When it comes to choosing the right wood flooring for your home, you need something that is both high durability and of timeless beauty. One without the other just won’t do. Wood flooring that can withstand daily wear and tear from children, pets, and mishaps but doesn’t complement your home aesthetic can make your space feel uninviting and out of sync.
Overall, you can’t go wrong by installing wood floors in your home.
On the other hand, floors that look beautiful but don’t have the durability necessary to withstand your home’s environment means they lose their elegant beauty prematurely and require replacement sooner.
Also, without one of these essential components – timeless beauty or durability – it is more difficult for your home to maintain or increase its value.
Out of date flooring quickly loses its appeal to homebuyers while scratches and dents lower the value of the floors. This is why it is crucial to find the perfect balance between the two.
Luckily, wood flooring is the bridge between timelessness and dependability that many homeowners rely on. Wood floors have been a staple in homes for hundreds of years, offering warm, inviting environments while ensuring the longevity of the floors.
The timeless elegance of wood floors is unsurmountable and their resistance to hazards produced by pets and children unparalleled.
In this article, we will go through the highest ranked timeless wood floor options as well as their durability ratings so that you can choose the perfect floor to complement your home for the long run. But first, let’s discuss how wood floors are rated for their durability.
The Janka Hardness Scale
Not all wood floors are created equally. Some have higher hardness levels that make them more resistant to scratches, scuffs, chips, and dents. If you have pets, children, or many people living in your home, harder floors are ideal as they tend to stay pristine for longer.
The question is, how do you know how hard wood flooring is? That is where the Janka Hardness Scale comes in.
The Janka Hardness Scale refers to how much force is necessary for a small steel ball to embed in the wood, and it is used as an industry-standard to measure how resistant wood is to dents and wear. Ratings can vary between 1 and 4000 with the higher end of the scale being more resistant. If a wood flooring has a high Janka rating, that means it is extremely durable where a lower rating is less durable.
When choosing the type of wood for your floors, be sure to pay attention to its Janka rating to determine its durability.
Hardwood Floor Options
At Cameron the Sandman, we have countless varieties of wood flooring available for a timeless, elegant look. Each varies in their Janka rating, and in this next section, we will go through 5 of the most popular wood choices as well as their Janka ratings, starting with the most popular and working our way down.
1. Cherry Wood
Cherry is a beautiful piece of wood with red-brown coloring. This rich color makes it ideal for traditional or minimalistic homes, where it adds a striking contrast to neutral tones of white, gray, and beige. Cherry also adds a touch of warmth to homes, enhancing the depth of the space.
While there are a variety of cherry wood options, Brazilian Cherry ranks the highest with a Janka rating of 2,350.
2. Hickory
Second on our list is Hickory. With its various shades ranging from light blond to dark brown, you can find any color to fit your home aesthetic. Ideal for country homes or those that want a country feeling to them, hickory contains unique grain patters that give it a rustic vibe.
In terms of durability, hickory wood rates at 1820 on the Janka Hardness Scale, making it perfect for homes with kids and pets. The complex grain patterns also hide any scratches or dents that do occur.
3. Birch
If you are going for a more contemporary design, our experts recommend birch hardwood flooring. With its light coloring, blond edges, and amber hues, birch creates a bright and welcoming atmosphere. This light coloring works best with décor colors of white, gray, and black.
The Janka Hardness of birch ranges from 910 to 1470, depending on the species. Yellow birch, which is the most common for floors, rates at 1260 while sweet birch tops the list at 1470. Paper birch is also commonly used for flooring and has a rating of 910, making it more suitable for homes without children or pets.
4. Maple
There are two forms of maple wood often used for flooring – brown maple and white maple. Brown maple has tones of gold, amber, and brown while white maple has pale, creamy coloring. If you have light-colored furniture and wish to create contrast with a cozy, inviting atmosphere, brown maple is the way to go. On the other hand, if you have dark-colored furniture, white maple will create a clean, modern look.
The crowning achievement of maple is its natural resistance to water and mold growth, making it the ideal flooring for areas with high moisture. Its Janka rating of 1450 is quite high for wood flooring. This means that high traffic areas such as kitchens and hallways would benefit from its durability.
5. Oak
Red oak and white oak are popular flooring choices, with red oak featuring a reddish, pink hue and pronounced grain pattern and white oak boasting light brown and beige colors. Both options are great if your are going for a rustic feel, but while red oak is more classical, white oak is more suitable for traditional or modern interiors.
White oak is slightly more durable than red oak with a Janka Hardness of 1360 compared to red oak’s 1290. However, both are water resistant and dependable.
Hardwood Flooring Services for Long Lasting Floors
No matter if your home is a high traffic area and susceptible to dings and scratches to the floor or low-traffic, Cameron the Sandman has the perfect flooring option for you! From the contemporary style of maple and birch to the rustic ambiance of oak and hickory, our expert staff are here to help you choose the best of durability and timeless beauty.
We have been providing unparalleled hardwood flooring services in Metro Detroit for more than 80 years. From wood floor installation and restoration to impeccable refinishing services, our family-owned company takes pride in delivering the most beautiful and stunning hardwood floors that will last a lifetime. Call and speak to a wood floor expert today!