The American benchmark, and the floor already under your house
Red oak is the wood every other flooring species is measured against, and in this region it is also the floor that is very likely already there. Most of the hardwood laid in DC rowhouses, Bethesda colonials, and Arlington capes between the 1920s and the 1970s is red oak strip, which makes it the species to know if you are matching, extending, or refinishing rather than starting fresh.
Every red oak floor below is stocked or orderable through our North Bethesda showroom, installed by our own crews, and backed by the same workmanship warranty. Samples are free and they come to your house, because this is a decision nobody makes well under showroom lighting.
Comparing species? Look at white oak flooring, brazilian cherry flooring or mahogany flooring, or browse all engineered hardwood and solid hardwood.
1 line, 5 colours in red oak. Click a colour to see the floor installed, not just the swatch, and ask for the sample either way.
5 Colours · Natural
Also in 4.25" · order-in widths
A full 19mm of solid red oak at a traditional 3.25" width, matte-brushed so the grain reads as texture rather than shine.
Ask about this productThis is a selection, not the whole floor
Our North Bethesda showroom carries hundreds more hardwood samples across a dozen major brands, and we can order well beyond what is on display. If you have a colour, width, or finish in mind that is not shown here, ask. There is very likely a sample waiting for you.
Widths, too: most of these lines are milled in more than one, and the width listed on a product is the one we stock and photograph. Where a line offers others they are named on the card, and we order them in. Tell us the width you want and we will price it.
Red oak is the most available hardwood in America, and availability is a real feature rather than a consolation. It costs less than white oak in the same grade and width, every mill makes it, every finisher knows it, and a board to replace a damaged one can be had the same week rather than in eight.
The look is warm and it is emphatic. Red oak has the boldest grain of the common domestic species, with a strong cathedral figure in plain sawn boards and a light to medium brown colour carrying a pink undertone. That open, active grain is why a red oak floor absorbs the ordinary evidence of a household. Scratches and small dents disappear into the figure in a way they simply do not on a smooth, uniform, pale floor.
It is also the most forgiving species to refinish. It sands predictably, it takes a warm stain evenly, and the finishers in this region have been working with it for a century.
The hardness gap is not the story. Red oak rates 1,290 and white oak 1,360, a five percent difference nobody feels underfoot. Two other differences decide the choice.
The first is colour. Red oak has a pink undertone, and it comes through the finish. A cool grey or greige stain that looks right on a white oak sample goes muddy, mauve, or faintly purple over red oak, which is the single most common disappointment we are called in to fix. Warm colours, on the other hand, are better on red oak than on white: natural, gunstock, saddle, and chestnut all have a depth on it that white oak cannot match.
The second is water. White oak grows tyloses that plug its pores; red oak does not, and its pores run open end to end through the board. That makes white oak the sounder specification for a kitchen or a bath. In bedrooms, living rooms, halls, and stairs, which is most of a house, the difference never comes up.
Force needed to dent the board. Higher is harder. One shared axis, so the bars read against each other directly.
Pounds of force (lbf)
Red oak at 1,290 is the reference point on the Janka scale: when a manufacturer says a floor is "harder than oak", this is the number they mean. It is more than hard enough for a family floor, and its open grain hides the dents it does take better than a smoother, harder species does.
This is the work we do most often on this species, and it is worth being realistic about. An existing red oak floor has been ambering under daylight for decades, so new boards of the same species and grade will not match it out of the carton. They match after the whole floor is sanded and finished as one, which is why a repair and a refinish usually belong in the same project rather than in two.
Width and cut matter as much as species. Most older DMV floors are 2 1/4 inch strip, plain sawn, in Select or #1 Common; dropping a modern 5 inch plank into a patch in that floor will read as a patch forever. We match width, cut, grade, and direction, weave the new boards into the old rather than butting a rectangle into the field, and then sand the room as a single surface.
If the floor is sound, refinishing is almost always the better economics. A 3/4 inch solid red oak floor has five or six sandings in it, and most houses here have used two or three.
Not sure which board?
Tell us the room, the light, and the traffic it takes. We will narrow the red oak options to two or three and bring those samples to you.
Request free samplesRed oak is the incumbent here. If your house was built between the 1920s and the 1970s anywhere from Takoma Park to Arlington, the floor under the carpet is very likely 2 1/4 inch red oak strip, often in good enough condition to sand rather than replace. It behaves predictably through the local swing from a 25 percent humidity January to a 70 percent August, provided the boards are metered and acclimated in the room first. What it does not tolerate is standing water, so a red oak kitchen deserves a mat at the sink and a fast response to a leak.
That protocol is the same whether the floor is going into a Bethesda colonial, a Washington DC rowhouse, or a new build in Arlington. It is described in full on our hardwood installation page.
Red Oak is sold both ways, and the choice is usually made by the room rather than by the wood. Most of the red oak we stock is engineered, and the reason is on the right.
3/4 inch of red oak through its full thickness, nailed down above grade, and sandable six to eight times over its life. The floor you buy once for a main level.
Shop solid hardwood →A real red oak wear layer over a cross-ply core that holds flat where an exotic solid would move. Goes over concrete, below grade, and over radiant heat, which for an imported species in this region is very often the sensible specification.
Shop engineered hardwood →Every Red Oak floor we sell is installed, run up the stairs, and eventually refinished by our own crews. These are the three pages that describe that work.
Subfloor prep, moisture metering, acclimation, and the fastening schedule we use for red oak and every other species.
Treads, risers, and railings milled to match the floor, so a red oak landing does not stop at the top step.
Sanding, sealing, and recoating, including the grit sequences and finishes dense exotic species like red oak demand.
We are a Maryland showroom serving the whole DMV. Samples come to your house, and the crew that measures is the crew that installs.
Bethesda, Rockville, Potomac, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring, and Gaithersburg, out of our North Bethesda showroom.
Maryland service areas →Northwest DC, Georgetown, Capitol Hill, and the surrounding rowhouse and condo stock, where subfloor prep matters as much as the wood.
Flooring in Washington DC →Arlington, McLean, Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, and Tysons, with the same crews and the same moisture protocol.
Flooring in Northern Virginia →Neither, they are different tools. White oak is the better choice for grey, greige or natural finishes and for kitchens and baths, because it has no red undertone and its pores are plugged against water. Red oak is the better choice for matching an existing red oak floor, for warm traditional stains, and for value, since it costs less in the same grade and width and is available everywhere.
You can, but you should look at a sample on your own floor first. The pink undertone in red oak pushes cool greys toward mauve or purple, and the result is usually described as muddy. If grey is the goal, white oak is the species for it. If the existing floor is red oak and it has to stay, a reactive or two-step finish can get closer, and we will make a test panel in your room before committing to it.
A solid 3/4 inch red oak floor has roughly five to six sandings in it over its life, and most houses in this region have used two or three. Engineered red oak depends on its wear layer: at 3mm or more it will take two or three passes, and under 2mm it should be screened and recoated rather than sanded.
Not straight from the carton. Decades of daylight amber an oak floor, so new boards start lighter. They match once the whole floor is sanded and finished as one surface, which is why we usually pair a repair with a refinish of the room. We also match the width, cut and grade of the original, and weave new boards into the old instead of butting a rectangle into the field.
Yes. At 1,290 on the Janka scale it is the benchmark most floors are compared to, and its open cathedral grain hides the marks a household leaves better than a smoother, paler floor does. A matte or satin finish helps further, since a low sheen does not spotlight a scratch the way a gloss does.
Samples are free, always. We bring red oak to your home so you can hold it against your walls and your daylight, which is the only place this decision is ever actually made.
2020 Flooring
5550-F Nicholson Lane, North Bethesda, MD 20852
Mon–Wed 10–7 · Thu–Sat 10–6 · Sun 11–5
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Request Free In-Home ConsultFor over 25 years, residential and commercial members of the DC, Maryland, and Virginia community have trusted 2020 Flooring. Check out what our customers have to say!
5.0on Google“We had a last minute major issue in the flooring we selected from another flooring installer on our kitchen renovation and addition. We had initially loved another flooring choice that we saw at 2020 Flooring. Unfortunately we found out it had been discontinued. Carol from 2020 Flooring went above and beyond to help us locate the amount of LVP flooring we needed by scouring the country. She found just the right amount and was able to get the order expedited so we could continue on the time schedule with our general contractor. Bobby from 2020 Flooring was great in helping us remedy an issue with the subfloor. We now have the exact flooring we wanted which has made our new kitchen and addition complete. Can't thank them enough!”
“As an architect, from the moment we walked into 2020 Flooring, upon seeing a standout recommendation on NextDoor, I was immediately impressed with Bobby and Carol's technical expertise, friendliness and professionalism. They asked the right questions, took their time to weigh flooring options for us without pressure and worked hard to meet our budget for new floors for our townhome. They committed to a date for installation and made it work. Their crew, led by Mariano, was highly competent, discrete, meticulous and worked long hours to complete the job in time. They stand by their work proudly and their warranty is better than anyone else's. Our new floors are fabulous and we wholeheartedly recommend 2020 Flooring!”
“I spent many hours trying to select a quality vinyl floor with the right color combination for my house and Carol at IDESIGN made the job easy with a great selection that I am very satisfied with. In general IDESIGN carries a good selection of quality floors but the added value of Carol's design expertise made the difference and I greatly benefited from her help. Thanks Carol😊”
Reviews sourced from Google. 2020 Flooring was given permission to publish reviews on this site.
