Tamarack Flooring

Tamarack (Eastern Larch) is native to all of the Maritime Provinces. It is found in nutrient poor bogs and other poorly drained sites. It may be in pure stands or mixed with other species such as black and white spruce, northern white cedar, red maple, trembling aspen and white birch. Trees are medium in size, up to 25 meters (80’) high, 40 cm (16”) in diameter and slow growing unless on good sites (typically 150 years old). Trees have slender straight trunks, with small branches usually starting half way up the tree (good self pruning).

Tamarack wood is hard, strong and relatively durable. Tamarack is a thin sapwood species so most sawn products are mainly heartwood. The heartwood is light brown to green in colour with variegated pattern resulting from the contrast in colour between the early wood and the prominent late wood. One unique characteristic of tamarack is that the heartwood contains a very high (up to 20%) water-soluble extractives, primarily arabino-galactan. This species is ideal for exterior
applications where decay resistance is required.

Natural Grade

• Sound tight knots allowed
• No cracks, checks or open knots allowed
• Sap stain not allowed
• Minimum length of 12" (300 mm)
• Maximum length of 8' (2400 mm)

Rustic Grade

• Loose or cracked knots allowed
• Stain allowed
• Minimum length 12" (300mm)
• Checks allowed if they do not take from
  overall strength.