Meet the Preservation Collection: Inspired by our best-selling floors with an 8-week lead time.
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French Oak floors are a popular design choice today as homeowners look for ways to create surfaces that truly stand apart. Like White Oak and Red Oak floors made with timbers grown in American forests, French Oak floors offer an ideal balance of beauty, strength, durability and stability.
French Oak floors can be expensive, however, as the wood must be sourced and shipped from Europe. For homeowners seeking a more affordable option – and one that prioritizes American jobs and businesses – White Oak is a highly desirable alternative.
White Oak tends to be slightly lighter than French Oak. The grain in a White Oak plank will likely be more even and consistent. But in every other aspect, a White Oak floor will be just as gorgeous and durable as any French Oak variety.
At Carlisle, you’ll find lots of options for White Oak floors and other wide plank surfaces that are every bit as unique as solid French Oak flooring. Our craftsmen can texture and stain White Oak planks to create the appearance of vintage French Oak flooring. Carlisle design consultants will walk you through all the benefits of Oak vs. Maple or Oak vs. Ash as well as unfinished White Pine flooring. And they’ll offer expert guidance as you choose the grade, width and color for your planks to design a floor that is the perfect expression of your sense of style and beauty.
Explore and select from our gallery of our most popular finishes, specially categorized by the personalities and traits of the floor designs.
ExploreA French Oak floor is a surface made with planks of wood that are cut from Oak trees that originate in France.
French Oak trees are grown in France, while European Oak may be grown in any European country.
While both French Oak and White Oak can create beautiful medium hardwood floors, French Oak floorboards tend to have a darker appearance than White Oak. French Oak also tends to feature more prominent grain patterns.
French Oak has a Janka hardness rating of 1360. It's the same hardness as White Oak, but slightly harder than Red Oak which has a rating of 1290.
White Oak and French Oak can both create beautiful, durable and stable floors. For American homeowners, however, a White Oak floor is likely to be less expensive as the floorboards are made with timbers grown in nearby forests rather than planks shipped from Europe. Investing in a White Oak floor helps to support local businesses and workers. And because it has a much shorter journey from forest to home, a White Oak floor helps reduce greenhouse gases and is more likely to arrive on time since there are fewer links in the supply chain.
Once your White Oak floor is ready to ship, it will be packaged with extraordinary care like a fine piece of custom furniture. We crate and dead-pack our floors in a Spruce wood crate, wrapping the boards in a moisture-protective material and securing them with steel bands to keep them from moving while in transit. Your wide plank Oak floor can be installed just like a standard hardwood floor – there will just be fewer boards to install. A combination of nails, staples and/or glue can be used, and a direct glue down installation may be possible as well. The best method for installing your floor will depend on the subsurface and several other factors.
When you place your order for your floor, you’ll receive a helpful tip sheet and instructions you can share with your installer. And throughout the installation process, your wide plank specialist is always available to answer questions and offer advice.
Every Carlisle wide plank floor is a unique work of art that is crafted to the exact specifications of the homeowner who commissions it. For over 50 years, we have consistently produced the finest wood floors in America using the highest quality raw materials available. We take enormous pride in our time-honored processes and in our ability to collaborate with each client to create a personalized, custom-made floor. Whether you select an Oak floor from our extensive, curated collections or design a floor that is uniquely yours, it will be fashioned in exactly the same way: one plank at a time.
The exceptional quality of our wide plank floors is matched only by the remarkable level of service we offer every customer. From selecting the right hardwood to choosing a stain and adding texture, we work closely with you to make sure that every detail of your Carlisle floor perfectly reflects your vision.
Our commitment to sustainability enables us to preserve natural resources while harvesting the most reliable timber from America’s finest forests. We work with a select group of growers and sawyers who share our commitment to sustainable forestry and help ensure that every plank will meet our exacting standards.
