SYP Direct is Southern Pine

Southern Yellow Pine is not a species, no it is a dozen species and the word Yellow, it inidates one the “hard” pines. The majority of our business is unfinished flooring sold directly to homeowners who come to  SYP Direct after seraching local to no avail. Many times these customers have never seen new heart pine, knotty pine  or worse believe that white pine or the local lumber yards are comparable to our flooring.   The fact that we are an A+ rated Better Business Bureau rated company would be remarkable in any business but selling real wood online it is amazing. We tell the truth, get you the most your money can buy and in marketplace dominated by single use floor covers, we sell floors that outlive your house.

Why buy from SYP Direct?

1. Quality & Price = Value

2. Trust (and verify)

3. Pine flooring experts

4. Customer Service

5. Finish to order option

Value- At SYP Direct we differentiate ourselves by the species of our materials, the quality of our millworks and the honesty of our sales process. To put it simply, we have the same (small) margins in every floor we sell. And, do not underestimate the value of longboards. Short chopped up floors can be gorgeous but they do not have the cache of long runs which scream ‘expensive’. 

Trust and Verify- Trust our A+ Rating and online reviews and verify by getting local references. That’s right, odds are SYP Direct has multiple customers close to you, unless you are in MT, ID, SD or ND where nobody is really close to anyone. However, we have great customers in those states too! Being able to trust that you are getting the most for your money is a great feeling, and one that is increasingly harder to obtain. Not with us; our mission is 100% satisfaction which includes, product, price and experience. 

Pine Flooring Experts- Southern Pine represents about 5% of the flooring market, and unfinished pine is a small piece market. It is heavy, long and unprofitable compared to engineered and LVT floors. Very few flooring installation professionals understand Southern PIne or Heart pIne. We do, and with over 3 million square feet delivered to homeowners our experience is unmatched when talking about pine floors. 

Customer Service-There is no mention of customer service at SYP Direct without mentioning Heather. Southern charm and manners are the first thing you may notice with product knowledge a close second. From your first source of information, navigating you to the right person acting as shipping concierge for your delivery. It is the last one that might go unnoticed but when dealing with common carriers the pitfalls can cost money. SYP Direct does not own trucks, we utilize LTL routes with trusted common carriers. Even so, it seems some issues need attention with 20% of shipments. The amount of money Heather has saved our customers versus shipping themselves cannot be accurately estimated, not even close.

Custom Finish aka finish to order- Our partnership with Premiere Finishing of Reidsville, NC. gives homeowners to access a state-of-the-art flat line finish, i.e. factory, using our floors. What does that mean? Your floors will not be short boards with an average of 24” like the box stores. Our process is an ala carte’ menu of extras that allows you to create your own custom floor, using the latest UV technology. The amount of money this saves each customer is a direct correlation with their zip code. For instance, wide plank New Heart Pine in Manhattan is going to save the buyer more money than when we send it to South Carolina, or any other place in country compared to that zip code

White Oak and Walnut

This is a classic old school hardwood floor 3” tongue and groove Black Walnut. To be honest, we sell much more White Oak than Walnut, but this rustic look has always been one of my favorites.

SYP Direct does not shop sources for hardwoods. We found them when they inquired with us about Heart Pine. Because SYP Direct gives you a 100% satisfaction guarantee and a coverage gurantee our source must be top of the line and consistent with grades, or we risk going out of business replacing floors.

Real wood is the Green choice

The problem with Carpet

Most carpet fibers are a form of plastic produced by the petrochemical industry. As these carpet fibers break down in landfills they release methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gasses along with a variety of chemicals unsafe for ground water. What are petrochemicals? In short, they are chemical compounds derived from petroleum and natural gas. Without getting off track, laminate and LVT are a bi-product turned profitable by companies like Dupont and Exxon.

How much carpet is being put into our landfills?

Decomposing carpet holds an impressive and increasing percentage of total landfill tonnage. The E.P.A. estimates that every year, about 5 billion pounds of carpeting go into landfills. That’s 1 to 2 percent of the total U.S. landfill contribution, or 17 pounds of carpeting per person. (Don’t Sweep Carpet’s Eco-Impact Under the Rug - The New York Times (nytimes.com). However, in 2028 laminate will over take carpet and that is not an improvement, unless you are a shareholder.

Real wood is green

LVT = PVC

Plastic by any other name is still PVC

PVC stands for polyvinyl chloride, a versatile and widely used synthetic thermoplastic polymer known for its durability, resistance to chemicals and corrosion, and ability to be made in both rigid and flexible forms.

Ask search is LVT and PVC are same thing?

“PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) is the base material used to make vinyl flooring, including LVT (Luxury Vinyl Tile), but LVT is a specific type of vinyl flooring.” (June 2025). Well, that is some marketing double talk nonsense. Read it again if necessary but the point is LVT is PVC with pretty colors.

The real problem is not straws

In 2018, in response to a viral video of a plastic straw being removed from a sea turtle’s nose, plastic straws were banned in communities throughout the world. Experts estimate that 500 million single-use plastic straws are used every day, making up a sizable portion of the plastic products thrown away daily. By comparison, in 2024, 5.8 billion square feet of plastic flooring were sold. A little simple math reveals that equates to 15.9 million square feet per day. And since most plastic flooring has a warranty of only 5-10 years, and most cannot be recycled, that translates to a lot of plastic straws. A lot. In fact, just 1,000 square feet of luxury vinyl tile equates to about 570,000 plastic straws. At 15.9 million square feet daily, that equates to more than 9 billion plastic straws each and every day.

Antique or Antiqued?

‘Antiqued’ – The age a floor should reach before being called an antique has always been my first question, but this point is about the fact that Antiqued Heart Pine is not old at all, even by the marketing terms they use; if you know how to speak flooring. Antiqued is a finish style not an age description.So that little d really matters!

What is the difference between salvaged and reclaimed?

Reclaimed – Once more unless you do some research or have an honest flooring company, you might not understand the original definition. Repurposed, reclaimed means repurposed such as a beam being repurposed into flooring. It does not mean flooring turned into flooring, big difference scarcity, quality, and (should be) price.

Salvaged Flooring- Is simply old flooring taken up and sold in a variety of thickness and state of salvage. For example, along with the holes check for the nails too. Many times, the board looks 5’ but with the ends butchered much of the board will not sustain any new finish or install. 30% waste is safe in this market. Know your source, see the materials, and understand the provenance.

Antiqued floors- edges and face nailing

Caribbean Heart Pine easy to age

Caribbean Heart Pine is the great substitute, “tell them it came out of Benjamin Franklin’s boyhood home, and they will never know it”.  The question: create the age or pay for it, i.e., Antiqued New or Antique Reclaimed Heart Pine. The d added to antique means a process not a declaration of age. In fact, Antiquing is the act of creating age, which becomes much easier with the right materials. Caribbean Heart Pine meets all the criteria in either grade, prime or rustic. 

““I was extremely pleased with the product and service. We ordered 3,000 SQ of Caribbean heart pine, it looks gorgeous. Furthermore, the floor has held up very well to scratches from several large dogs. Jason and Heather were both extremely informative, friendly, and helpful and were amazingly effective communicators throughout the entire process — and followed up after shipment to make sure we were satisfied. I highly recommend this company and its product and have referred them to others. “(John S. 2017)
”

— John Sheppard 2017

Southern Pine is not a species

Southern Yellow Pine is not a species, but rather a description. Within this region grow ‘hard' pines (yellow) and soft pines (white); color is an attempt to distinguish the Yellow or “hard pines” from the Eastern White Pine or Red Pine. Inside of the Southern Yellow Pine geographic range are four major species: Shortleaf, Longleaf, Loblolly, and Slash, with another 8-9 sub species bringing the total to a baker’s dozen. And no, not all pine is created equal, not when you are talking about walking on it!

New Heart Pine before and after stain

Southern Pine uses

Southern Yellow Pine is a cornerstone in residential construction because of its strength, affordability, and adaptability. SYP is one of the strongest softwoods in North America, with a high strength-to-weight ratio, excellent bending and compression strength, and superior load-bearing performance. SYP’s natural beauty and durability make it ideal for rustic and traditional hardwood flooring. It’s also commonly used in subfloor systems due to its stiffness.

Sustainable and Eco-friendly

Fast growing, abundant and coniferous; anyone remember that term from science class? It means they do not have to be planted, the cones produce seeds when they fall. For this reason alone Southern Yellow Pine is among the most sustainable softwoods grown in the U.S.

What is New Heart Pine

What is New Heart Pine? 

New Heart Pine is not new at all, not compared to dimensional lumber or farmed pine. While it is true the longleaf pines of old were allowed to grow hundreds of years and develop dense hearts, trees grown today do still develop some heartwood. The term Heart Pine refers to the non-living “heart” of a pine tree, as opposed to the outer living layers, known as sapwood. A pine tree’s heartwood is highly valued and preferred by many woodworkers and builders, because it is strong, hard, and has a beautiful reddish-gold color. Heartpine is a grade given to flooring with more than 50% visible heart content on the face over every board.

What is the difference between prime and rustic grade Caribbean Heart Pine?

The main difference between rustic and prime grade Caribbean Heart Pine flooring is the presence and size of knots and sapwood, which affects the color variation and overall character of the wood.

Prime Grade: This grade is more uniform in color, with a range from golden to reddish-brown. It has very few, tiny pin knots and limited sapwood, giving it a more classic and elegant look.

Rustic Grade: This grade features more and larger knots, along with more sapwood. This results in greater color variation and a more distinct "character" or "rustic" appearance, though it's not considered lower quality.

Ford Dealership South Florida

A great substitute for Antique Heart Pine

Caribbean Heart Pine is considered a good substitute for Antique Heart Pine because it has the right characteristics and materials to be "antiqued," meaning a process can be applied to it to create the aged look and feel of reclaimed antique heart pine.

Caribbean Heart Pine floors and ceiling

Unlike our New Heart Pine, the grades are not sorted based on heart content but rather knot frequency and the rustic grade will more color variation and character. The rustic grade will have more frequent knots and the sapwood will generally be within this grade. The select or prime grade will have in frequent knots, a darker color, and a more consistent color range. Tongue and Groove and End Matched One-to-twelve-foot lengths with average 6-8’.