What is a good hardness for hardwood floors?
1000
The hardness serves as an indicator of how well the floor will withstand wear and tear day to day, rather than how strong the wood is, or how soft a floor is in terms of comfort. A rating of 1000 or higher is the standard for flooring options.
How do you test wood for hardness?
The Janka Hardness test is used primarily to determine the hardness of a wood species, and whether it is suitable to use as hardwood flooring. To conduct this test, a steel ball that is 11.28 mm is forced into a sample piece of wood until half of the ball’s diameter is embedded.
Is 1820 a good Janka rating?
While very hard and durable, in reality, oak ranks as the fourth hardest of the North American hardwoods. Hickory, with a Janka Hardness rating of 1820, leads the pack, followed by maple and then ash. The higher the Janka rating, the more resistant that particular wood is.
What is hardest wood for flooring?
Generally speaking, the hardest wood for flooring is Ipe (or Lapacho). However, this is very hard to find, due to its rarity. This also makes it a very expensive flooring product. Therefore, more widely available, and hardwearing are Hickory and Maple flooring.
What is a good Janka rating for flooring?
1,000 lbs.
What is a Good Janka Rating? A good Janka rating for wood flooring is generally anything that is 1,000 lbs. and the industry mean is around 1,200 lbs. An important thing to keep in mind in selecting your flooring material is the needs of your space.
How do you check floor hardness?
The Brinell hardness test method measures the effect of pressing a small steel ball (with a diameter of 10mm) similar to high-heels or furniture legs, into the flooring with 220.5 lbs (100KN) of fixed force. More than 50 impressions are made on several samples of the wood.
What is the Janka hardness scale for wood?
The Janka scale is used to determine the relative hardness of particular domestic or exotic wood species. The Janka test measures the amount of force required to embed a 0.444″ steel ball into the wood to half of its diameter. Woods with a higher rating are harder than woods with a lower rating.
What Janka rating do I need?
So, there is a variation between the Janka rating and the final hardness of any hardwood flooring. With that said, as a general rule of thumb, wood species used in flooring should generally have a Janka rating of 1,000 or higher; this isn’t to say that wood species with a Janka rating in the hundreds will not work.
What wood has the highest Janka rating?
1. Australian Buloke – 5,060 IBF. An ironwood tree that is native to Australia, this wood comes from a species of tree occurring across most of Eastern and Southern Australia. Known as the hardest wood in the world, this particular type has a Janka hardness of 5,060 lbf.
What tools do you have to evaluate the acceptable hardness of that wood?
The most common test is Mohs scale, which is used in mineralogy. One tool to make this measurement is the sclerometer. Another tool used to make these tests is the pocket hardness tester.
What wood floor is most scratch resistant?
Selecting a floor such as Hickory, Hard Maple or White Oak can protect your floor from damage, as these hardwoods are less susceptible to scratches than softer woods like Pine, Cherry or Black Walnut. Hardwoods with more dramatic grain patterns can help to hide scratches more easily.
What is the hardest hardwood?
On the Janka hardness scale — a scale that ranks wood for hardness, hickory is the hardest of all domestic hardwoods, ranking at 1,820. Hard maple ranks 1,450, while red oak ranks 1,290. Poplar ranks 540 on the low end of the scale.
What is Rockwell hardness tester?
A Rockwell hardness tester. The Rockwell scale is a hardness scale based on indentation hardness of a material. The Rockwell test measuring the depth of penetration of an indenter under a large load (major load) compared to the penetration made by a preload (minor load).
What is the hardness of wood flooring?
The hardness of hardwood flooring ranges from 0 to 4000 lbs., where the higher the number, the harder the wood species. Typically the lowest you will find is about 400 and the highest you will find is about 3,700.
What is the hardness of cedar wood?
Cedar wood has the following characteristics: Medium density wood with a Janka hardness of 900. Low bending and resistance to shock loads. Medium crushing strength and low stiffness.