Bamboo is a woody plant that has become very popular for use in hardwood flooring for several reasons. It is the fastest growing woody plant in the world and is actually considered a grass. At its optimal height it can grow over 24 inches in a single day. Bamboo’s growth rate is one of the main reasons for the plant’s popularity in flooring. A single bamboo plant can reach maturity in only four to seven years. This makes it easy to quickly produce and profit off of bamboo plantations. This growth rate is the reason why bamboo is considered a renewable resource and green flooring. But what’s the difference between regular bamboo flooring and strand-woven bamboo? The answer lies in the way the two types are engineered. (more…)

Because of the heightened popularity of hardwood flooring there are now more options available to the average homeowner than ever before.  These options will end up suiting different households depending upon the needs of each homeowner.  In this post, we’ll go over some types of hardwood flooring that’ll be extra durable and resilient.  This will be perfect for homes that have children or just see an elevated amount of foot traffic.  A good choice for flooring is of course just natural hardwood flooring.  There are many options available with this type of flooring as well.  There are many types of trees– exotic, domestic and otherwise and each one has different properties.  When trying to decide on what types of hardwood flooring to get it is important to be familiar with the Janka hardness scale.  Since we’re going over trade woods that would be a fine fit for a house that sees more foot traffic than normal we will deal with hardwoods that lie towards the top of the scale.  These would be woods such as Brazilian Walnut and Wenge. (more…)

Flooring made from a wood with a high Janka rating is attractive due to its durability and sometimes exotic colors. It is a good idea to know the hardness of the wood you’re going to be installing in the home because the species differ greatly as you move up and down the Janka hardness scale. (more…)

Courtesy of FloorMall.com, we’ve integrated a real-time rendering of the Janka Hardness Scale Graph.

View the Janka Hardness Scale.

We have all heard of ’hard floors’ when it comes to interior decoration and furnishing, but what actually embodies this so-called hardwood flooring?

Wel, the term hardwood is used to describe wood from broad-leaved angiosperm trees, mostly deciduous, but not necessarily, as in the case of tropical trees. Hardwood contrasts with softwood in that softwoods come from conifer trees. Hardwood species are more varied than softwood. There are about a hundred times as many hardwood species as softwoods.

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If you’re looking to purchase hardwood flooring, you’re likely to run into something called the Janka Hardness Scale. The Janka Hardness Scale is used to measure the hardness of a wood. The higher a wood’s Janka rating, the harder - and generally more durable - the wood will be. (more…)

Softwood is a generic term used in woodworking and the lumber industries for wood from conifers, which are needle-bearing trees. Softwood producing trees include the likes of pine, spruce, cedar, fir, larch, Douglas fir, hemlock, cypress, redwood and yew.
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The term hardwood is used to describe wood from broad-leaved angiosperm trees, mostly deciduous, but not necessarily, as in the case of tropical trees. Hardwood contrasts with softwood in that softwoods come from conifer trees. Hardwood species are more varied than softwood. There are about a hundred times as many hardwood species as softwoods. (more…)

Completing the Janka hardness test creates a circular indention with an area of 100 square millimeters. This means that the testing is done on the surface of a plank, with the force exerted perpendicular to the grain.

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The Janka hardness scale is a great tool to use when considering your choice of hardwood flooring species. It is perhaps the most important test, as it measures the hardness of the wood species. More specifically, the Janka hardness test for hardwood flooring measures the force required to embed a .444 inch steel ball to half its diameter in the hardwood.

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