Frequently Asked Questions

Our preferred source of hardwoods is our own Zena Forest, an FSC® certified forest that we have cared for since 1984. To supplement wood from the Zena Forest, we source lumber from nearby forests, using our purchasing power to encourage landowners to retain and restore their hardwood forests through careful and selective management.

We harvest individual trees throughout our 1,300-acre property, felling the second-best trunk in each cluster, and reducing competition for light and nutrients so the remaining trees can thrive. This continuous, careful forest management process takes time, combined with an intimate knowledge of the environment, yet the results last for generations. It prompts a gradual increase in total growth while protecting and cultivating the carbon contained within the forest floor and soil, so the trees endure for another 100 years or more. Through regenerative and restorative forestry, we carefully manage every step in the process to create an ecologically sustainable and economically viable forest – from the beginning stages of native seedling plantation to producing beautiful hardwood flooring. You can rest assured that every board is locally grown and sustainably managed right here at home.

Selective logging. No clear cuts, we remove struggling trees to make room for trees that are thriving. In essence, we are “adding by subtracting.”

Care for soil. Soil is our capital. We log with permanent skid trails, ensuring no machinery on the forest floor, which preserves the sponginess of the soil. Once soil has been compacted by heavy machinery, it never quite recovers. Uncompacted soil is a better environment for plants and retains groundwater.

Minimal herbicides. We remove invasives by hand with machetes, and only use herbicides in very limited and targeted cases for dealing with a couple hard to manage invasive species.

Waste management. Our entire facility uses a normal household garbage can, which we share with two households. It’s rarely full. None of our manufacturing byproducts go to the landfill. Our sawdust is used by mushroom growers. Small cutoffs power our kilns’ furnace, get sold as firewood or are donated to local school woodshop programs.

Conscientious sourcing. We use our purchasing power to encourage sustainable forest practices. We give preference to logging projects where hardwoods are being retained and restored, and we pay 30 percent more for these logs. It’s our way of making sure there will be hardwoods in the valley long into the future.

Policy advocacy. We are actively engaged in natural resources and land use policy. Healthy forests provide a wide range of benefits to all Oregonians, and are a diminishing, yet vital part of what makes Oregon so great. Part of our mission is to make sure these forests are still around to support future generations.

It is, and it’s spectacular. Zena Forest is a large, mixed species forest just outside Salem, Oregon. It is the largest patch of contiguous forest remaining in the Willamette Valley. Our family has been sustainably managing this forest for more than 30 years, and has always managed for the overall health of the ecosystem: flora, fauna and soil. In recent decades, we’ve been paying special attention to increasing the complexity and resilience of the forest to withstand the effects of climate change.

While the Zena Forest is our anchor resources and testing ground for innovation, we’re proud to source wood beyond the bounds of the Zena Forest (within a 60-mile radius) to ensure we’re having a meaningful impact on forestlands throughout the Pacific Northwest.

At Zena Forest Products, we have a genuine regard for the unique needs of clients, and the aesthetic they have in mind, so we craft hardwood products with exacting quality assurance standards. Each board is handled, milled and processed individually by our team before shipping. This intimate understanding of the client project (whether a home or commercial space) enables us to provide personalized recommendations, solve issues, stay nimble, and add unique value from hardwood sourcing to installation.

Yes. In fact, we pride ourselves on using only native wood from Oregon’s Willamette Valley for all our flooring.

Our hardwood flooring comes from locally grown Oregon white oak, Western bigleaf maple and Oregon ash.

We offer two grades of engineered flooring:

Character: uses the full scope of the tree and all its inherent dimensions, like knots.

Select: omits major distinctions and limits sapwood.

Each type of hardwood has its own characteristics of color, grain and density. Oregon white oak is the densest of the three species and has bright white sapwood contrasting with darker heartwood. Bigleaf maple has a wide spectrum of interesting colors and figured grain while Oregon ash has light- to medium-brown and honey colors often with lots of marbling. Words don’t do this wood justice. Ask us to see samples or look at our Flooring page to see pictures.

Yes, we love being part of these projects! Forest Stewardship Council® certified products are available by request; we also have a Declare Label we can provide. All our wood is locally grown and manufactured, so it's a perfect fit for all sustainability certifications.

Our flooring is sold unfinished, allowing you to pick the finish that works best for your use patterns and color palette. It needs to be sanded and finished on site. This makes a better quality, longer lasting floor that is much more water resistant and doesn’t have any distracting grooves between boards.

There are many finishes on the market. Talk to your installer or designer to help narrow down the options. Be sure to look for non-toxic, UV protected, low VOC products. Our two cents: we tend to like simple, waterborne finishes like Pallman’s Pall-X 96.

Our flooring comes random length. Our boards come between 2’ to 8’ long, with the majority of them being over 6’.

If you're hoping for something that we don’t stock, let's talk. Keep in mind that custom runs require longer lead times and full payment upfront.

No, we don’t. The natural character inherent in our local species is plenty interesting on its own. We prefer to sell unblemished flooring and let your lifestyle give it a one-of-a-kind patina over generations.All of our floors will include a combination of quarter, rift and flat sawn cuts.

Certainly. Arrange a mill visit, or contact us to have samples mailed to you.

We don’t install, but we have a network of trusty installers who we can recommend. Contact us for a recommendation in your area.

Mixed width floors, also called variable width, best represent the variety inherent in trees. Any given log will produce boards of varying sizes, so variable width floors do a better job of using all the wood a tree has to offer without waste. As for install, many folks choose to lay the widths randomly. You can also lay the boards in a pattern, and we make it easy by including a laying pattern that makes sure you don’t run out of one width before another. Still seems confusing? Call us—it’s not as tricky as it sounds.

Our engineered flooring has a4mm wear layer of sandable material. Depending on the use and care of your floor over time, this gives you 4-5 sandings before you run out of wood. With regular wear and tear, you should figure on a refinish every 30 years, which will give you a floor that will last many generations.

It’s easy. For small spills, just a little soap and water with a rag or sponge will do the trick. Be sure to wipe the floors dry with a towel after cleaning. For routine cleaning, sweep with a broom or use a dust mop. Don’t clean your hardwood floor with a wet mop or a steam cleaner. These will damage the floor over time.

We gravitate away from making a solid product for a number of beneficial reasons and even wrote a blog on the topic: Solid vs Engineered Flooring. The main bullet points to this continued decision are higher performance, less movement, less susceptibility to moisture retention, the ability to the apply over radiant heating without obstruction, and perhaps most importantly, we are using 2/3 less of a precious slow growing resource on a substrate you will never use or see—making this a far more sustainable product than the alternative.

Our engineered flooring is made from real wood and has a thick wood wear layer that can be sanded and refinished for generations. While laminate flooring is simply a very thin layer of plastic with a picture of wood printed on it and glued to low-grade substrate.

We partner with Trillium Pacific Millwork in Hubbard, OR. to make our engineered flooring. They use a massive glue press to adhere the two parts of the floor together with a CARB II compliant no added urea formaldehyde Type II glue that is made in Woodburn, OR. In other words, it's the best and most non-toxic glue available. Please feel free to ask for our “red list friendly” Declare Label.