The floor almost every design brief starts with
White oak has been the default specification in this region for a decade, and the reason is its colour. It carries no red, so it takes a grey, a greige, a natural matte oil or a smoked finish without fighting back. It is also the more water resistant of the two American oaks, which is why it turns up in kitchens and baths where red oak once would not have been considered.
Every white 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 red oak flooring, brazilian cherry flooring or mahogany flooring, or browse all engineered hardwood and solid hardwood.
3 lines, 10 colours in white oak. Click a colour to see the floor installed, not just the swatch, and ask for the sample either way.
4 Colours · Cheverny
The widest plank we stock at 7.5". European white oak, wire brushed, on an engineered core that keeps a board this wide flat over slab.
Ask about this product5 Colours · Natural
Also in 2.25", 3.25" · order-in widths
Solid white oak at a wide 5", low gloss, in five stains from bleached to saddle. A full 19mm that refinishes for decades.
Ask about this product
1 Colour · Olympia
Also in 3.25" · order-in widths
Rift and quarter sawn white oak in a herringbone block, smooth-faced and ultra-matte, with a 3.2mm wear layer and Lauzon’s Titanium and Pure Genius finishes.
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.
White oak is the neutral. Its beige to light brown heartwood carries olive and taupe undertones rather than pink, so a cool grey stain stays grey on it, a white wash stays white, and a natural matte oil reads as bare wood rather than as a colour choice. Red oak cannot do that, and the difference is visible in the first ten minutes of a sample sitting on your floor.
The grain is tighter and straighter than red oak, and the figure changes with the cut. Plain sawn white oak gives the familiar cathedral pattern; rift and quarter sawn gives a straight, linear grain with flecked medullary rays and almost no cathedrals, which is what a herringbone floor or a very wide plank needs to read as geometry rather than noise.
It is also the wide plank species. Most 5, 7, and 9 inch floors on the market are white oak, in solid and engineered, and the engineered constructions are what make those widths practical over concrete, below grade, and over radiant heat.
White oak rates 1,360 on the Janka scale against red oak at 1,290. On its own that gap is academic: five percent is not something anyone feels. What matters more is the cell structure. White oak grows tyloses, a natural crystalline growth that plugs the pores, and those plugged pores are why white oak holds wine and whisky in a barrel and why red oak, whose pores run open end to end, cannot.
In a house, that translates into a floor that tolerates a spill, a wet boot, and a dishwasher leak noticeably better than red oak, and a floor we are comfortable specifying in a kitchen or a powder room. It is not waterproof and no hardwood is, but it buys you time that red oak does not.
White oak is also the more dimensionally stable of the two American oaks, which matters here. Indoor humidity across Bethesda, Washington DC, and Arlington runs near 25 percent in January and 70 percent in August, and every extra point of stability is one fewer winter gap.
Force needed to dent the board. Higher is harder. One shared axis, so the bars read against each other directly.
Pounds of force (lbf)
American white oak rates 1,360, a little above red oak and comfortably above what a family floor needs. European white oak is the softer of the two at roughly 1,120 to 1,290, a difference you will never feel underfoot but should know before you pay more for it.
Wide plank is the part people underestimate. A 7 inch board telegraphs a subfloor that a 2.25 inch strip would have hidden, so flatness tolerance matters more, and most wide solid white oak wants glue assist alongside the nail schedule. We flatten to spec, meter the slab and the wood, and let the boards acclimate in the room they will live in before anything is fastened.
On the finishing side, white oak is one of the most forgiving species to stain and one of the easiest to get wrong. Its open early grain drinks stain unevenly if the floor is sanded too coarse, which is what produces a blotchy grey. We water pop where the colour calls for it, step through the grit sequence, and sample the finish on your own floor in your own light before committing the room.
Both are genuine white oak, and a quote will often say nothing more than "white oak" for either. They are different woods to live with and they are not priced the same, so it is worth knowing which one you are being shown. We carry both and will put the two samples side by side for you.
Quercus alba
Grown in the Appalachians and the Midwest, graded by clear face the way American hardwood always has been. It is slightly harder, slightly cooler in tone, and more uniform board to board. It is the one available as a true solid 3/4 inch floor, which matters if you want a floor that can be sanded five or six times over fifty years.
Best forSolid floors, site-finished colour, matching a renovation to an existing American oak floor
Quercus robur and Quercus petraea
Grown in France, Germany, Croatia, and Ukraine, graded by character rather than by clear face, and sold almost entirely as engineered wide plank. Warmer and more golden in tone with more visible knots and mineral streaking in the character grades, and available in widths and lengths American oak is rarely milled to.
Best forWide plank, long boards, wire brushed and fumed prefinished looks, engineered over concrete or radiant heat
| Specification | American White Oak | European White Oak |
|---|---|---|
| Janka hardness | 1,360 lbf | Roughly 1,120 to 1,290 lbf |
| Tone | Cooler beige-brown, olive undertone | Warmer, more golden brown |
| Character | More uniform; grading counts clear face | More knots, streaking and colour movement; graded by character |
| Typical widths | 2 1/4" to 7" | 6" to 10", sometimes wider |
| Typical lengths | To about 7 feet | To 8 feet and beyond |
| Grading language | Select & Better, #1 Common, #2 Common | Prime, Select, Natur, Rustic, Character |
| Construction | Solid or engineered | Almost always engineered |
| Usually finished | Prefinished or site-finished | Prefinished, commonly wire brushed, fumed, or oiled |
| Relative cost | Lower | Higher, often considerably |
What they share is the thing that makes white oak worth buying: no red undertone, plugged pores, good stability, and a grain that takes a low-sheen finish beautifully.
Wide plank engineered European oak, graded by character rather than by clear face. These are the lines to look at if you want a long, wide, wire brushed board with visible knots and colour movement.
4 Colours · Cheverny
The widest plank we stock at 7.5". European white oak, wire brushed, on an engineered core that keeps a board this wide flat over slab.
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.
Not sure which board?
Tell us the room, the light, and the traffic it takes. We will narrow the white oak options to two or three and bring those samples to you.
Request free samplesWhite oak is the species we put into DMV kitchens, and it is the one we recommend when a house runs humid in August without much help from the HVAC system. It is not a licence to skip the protocol. We still meter the subfloor and the boards, acclimate in the room, and set expansion gaps for the widest condition rather than the average one, and on a 7 inch plank we do all of that more carefully, not less.
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.
White Oak is sold both ways, and the choice is usually made by the room rather than by the wood. Most of the white oak we stock is engineered, and the reason is on the right.
3/4 inch of white 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 white 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 White 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 white oak and every other species.
Treads, risers, and railings milled to match the floor, so a white oak landing does not stop at the top step.
Sanding, sealing, and recoating, including the grit sequences and finishes dense exotic species like white 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 →Both are genuine white oak. American white oak (Quercus alba) is slightly harder at 1,360 on the Janka scale, cooler and more uniform in tone, graded by clear face, and available as a true solid floor. European white oak (Quercus robur and petraea) rates roughly 1,120 to 1,290, runs warmer and more golden with more knots and streaking, is graded by character, comes in wider and longer boards, and is sold almost entirely as engineered wide plank at a higher price.
For a grey, greige, white or natural matte finish, yes, because white oak has no red undertone to fight. It is also marginally harder and considerably more water resistant thanks to the tyloses that plug its pores. Red oak is the better buy when you are matching an existing red oak floor, when the budget is tight, or when a warm traditional stain is what you want anyway.
It is the hardwood we are most comfortable specifying in one. The plugged pores that make white oak the barrel timber also make it tolerate a spill or a wet boot better than red oak. It is not waterproof, so a dishwasher failure still has to be dealt with quickly, but it buys you time.
That is almost always red oak. Its pink undertone pushes a cool grey toward purple or mauve. On white oak a grey stays grey. The other cause is a floor sanded too coarse before staining, which lets the open early grain drink colour unevenly, and that one is a process problem rather than a species problem.
It is if you want what it uniquely offers: boards 8 to 10 inches wide and 8 feet long, character grading with visible knots, and the wire brushed, fumed and oiled prefinished looks the European mills specialise in. If you want a 5 inch board in a clean, uniform, site-stained colour, American white oak gets you there for less.
Engineered white oak does, and it is what we specify for basements, slab-on-grade rooms, and any floor over radiant heat. Solid white oak is a nail-down, above-grade floor. Most wide plank white oak sold in this region is engineered for exactly that reason.
Samples are free, always. We bring white 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
We'll bring the showroom to you! Request a free in-home consultation and browse samples in the comfort of your own home.
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.
