We always calculate the least expensive and most convenient option for getting your wood floor where it needs to go. Depending on your location, you have the following options:
Pick-Up or Hull Delivery
- If you live nearby and are trying to save money, you can choose to pick up your flooring with your own truck or trailer at our mill in Pomfret, Connecticut. We will help load the bundles during business hours Monday through Friday 8am-3pm. For your reference, hardwood flooring weighs an average of 3 lbs per square foot and pine flooring weighs 2 lbs per square foot.
- We deliver throughout New England and most of New York/New Jersey. If delivered out of state you will not be charged CT sales tax of 6.35%. We will arrive on the requested date and time with a confirmation the day before. You will need to have at least two people to carry planks off of the truck and into the house by hand. If it’s a large order (over 1000 square feet) you will need to provide one person for every 500 square feet of material. If elevators are involved, or if the distance from the truck to the residence is more than 75 feet, please let us know ahead of time. We try to avoid delivering in the rain and may need to re-schedule if the conditions are not ideal.
Common Carrier Drop Off
- If you live outside the New England/eastern New York/NJ area, your floor will likely be shipped via common carrier (unless you prefer to pick it up at our Connecticut mill). We compare rates with several carriers to get you the lowest shipping price. Most often your flooring is delivered by a common carrier in a box trailer truck. Please note that there are some locations (such as dirt roads, dead end streets, or cul de sacs) where these trucks cannot go; if this is the case, we will send the crates to a shipping depot in your area for you or your contractor to pick up locally. If you’d like to set up your own common carrier pickup, that can be arranged as well.
- When choosing a common carrier delivery, your least expensive option is to select a projected delivery date. In our experience, the projected delivery date turns out to be the actual delivery date about 75 percent of the time. The carrier will call on the requested arrival date and give you a window of hours when they anticipate delivery. Projected delivery requires some flexibility on your part, but it is the least expensive option with a common carrier.
- If you prefer or require an exact date and time for arrival, this option is available via common carrier, but there is an additional surcharge which varies depending on the distance and the size of the crates. Please let us know if timing is crucial and we will advise on the best options.
- Your floor will arrive in a custom-built wooden crate handmade by us to protect the planks in transit. We provide the crate at our cost, which is generally $250 per crate. Up to 1,000 square feet of flooring can be packed into a single crate at an average weight of 3 lbs per square foot for hardwood or 2 lbs per square foot for pine.
- The planks must be unloaded from the truck bed by hand as the crates are too large to offload with a lift gate. In order to open the crate you will need a claw hammer or pry bar and a pair of tin snips (to cut the metal strapping). It doesn’t take more than a few minutes to do so. Once opened, one person in the truck can hand down a stack of planks at a time for other people to carry into the home. With several people to help unload, you should be able to move 500 square feet per hour. Please arrange to have 2-3 people to help for every 1,000 square feet of flooring. Generally, the carrier gives you 1-2 hours to unload, depending on the number of crates. Unfortunately common carrier trucks do not offer forklift services. However, if yours is a building site with heavy equipment on hand, it can be used to pull the crates off.
- As you carry the material into your home, you will want to stack it in an area where it will be out of the way, on the opposite side of the room from where the installation will begin, or in an adjacent room. Consolidate the planks into neat and evenly stacked piles—separated by width if possible. Kiln dried acclimation sticks are available for $.04/sqft and are used to separate the layers of planks to maximize airflow on all four sides. It is not ideal for the flooring to sit in a garage or an outdoor covered area for an extended period of time. You’ll want to get it in the house as soon as possible so it can start acclimating in preparation for installation.
Please call 1-800-928-9602 or email us with any questions or concerns. We also offer comprehensive installation guidelines.