Project: Matching New Hardwood to Original Fir

Project location: Portland, OR

Materials used: Lauzon Natural Yellow Birch, 3.25 inch solid

Project Overview: Matching New Hardwood to Original Fir in Upstairs Bedroom

Our latest upper-level project came with a specific goal. The client wanted a new hardwood floor for their primary bedroom that would feel like it belonged with the fir flooring already running through the main level. That's a harder ask than it sounds. The new material had to read as part of the same home, not a mismatched addition, while also standing up to daily use in a way the original fir wasn't really built for.

Why Lauzon Natural Yellow Birch

After a few trips through our flooring store in Portland, Oregon, the client landed on Lauzon Natural Yellow Birch, 3.25 inch solid. Yellow birch is noticeably harder than fir, which made it a better fit for a bedroom that will see years of regular foot traffic and furniture. On the Janka scale, yellow birch comes in around 1,260 against roughly 660 for Douglas fir, so it's close to twice as resistant to denting from furniture legs and dropped objects. At the same time, its grain pattern, tone, and overall movement are close enough to the existing fir that the two floors read as a cohesive whole rather than two different eras of the house.

North American Sourcing

North American sourcing mattered to the client as well. Lauzon mills its hardwood domestically rather than importing it, and the client wanted to support that rather than bring in overseas material. Beyond the sourcing angle, it also meant more consistency in supply and lead times, which made planning the project easier on our end too.

Factory Finished Instead of Site Finished

They went with a factory-finished floor rather than site-finished, and for good reason. Finishing happens in a controlled environment at the plant, using equipment and curing processes that are hard to replicate on site. That typically means a harder, more even wear layer right out of the box, with less risk of the inconsistencies that can show up when a floor is finished in the home.

How We Installed It

We started with a new plywood subfloor rather than working over what was there. Panels went down perpendicular to the joists with seams staggered, glued and fastened roughly every 6 inches along the edges and 12 inches through the field, then checked for flatness within 3/16 of an inch over a 10 foot span. That fastening schedule is the difference between a floor that stays quiet and one that develops squeaks in year three.

Acclimation came next, and it's measured rather than timed. We took moisture readings across both the new subfloor and the birch until the two sat within about 2 percent of each other. New plywood can carry more moisture than people expect, and a solid floor laid in before the wood has equalized will either cup or gap once the house settles.

Boards were blind-nailed with cleats every 8 to 10 inches, racking from several boxes at once so the color variation blends instead of leaving a band where one carton ended. We undercut the door casings so the boards slide underneath, and left a 3/4 inch expansion gap at the perimeter. At the doorway, decades-old fir often sits lower than new 3/4 inch material, so we checked the height difference before setting the last row and handled the meeting point (with a flush transition / with a low-profile threshold).