Hardwood flooring can greatly enhance the warmth of your house, making hardwoods a wonderful, timeless choice for any home. There is a plethora of options to choose from, each offering a unique set of characteristics that separates itself from all the others.
Oak: Oak is the most common wood floor. Oak flooring is highly resistant to dents and deep scratches, making it a very popular choice for homeowners who like to avoid area rugs. It comes in a wide variety of stain colors and almost always has an obvious grain pattern.
Mahogany: Mahogany is a highly durable, water-resistant hardwood flooring. It’s most appreciated for its beauty and color, and mahogany advocates like to highlight its classic, timeless look.
Lyptus: Many people mistake Lyptus for mahogany. It’s significantly harder than oak, and it’s easy to mill and finish. The best part about Lyptus is it looks like mahogany but it’s less expensive.
Ash: When you see a light-colored hardwood floor, more often than not, it’s ash. Some professionals feel it’s the toughest and hardest wood on the market. Ash can be differentiated from hickory by white dots in the darker summerwood. It’s often less expensive than comparable hardwoods.
Hickory: Hickory is more common in rustic or log homes as it has one of the hardest exteriors of all the woods discussed here. Therefore, it’s ideal for homeowners who experience a lot of foot traffic in their home. Visually, hickory has a close grain without much figure.
Pine: Believe it or not, pine isn’t really a hardwood – it’s a character wood, quite popular due to its pinholes and knots. Pine is very soft, so it’s a great option for those who want hardwood but are unsure about the rough touch on their feet. This original character wood is neither the cheapest nor the most expensive on the market.
Cherry: Cherry is a type of wood that darkens as it ages. Like other woods, it can produce a great finish and is easy to maintain, but it can also be easily scratched. Cherry flooring has been used for many years in the construction industry and is one of the most common hardwoods.
Brazilian Cherry: Brazilian cherry wood, also called “Jatoba,” has a rich burgundy color and is also found in Mexico and Peru. Like ash, Brazilian cherry wood is extremely hard.
Walnut: Walnut flooring will make your home really shine, but that comes with a price. Walnut is very strong and durable, as it should be, given the price tag. It’s light to dark chocolate brown in color, with European walnut lighter in color and slightly finer in texture than American black walnut.
Rosewood: Rosewood contains some of the most unique grain patterns, with its colors ranging from light yellow to purple. Rosewood has been popular for centuries in furniture-making and has recently been turned into flooring planks. Believe it or not, you should be able to catch a hint of the smell of roses while standing on rosewood. No other wood flooring emits such a unique fragrance.
Maple: Undoubtedly, one of the most popular and widely known types of wood is maple. The curly grain is so hard, it’s often used for bowling alleys. If maple wood can hold up under those conditions, it can last a long time in any home. Its grain pattern is more subtle than many other woods and it can’t absorb dark stains very well. Over time, maple wood forms a yellow exterior.
Bamboo: Bamboo isn’t exactly hardwood, but many people label it as such. Though it’s harder than most hardwoods, bamboo is actually a form of grass. It comes in only two shades: a natural light-colored tint, or boiled or “carbonized” for a darker look. Though there are only two shades, there are a ton of color options due to its overall abundance.
There’s no shortage of choices when it comes to hardwood flooring. While many of the differences would go unnoticed to the untrained eye, each possesses distinct characteristics. It’s best to consult a professional to help you decide which one will work best for your home. W