FAQ

No.  Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooring is the manufacturer.  However, we do have great relationships with top installers across the country and can help you find someone in your area to finish & install your floors. Find NWFA & Bona certified installers and more on our Resources & Downloads page.

It depends on where you live.  We do have some exclusive customers and stocking distributors in various parts of the country that we sell through. Give us a call and let us know where you are.  We’ll let you know how or where you can purchase our flooring. 

The sooner the better! Our flooring is sourced from our own sawmill and dry kilns to ensure top quality. As of 2022 we are recommending you order 8-10 weeks before you need the floor.   We will happily hold your flooring if we have your order finished before you are ready for delivery.  

We may have options in stock.  If you need something quicker please call and discuss options available with our sales team. 

• It improves air quality.
• Reconnects us to nature.
• Improves emotional state.
• Reduces Stress.
• Wood is the only renewable building material
• Long-term store of carbon. Helps fight climate change.
• Low energy used in production.
• Increases the value of your home.
• Will last 100+ years.

Rift & Quarter Sawn creates a superior hardwood floor due to how the lumber is sawn at the mill.  This cut changes the visual appearance of the face of the board and it creates a more dimensionally stable floor. Plain Sawn is the commodity cut that most mills offer. Learn more about our cutting and grading capabilities on our Hardwood Cutting & Grading 101 page.

Quarter Sawn – The annual rings are at 90° angle to the surface of the board and has flecks or tiger stripe characteristics on the face from the medullary rays.

Rift Sawn – The annual rings are closer to 45° angle to the surface of the board. Rift has a very straight & tight grain, with a clean modern look.

Boards are often a mix of rift and quartered in each board, as trees do not grow perfectly straight. We cannot guarantee any percentage of rift or quartered in the R&Q mix. However, due to of how the logs are cut, the narrower widths naturally have a higher percentage of rift figure, and wider planks typically have a higher percentage of quartered figure.  However, there are exceptions to the rule.   If we have another order for a 3” rift only at the same time as we are running your 3” rift & quarter sawn order, there may be less rift than normal in the rift & quarter sawn mix.   If you want to be sure to have a certain percentage of quartered figure or rift only, it is recommended to order a percentage of the Rift Only or Quartered Only sort and have it mixed throughout your R&Q floor.

One of the benefits of buying solid R&Q or live sawn is the stability of each board. Two huge factors in the stability of your floor are how AMHF lumber is dried at the sawmill and how the lumber is cut. AMHF also has engineered flooring available.

As a homeowner, you do have some responsibility to keep conditions in your house regulated. Wood flooring performs best with a relative humidity of between 35-50% and a temperature between 60-80 degrees. When installing wide planks, we recommend following NWFA installation guidelines and gluing & nailing the floor.

Yes! When installing anything over radiant heat we recommend the use of a Fid Box, a device that is installed beneath the floor. This device acts as a data logger that will allow the home owner to monitor the rooms conditions. Our floor has been installed successfully over all types of radiant heat, but we have recently done control tests with ThermoSoft. 

Solid R&Q and Live Sawn are excellent options over radiant heat. Typically engineered floors have been recommended over concrete, but new developments in adhesive and the installation process have some installers confident in laying solid ¾” hardwood on concrete. Engineered floors are still mostly recommended for below ground level.

AMHF is a very “green” flooring product. We are 100% FSC Certified – growing at least 3 times as many trees as we harvest. We practice “zero waste” in our manufacturing process and the final hardwood flooring product (even after it’s been shipped throughout the country) is a carbon negative product. Producing our hardwood flooring uses less energy to than other flooring products on the market and will last generations longer than any other flooring option available.

Hardwood is an excellent choice because it is easy to clean, making it a great option for cleaning up after kids and pets. Hardwood flooring also improves the air quality of your home. In general, White Oak, Red Oak, Beech, and Hickory are the best options for your home because of their hardness.  A floor with knots and character will help hide marks, dings and scratches. Talk with your installer about the finish that works best for your situation. Small actions like trimming dogs’ nails and placing rugs at entry doors will drastically help maintain the beauty of the wood floor. The wonderful thing about hardwood flooring is that it can be refinished!  You can live with the floor, even with a few scratches, for years.  When then kids are all grown and out of the house you can refinish the floor and it will look brand new.  It’s less expensive and much easier than totally replacing a floor after 10 years because it was destroyed by children & pets. 

Absolutely! Site finished floors are best for a kitchen, so you don’t have any micro bevels and small gaps where liquid could leak into your subfloor. Hardwood flooring is softer than tile, your back will thank you for choosing hardwood in your kitchen.

Yes, we do offer a custom prefinish. We strongly believe that the beauty and customization in a site finish is far superior than a prefinish, however, we understand in certain situations that a prefinish floor is necessary. We also work with builders to do custom prefinish colors for housing developments. Contact us directly to learn more.

We do! Our engineered is typically unfinished with a wear layer that can be sanded and finished multiple times just like a solid.  Options in 4mm or 6mm.  We recommend engineered for below grade installation.

We highly recommend hiring a professional flooring installer, especially one that is NWFA certified.  However, it’s not uncommon for us to sell to homeowners who install the flooring themselves.

We require a 30% deposit when you place the order and payment in full before shipping for new customers unless we have set up other terms.   We take cash, checks, and all major credit cards.

All wood flooring is NOT created equal. From the location in which the trees are grown, to how the logs are cut, dried, manufactured and graded all play a crucial role in how that floor will perform and look in your home. A cheaper hardwood flooring may create problem after installation, and when you’re living on it you can have major headaches (cupping, gapping, delaminating, etc.) You could even run into the possibility of moving everything out of your home, paying for a whole new floor, and having a professional reinstall. A slightly less expensive, lower quality floor can end up costing you a lot more in the long run.

We work with builders and home renovators who consistently tell us that they can get a higher sale price on the home and sell the home more easily because of the quality and beauty of our hardwood flooring. We also have had a booth at the local Pittsburgh Home Show since 2000. Every year, we have past customers stop by and tell us how happy they still are with their flooring.

Flooring installers will continue to recommend our product after the very first use. Some installers charge homeowners LESS to install our floor because of the quality. Installing is faster, lengths are longer, and there is much less waste than most other flooring products on the market. Our milling is premium, so the sanding process may be quicker.  We have all types of price points for our flooring. A 2 ¼” or 3” natural RQ red oak is an incredibly good value.   8” clear RQ white oak 7’-12’ will be more expensive.   Our sales team is happy to work with you using various widths, lengths, grades and species to find the best flooring option for your budget and style. Our flooring is worth your investment.

Don’t believe us?   Check out our reviews on Houzz, Facebook or Google.