As a division of Battle Lumber Company, we are able to control each crucial step of the manufacturing process from the forest to your foyer, ensuring the highest quality floor possible.

When lumber arrives at our Macon, Georgia facility, it is carefully inspected and stacked on sticks to begin the drying process. Lumber will spend about thirty days in our 2.25 million board foot pre-dryer before being moved to one of our eight SII dry kilns. Our kiln supervisor checks samples daily to monitor the progress of each kiln charge. No kiln will be unloaded until he is satisfied that the lumber has reached the ideal uniform moisture content for flooring.

After drying, lumber enters the production process. A moisture meter at the line’s infeed allows any board with residual high moisture to be removed and sent back to the kilns. The lumber is then ripped to the proper width, and a group of knot-sawyers remove undesirable defects.

Rough lumber becomes a piece of flooring when it then passes through our state-of-the- art Hasko Match-Master side matcher. This machine maintains tolerances of just a few thousandths of an inch at production speeds of up to 575 lineal feet per minute. Flooring destined to become part of our factory finished Homestead Collection is manufactured with a micro-bevel, while unfinished flooring will have square edges.

Flooring is then end-matched, graded, and packaged for shipment. Our flooring graders apply some of the toughest standards in the industry, and all parameters of the flooring are verified and documented throughout the manufacturing of the unfinished product. Flooring must then pass a final quality control inspection before being released for sale or moved to the finishing line.

The first and most important step in the finishing process is the sanding operation. This consists of a calibration sander, which removes .005” to .010” from the bottom of each board to ensure uniform thickness, and a surface sander, which removes .015” to .020” from the face of each board to prepare it for finishing. Sanded flooring will have a minimal overall variance in thickness. A cleaning brush removes any dust residue on the surface of the boards as they pass to the staining station.

The staining station consists of roller coaters, stain brushes and curing ovens. Configuration for proper application varies dependant on whether solvent-based or UV cured (100% solids) stains are being used. A curing oven is used to raise the surface temperature of the wood in order to create a consistent finish throughout the year. Any “raised grain” caused by the staining process is removed by a brush roller. BLC uses 100% solids stain whenever possible to reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

The flooring then passes through a coater which fills the open pores of the wood with a thin coating of UV cured material. Filling creates a smoother, more consistent surface on which to apply the remaining finish coats. After the filling station, the surface is smoothed once again with a brush roller.

A coat of high abrasion sealer and a second seal coat are applied next. This UV cured material provides the wear resistance guaranteed by our warranty. Each coat is cured independently and then brushed again for smoothness.

The final stations apply UV cured top coat material which contains ceramic particles for scratch resistance and gloss retention. Three coats are applied for a smooth and even finish. In order to ensure the best finished appearance, this portion of the finish line is encased in glass to prevent any particulates in the air from coming in contact with the flooring before it is fully cured. This entire process results in 2.5 to 2.8 mils of finish being applied to the flooring. The flooring is then allowed to cool so it can be safely handled by the quality inspection and packing team.

Each piece of finished flooring is examined for finishing and machining defects. Pieces that do not meet our exacting quality standards are removed from the process to be reworked or discarded.