If you re interested in buy it for life wood flooring you re going to need to make hardness and scratch resistance a priority in the hardwood flooring industry the janka hardness test is the standard approach to measuring how resistant a wood sample is to both denting and wear.
Which species hardwood is scratch resistant.
Brazilian cherry is a good example.
You should remember that the wood is only part of the equation.
Most scratch resistant wood flooring.
Best waterproof wood flooring.
By penetrating the top layers of the wood it guards against oxidation seals the board s top surface and adds a scratch resistant layer to hardwood floors.
Avoid soft wood.
Options for dog owners.
However brazilian hardwood flooring is universally hard and dense.
Their soft nature makes them to scratch and dent easily.
Some wood species are much softer than others.
Harder more durable and scratch resistant species include brazilian cherry brazilian walnut and hickories.
Commonly used soft wood species for flooring include the following.
Brazilian cherry a more exotic species ranks 2 350.
Whenever you want the hardest hardwood domestic species tend to be the way to go.
Soft woods are beautiful although not a choice for homes with pets.
The higher the rating the more resistant the floor is to dents scratches and wear.
Personally i would.
Here s a guide to which species are the hardest.
Ipe often called brazilian walnut is hard enough that it is even used on outdoor decks.
These finishes may also vary with some being more durable than others.
The hardest and most scratch resistant species such as ipe cumaru and jatoba come from the tropics and they typically score 3 000 pounds or more domestic hardwoods and raw bamboo on the other hand are about half as hard.
A number of years ago ipe entered north american markets at premium prices.
Pine will do in lower traffic areas.
One reason some hardwood floors scratch so easily is the floor s finish.
If laminated then you are at the mercy of the wood under the fancy face.
It also known to hold stains better than any other type of wood.
They re less likely to warp from humidity or spills.
Some species to avoid when choosing a natural floor include pines american cherry and american walnut.
If durability is a priority you re going to want hardwood.
Black walnut one of the softer hardwoods ranks 1 010 while douglas fir is even softer at 660 on the scale and will scuff or dent.
The softer the wood the more easily it scratches and dents.
The hardness of this wood species makes it highly resistant to marring.
Red oak one of the most common hardwood flooring species ranks 1 290.
The most scratch resistant wood flooring has a rating high on the janka hardness scale.
No wood flooring is truly waterproof but bamboo and engineered hardwood come closest.
Solid hardwood floors are often finished on site which means the finish is only as good as the floor s installer.