x 4" piece of wood laid flat side down to provide a nailing surface for tongue-and-groove strip flooring or a wood subfloor.

Sealer - any finishing material that is applied to stop the absorption of succeeding coats.

Secret nailing - a fixing method under which a 2" lost head nail is fired at 45 degree angle into the upper side of the tongue on a tongue and groove board.

Select grade - a term used to describe timber selected for colour, which excludes the presence of knots and will represent an even colour in a whole floor.

Shake - a separation along the grain, the greater part of which occurs between the annual growth rings.

Sheen - the degree of luster of the dried film of a finishing material, usually used to describe the luster of rubbed surfaces or flat-drying materials.

Shellac - a finish produced from a combination of alcohol and resins excreted by the Lac Beetle.

Side-matched - see 'End-matched' and 'Tongue and Groove'.

Slip-tongue/spline - small strip of wood or metal used to reverse or change direction when installing standard tongue-and-groove strip flooring.

Smoked - a process used to darken wood floors during the drying process.

Softwoods - term used to describe lumber produced from needle and/or cone-bearing trees (conifers).

Solid - individual strips or planks of timber made from 100% hardwood.

Solid flooring - made from boards which are single pieces of wood from top to bottom.

Solidengineered (semi solid) - a board around 20mm thick, which comprises a real wood veneer around 5-6mm, bonded to a plywood base. Technically an engineered product but displays more similar properties to solid wood as it can be nailed down to provide a structural floor.

Species - the type of tree, such as oak, cherry or walnut.

Split - separations of wood fibre running parallel to the grain.

Square edge - flooring that isn't tongue-and-grooved. May also refer to square-edge strip flooring that is face-nailed when installed.

Square joint - tongue & grooved strip or plank flooring with edges that are not eased or beveled.

Staining - changing the color of wood through the application of transparent or semitransparent liquids made from dyes, finely divided pigments or chemicals.

Stair nosing - a finishing piece applied to the forward edge of stairs, step-downs and landings, creating a rounded quality finish.

Streaks - see 'mineral streaks'.

Strip flooring - solid or engineered boards, less than three inches in width, to be installed in parallel rows, produced in various thicknesses and widths.

Strip - solid wood floors that are less than five inches in width.

Subfloor - what a floor covering sits on - either concrete, floorboards, chipboard or brick.

Surface drying - when a coating dries on top, but remains relatively soft on the bottom, it's said to be 'surface dry'.