These days, anyone and everyone seems to be selling some kind of hardwood flooring. We find that it's very frustrating to gain any real information as to the pros and cons of each of the different types that are available -( laminate, solid, engineered), since everyone seems to be saying something different. It is the goal of this website to help in sorting this information and increasing awareness.

An Educated Customer is a Happy Customer...

First, we would like to address the difference between hardness and durability of different types of wood. This is the area that most people have the most difficulty understanding. The following chart contains popular species of wood, showing their respective hardness's, listed from hardest to softest.

You will notice that out of the species shown, Brazilian Walnut is the hardest while Douglas Fir is the softest. It seems simple but if you use only hardness as your guide to durability, you will come to the conclusion that Brazilian Walnut is harder, therefore more durable than Douglas Fir. Not necessarily correct! The hardness of wood only has to do with how much denting will occur, not durability. 

The Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines durability as : able to exist for a long time without significant deterioration;

Technically, deterioration of a hardwood floor can solely occur if the surface of the floor is wearing down - i.e.. the finish, not the wood itself.  Dents, scratches, and similar types of abuse are not relevant when it comes to  durability.  The more durable a floor is, the longer the finish will last before requiring a re-coat. Meaning , it will take more abuse before it really begins to look poor.

Since the  durability of a hardwood floor is tied in solely to the finish that is applied onto the surface of the wood, and not the actual wood itself, we will cover the different types of finish later in this site. But remember, the durability of the floor depends on the type and quality of finish used, NOT the species of wood.

Back to hardness, the real question that one should ask, is HOW MUCH will the floor dent, not IF the floor will dent. See, the problem that most people have is because of all the new finishes available, most of them include Aluminum Oxide (or some variant thereof) they all now feel that the floor will be indestructible. Unfortunately, these misconceptions are being encouraged by some of the companies involved, but in the end, the flooring that we use is wood, and wood dents.  Therefore, no matter whether it's Brazilian Walnut or Douglas Fir - they will all dent and they will all scratch!

If that's not enough to mix you up - there's more! The different grains of wood will show the dents to different degrees. The 'closed grain' hardwoods (usually Maple, Birch, and Beech) have such a subtle grain, that they will show dents more than the open grained hardwoods. See the following table.

Hard Maple
Yellow Birch
Beech

Now, the 'open grain' hardwoods - Oak and Ash, might be a little softer than say Maple, but since they have such wild grains, the dents will show less.

Red Oak
Yellow Ash

Basically, what we're saying is that even though the Hard Maple is harder than Red Oak, since the maple is a closed grain wood, while the oak is an open grained product, they will show marking and denting very differently. Not something to be scared of, simply aware of.  It all comes back to what we have been saying for this entire page - wood dents.

Wood is a Living Product

We consider this to be true because even though the tree has been cut down, it still maintains a cellular structure that is effected by moisture.  The moisture to affect the wood could be in the air, the ground, or even the our sweat.  Different species of wood move more or less because of moisture. This chart shows species from most affected to least.

The numbers in the chart reflect the percentage of tangential shrinkage from green to ovendry moisture content for the various species. Tangential change values normally will reflect changes in plainsawn wood. These percentages are listed only as a means of comparison of stability between the species. As these values represent change from green to ovendry, actual percentage change on job sites will be drastically less.

Wow, what a mouthful!

The numbers themselves don't mean much to the end user of wood flooring, but basically what the chart is saying, is that a floor made with American Beech will have more movement than a floor made with Red Oak.  By movement, we mean that if the air gets too dry the boards will shrink, and you will notice gaps between the boards.  If there is too much moisture in the air, the boards will cup and the edges will be raised.

We can minimize the extremes of moisture in our homes by using humidifiers and de-humidifiers, but it will only minimize what will naturally happen.  In the winters, since our heaters are draining the air of all moisture, the floors will shrink slightly. In the summers, when there is a lot of moisture in the air, the floors will expand back to their original shape. This is called 'Seasonal Movement' up here in Canada.

That covers the more basic points that all consumers should be aware of prior to investing in a new wood floor - Hardness, Durability, and Stability. In the end, no specie of wood is superior to another; it is really a personal choice, as long as you know your floor's characteristics.

Also, for more information on the different species, please see the Wood Species section on this site.