If you’ve been considering having hardwood flooring installed in your home, you might be curious as to just what types of wood are available. The type of wood can make a difference in your decisions based on the hardness and durability and what you need inside your home. Harder woods are obviously going to stand up to heavy usage better than a softer wood would. But in a low-key environment, a softer wood may be just fine.
The most commonly used wood for flooring is northern red oak. It is hard and resistant to wear, though is not the hardest wood available for flooring. It is also used as a standard to which other hardwoods are compared when it comes to flooring. Hickory is about forty percent harder than red oak and is a good choice for areas of high traffic in the home. Hard maple is around ten percent harder than red oak and is the sort of flooring you might see in a bowling alley, for example.
Amazingly hard woods are ones such as Brazilian cherry, which is about one hundred and twenty percent harder than red oak. Brazilian maple is around one hundred eighty five percent harder. Clearly, they make very sturdy trees in Brazil. These woods are used for flooring and can be very expensive. They are also considered to be rather difficult to work with due to their extreme hardness.
There are softer woods available as well, though these tend to be used in very low traffic areas or as accent pieces rather than entire floors. Examples of these are southern yellow pine, which is nearly fifty percent softer than red oak, and cherry, which is about twenty five percent softer. While these are still viable choices for flooring, you must strongly consider the sort of durability your home requires. Softer woods are much easier to abuse and damage.
If you’re looking for just the right color, there are many options available. Cream colored shades come from wood such as pine, white ash, and maple. Medium cream to gold shades come from woods such as hickory, beech, birch, and white oak. Darker brown colors come from woods such as black cherry, Brazilian cherry, and walnut. Then there are woods that offer a range of colors, from purple to red to yellow hues, and come from mahogany, bubinga, and walnut burl. These are generally woods that are used for higher end flooring and are considered to be exotic.
Whatever your desire may be, chances are it’s available in some form when it comes to hardwood flooring in Fairfax. Make sure to research all of your options thoroughly before making a decision to ensure that you get the best look possible!
