Domestic Wood Species
Types of Hardwood Floors
ASH
The sapwood is light-colored to nearly white and the heartwood varies from grayish or light brown, to pale yellow streaked with brown. The wood is generally straight-grained with a coarse uniform texture. The degree and availability of light-colored sapwood, and other properties, will vary according to the growing regions.
WORKING PROPERTIES
Ash machines well, is good in nailing, screwing and gluing, and can be stained to a very good finish. It dries fairly easily with minimal degrade, and there is little movement in performance.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Ash has very good overall strength properties relative to its weight. It has excellent shock resistance and is good for steam bending.
AVAILABILITY
Readily available.
BIRCH
Birch has a white sapwood and light reddish brown heartwood. The wood is generally straight-grained with a fine, uniform texture, and is generally characterized by a plain, often curly or wavy pattern.
WORKING PROPERTIES
The wood works fairly easily, glues well with care, takes stain extremely well, and nails and screws satisfactorily where pre-boring is advised. It dries rather slowly with little degrade, but it has moderately high shrinkage, so is susceptible to movement in performance.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Birch is a heavy wood, hard, and strong. It has very good benign properties, with good crushing strength and shock resistance.
AVAILABILITY
Reasonable availability, but more limited if selected for color.
CHERRY
The heartwood of cherry varies from rich red to reddish brown and will darken with age and on exposure to light. In contrast, the sapwood is creamy white. The wood has a straight-grain, a fine, uniform, satiny and smooth texture, and naturally may contain brown pith flecks and small gum pockets.
WORKING PROPERTIES
Cherry is easy to machine, nails and glues well, and when sanded and stained, it produces an excellent, smooth finish. It dries fairly quickly with moderately high shrinkage, but dimensionally is stable after kiln-drying.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Cherry is of medium density with good bending properties, has low stiffness, and medium strength and shock resistance.
AVAILABILITY
Readily available.
CYPRUS
The sapwood is pale yellow white with the heartwood varying in color from light to dark or reddish brown.
WORKING PROPERTIES
Cypress machines well, planes easily, and resists warping. Pre-boring at board edges will help prevent splitting. It nails and scores very well. It glues well, sands easily, and readily accepts finishes.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Cypress is a softwood, but it grows alongside hardwoods and traditionally has been grouped and manufactured with hardwoods.
AVAILABILITY
Readily available.
ELM
Red elm has a grayish white to light brown narrow sapwood, with heartwood that is reddish brown to dark brown in color. The grain can be straight, but is often interlocked, and has a coarse texture.
WORKING PROPERTIES
The wood of red elm is fairly easy to work. It nails, screws, and glues well, and can be sanded and stained to a good finish. It dries well with minimum degrade and little movement in performance.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Elm is moderately heavy, hard and stiff with excellent bending and shock resistance. It is difficult to split because of its interlocked grain.
AVAILABILITY
Available.
MAPLE
The sapwood is a creamy white with a slight reddish brown tinge, and the heartwood varies from light to dark reddish brown. The wood has a close, fine texture and is generally straight-grained.
WORKING PROPERTIES
Hard maple dries slowly with high shrinkage, so it can be susceptible to movement in performance. Pre-boring is recommended when nailing and screwing. With care, it machines well, turns well, glues satisfactorily and can be stained to an outstanding finish. The wood polishes well and is suitable for enamel finishes and brown tones.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
The wood is hard and heavy with good strength properties. In particular, it has high resistance to abrasion and wear. It also has good steam-bending properties.
AVAILABILITY
Widely available.
HICKORY/PECAN
The hickories are an important group within the eastern hardwood forests. Botanically they are split into two groups: the true hickories and the pecan hickories (fruit-bearing). The wood is virtually the same for both and is usually sold together. The sapwood of hickory is white, tinged with brown, while the heartwood is pale to reddish brown.
WORKING PROPERTIES
The heaviest of American hardwoods, the hickories can be difficult to machine and glue, and are very hard to work with hand tools; therefore, care is needed. They hold nails and screws well, but there is a tendency to split, so pre-boring is advised. The wood can be sanded to a good finish, can be difficult to dry, and has high shrinkage.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Hickories are well-known for their very good strength and shock resistance, as well as excellent steam-bending properties.
AVAILABILITY
Readily available.
RED OAK
The sapwood of red oak is white to light brown and the heartwood is a pinkish-reddish brown. The wood is similar in general appearance to white oak, but with a slightly less-pronounced figure due to the smaller rays. The wood is mostly straight-grained, with a coarse texture.
WORKING PROPERTIES
It machines well. Pre-boring is recommended for nailing and screwing. It can be stained to a golden finish, with a wide range of finish tones.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Red oak is hard and heavy, with medium-bending strength and stiffness and high-crushing strength.
AVAILABILITY
Abundant. It is the most widely used species.
SYCAMORE
The sapwood is white to light yellow, while the heartwood is light-to-dark brown. The wood has a fine, close texture with interlocked grain. It contrasts well with other species.
WORKING PROPERTIES
The wood machines well, but high-speed cutters are needed to prevent chipping. It is resistant to splitting due to the interlocked grain. It glues well and stains with care to an excellent finish. It dries fairly rapidly, with a tendency to warp. It has moderate shrinkage and little movement in performance.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Sycamore is classified as moderate in weight, hardness, stiffness, and shock resistance. It turns well on a lathe and has good bending qualities.
AVAILABILITY
Reasonable availability.
WALNUT
The sapwood is creamy white, while the heartwood is light brown to dark chocolate brown, occasionally with a purplish cast and darker streaks. It is usually supplied steamed, to darken the sapwood. The wood is generally straight-grained; sometimes with wavy or curly grain that produces an attractive and decorative figure.
WORKING PROPERTIES
It works easily with hand and machine tools, and nails, screws, and glues well. It holds paint and stain very well for an exceptional finish and is readily polished. It dries slowly, and care is needed to avoid kiln degrade. It has good dimensional stability.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Walnut is a tough hardwood of medium density, with moderate bending and crushing strengths, and low stiffness. It has a good steam-bending classification.
AVAILABILITY
Reasonable availability.
WHITE OAK
The sapwood is light-colored and the heartwood is light-to-dark brown. White oak is mostly straight-grained with a medium-to-coarse texture. Having longer rays than red oak, white oak has more figure.
WORKING PROPERTIES
It machines well, nails and screws well, although pre-boring is advised. Due to its reaction with iron, galvanized nails are recommended. Its adhesive properties are variable. The wood dries slowly, but stains to a good finish.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
White oak is a hard and heavy wood with a medium-bending and crushing strength, low in stiffness, but very good in steam-bending. It has great wear-resistance.
AVAILABILITY
Readily available, but not as abundant as red oak.
EXOTIC WOOD SPECIES
BRAZILION CHERRY
The species Brazilian Cherry (Jatoba) is the most popular hardwood flooring import from Brazil to the USA. Brazilian Cherry, known for its hardness and durability, this exotic hardwood is a great choice in both residential and commercial installations.
Brazilian Cherry is an extremely heavy wood; hard to cut, variable heartwood regarding color, from light brown to pink, to reddish brown, with some intense shadowing. Brazilian Cherry from South America has a brownish-red color. It darkens from a tan/salmon color to a deep, reddish brown and is 182% as hard as domestic Red Oak.
Availability
Not widely available
TIGERWOOD
Showy and dramatic, the perfectly-named tigerwood announces itself with its wildly contrasting wide grains. Tigers, zebras, and any animal with stripes come to mind with this truly unique flooring. Tigerwood is a hardwood species that originates from Central and South America. The tree can grow up to 100 feet tall and produces a beautiful, dark wood with unique grain patterns. Tigerwood is one of the hardest woods on the market and is known for its durability, making it an ideal choice for flooring.
Tigerwood is an exotic hardwood that’s known for its striking appearance. The wood has a dark brown base with black stripes, and it’s often used as a decorative accent in furniture and flooring. Tigerwood is a very dense wood, which makes it durable and resistant to scratches and wear. However, this density also makes the wood difficult to work with, so it’s important to hire a professional if you’re considering tigerwood flooring for your home.
Availability
Not widely available
KEMPAS
Kempas is a reddish-pinkish brown wood from Indonesia and Malaysia that attractively darkens when stained. Kempas creates no drama in your home. Rather, it provides a good, solid hardwood floor that lets other parts of the room shine.
Kempas is produced and imported from Southeast Asia where it grows from Malaysia and Indonesia to Papua New Guinea. ELEMENTAL's A-grade Kempas is 100% heartwood, is a fairly color consistent ranging which from orange-red to cinnamon-brown with subtly contrasting beige-bronze tones. Kempas currently comes from 100% FSC Indonesian forests and mill. Kempas is photosensitive and will change color towards more carmel-brown as it ages.
Availability
Not widely available
SAPELE MOHOGANY
Rated a mid-range 1,410 on the Janka scale, sapele mahogany is a tight, wavy-grained hardwood from tropical Africa.
Sapele is a reddish-brown wood. A remarkable feature of Sapele is that the grain is interlocked and changes direction in frequent, irregular intervals. Before WWI the principal demand for this wood came from Germany where it was used for decorative cabinet work. Interestingly enough, Sapele was found in the propeller-blades of German Zeppelins. Sapele is also one of Europe's most desired woods in manufacturing doors, windows and hardwood flooring
Availability
Not widely available
AUSTRALIAN CYPRESS
Australian cypress is a very rustic-looking wood with whorls and pronounced grain. Australian cypress is considered a cost-effective imported hardwood. It's highly sustainable and is sourced from second-growth forests.
Australian Cypress hardwood flooring is characterized by its predominantly golden color, showcasing a remarkable interplay between sapwood and heartwood. The colors span from cream-colored sapwood, to yellow-gold hues and brown tones in the heartwood. Knots in the wood occasionally accentuate the overall appearance, introducing darker colors. The natural beauty and color variations of Australian Cypress flooring make for a unique and visually appealing addition to any space.
Availability
Not widely available
IPE (BRAZILION WALNUT)
Known as ipe or ironwood, Brazilian Walnut is one of the toughest hardwood floors available. Ipe rates at about 3,680 on the Janka hardness scale. By comparison, tigerwood is 2,160 on the Janka scale. At the lowest end of the scale is Douglas fir, which is used for structural work and not for flooring, with a Janka score of around 620.
Ipe stands out for its extraordinary density, ranking among the world’s densest woods. This attribute makes it excellent for sound insulation, significantly reducing noise from foot traffic and other sources. Ipe’s natural resistance to scratches, insects, and fire, complemented by a Class A fire rating, makes it perfect for busy environments or homes with children and pets.
Availability
Not widely available
There are many more exotic woods that can be placed as hardwood flooring too many to be listed here but we have put the most popular. Exotic woods can be more expensive and harder to find or longer wait times for wood to come in. If you happen to find a type of exotic wood species that you like that we do not have listed, we can help find it.