Flooring made from a wood with a high Janka rating is attractive due to its durability and sometimes exotic colors. A wood’s Janka rating has to do with the wood’s hardness. The harder the wood, the higher the rating. The way they test for a wood’s hardness is by measuring the amount of force that is needed to embed a small steel ball into the wood to half its diameter. So naturally, the more force that has to be applied in order to complete this test the harder the wood species is. This test does a good job of showing you how well flooring will stand up to the wear and tear in your home. 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. Balsa, for instance, is a wood used readily in model airplanes and table tennis paddles because of its lightweight, stiff makeup. Balsa is the softest of all the trade woods measured by the Janka rating. Lignum vitae is the hardest. It is a tree that will sink easily in water and is extremely difficult to cut and nail. Because of its profound hardness it is also a tree that has been over harvested and is considered an endangered species.

Hardness is a very important issue to keep in mind when deciding on what types of flooring to install in your home. And you know your home better than anyone else. If you have a room that sees a lot of foot traffic and wear and tear then you should be interested in flooring that will naturally resist such impacts. If you’re planning on installing hardwood flooring yourself there are a lot of factors that you’ll have to consider. And it’s important to treat each wood in a specific and advised manner. That’s why I’m going to go over some of the harder trade woods available and touch on their unique attributes.

Ipe is an amazingly hard wood and one of hardest woods available for use in flooring. This same hardness makes it difficult to install. It resists attempts to shape and nail it so special tools are needed. But once installed this wood will last for a very long time. The tree is valuable for more than just its hardwood though. Its bark is used in many medicinal applications. Asides from being durable the wood is also naturally moisture and pest resistant and as inflammable as concrete.

Cocobolo is a great wood to work with, especially considering its density and hardness. When cut and installed, cocobolo has a beautiful orange brown color. There are a lot of natural oils which makes gluing down this wood very difficult, which is one popular option for woods with a lot of hardness. But at the same time this oil gives the wood a magnificent polish. But these same oils can cause harm due to its ability to induce allergic reactions. Exotic hardwoods often cause reactions like these from their oils and dust.

Wenge is another extraordinarily hardwood and due to its toxic properties this wood isn’t just hard to work with but hard to handle period. When sanding Wenge the dust from the wood can cause poison ivy like symptoms and irritate the eyes. The dust can also cause respiratory problems and drowsiness and the wood’s splinters are septic. While many precautions have to be taken when working with Wenge, once installed it offers very durable hardwood flooring. When finished the wood is very dark and often displays partridge like patterns in its grains.

These are just a few of the very hard woods that are available. I thought it’d be interesting to point out some of their unique properties if only to show how varied wood species can be from one another. When choosing hardwood flooring you really need to do just as much research as you would when you’re buying a car or a home. And even more if you’re planning to install the floor yourself. Most of the wood species that I mentioned here are available at FloorMall.com and they’ll have even more information for you to take a look at. Thanks for stopping by.