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Week IV – Shark Week: Maple Flooring vs. Ipe Flooring

October 29, 2009

This is a tough match up for any wood. Throwing a domestic wood in the shark tank with Ipe flooring is definitely cruel and unusual. However, much like watching a predator consume its prey in the wild on a nature program, perhaps we can at least learn something from it.

So let’s get to the tech specs!

Ipe Hardwood Flooring

Ipe Hardwood Flooring

Ipe (Aliases: Tabebuia spp, Lapacho, Brazilian Ebony, Brazilian Walnut, Ironwood, Irontree, Tajibo, Guayacan, Lapacho, Arcwood.)

Janka Hardness: 3,840

Moduls of Rupture: 25,400 PSI

Modulus of Elasticity: 3,140 1000PSI

Density: 1,025 kg/m3

Tangential Shrinkage: 8%

Radial Shrinkage: 6.6%

MRnaturalMaple

Maple Hardwood Flooring

Maple (Aliases: Acer spp, Ahorn, Erable, European maple, Field maple, Bird’s Eye maple, Black maple, Canadian maple, Curly maple, Fiddleback maple, Hard maple, Rock maple, Sugar maple, White maple, Bigleaf maple, Broadleaf maple, Oregon maple, Pacific Coast maple, Western maple, Silver maple, Soft maple, White maple,  Ashleaf maple, Boxelder, Manitoba maple. It has many, many passports.)

Janka Hardness: 1,450

Moduls of Rupture: 10,700 PSI

Modulus of Elasticity: 1,450 1000PSI

Density: 755 kg/m3

Tangential Shrinkage: 9.9%

Radial Shrinkage: 4.8%

Whoa, hey, Ipe, let Maple get up for a second! So it’s obvious that Ipe is a much burlier wood than Maple in terms of hardness and density, there’ s no question. Ipe is also a beautiful wood, and so is Maple. Here is the only downside for Ipe where Maple might be able to break out of its wicked grapple: Maple flooring is a much more color consistent wood than Ipe. Some people like the “all over the place” color spectrum of Ipe, and if that’s what you’re going for, then there’s no beating it. However, Maple is a steady and consistent golden tan that’s always going to be pleasing to the eye and make any room seem more expansive.

But what’s this? Ipe has a secret weapon? Out of no where, Ipe brings a sneak-in left hook: Lapacho Ipe.

Lapacho Ipe is a more color consistent type of Ipe that tends to stick a little closer to the dark to light coffee tones rather than straying into the oranges and greens like standard Ipe.

It’s ugly for Maple in this match up, but it still has its old world charm (what dance floor is complete without it?) and beautiful light blond color to keep it from being completely pummeled by the South American powerhouse, Ipe.

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Comparing Birch with Massaranduba: Week III

September 18, 2009
In the Octagon this week, it’s domestic wood Birch and exotic flooring Massaranduba/Brazilian Redwood.

First, the domestic hometown favorite:

Birch Flooring

birch-natural-groove
Janka Hardness: 1,100 lbs

Moduls of Rupture: 15,570 PSI

Modulus of Elasticity: 1500  PSI

Density: 770 kg/m3

Tangential Shrinkage: 9%

Radial Shrinkage: 6.5%

Now the exotic challenger:

Massaranduba / Brazilian Oak Flooring

MassRoomSmall
Janka Hardness Rating: 3190 lbs

Modulus of Rupture: 29200 PSI

Modulus of Elasticity: 3450 PSI

Density: 1,000 kg/m3

Tangential Shrinkage:  9.4%

Radial Shrinkage: 6.3%

Strength and Durability: Mechanically speaking, like last week, the exotic pummels the domestic:  Massaranduba is much harder and denser than Birch flooring. The judges are going with Massaranduba here.

Movement in Service: The tangential and radial shrinkage levels of both woods are about the same, and not very far apart, so both are fairly stable. The judges are calling this one a wash.

Looks: Massaranduba is a reddish-brown wood. Unfortunately, though it is exotic, it never seems to go one way or the other: It’s not as red as the redder woods, it’s not as pink as the pinker woods. In the end, it’s just a smidge dull. Birch, on the other hand, is a bright and vibrant blonde color that really achieves it’s style vigorously. The judges have decided this one for Birch.

Another fight to the finish comes to and end! Stay tuned next week, there’s more wood on wood violence to come!

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Ash Wood VS. Para Rosewood – Exotic Flooring Versus Domestic Wood Flooring – Week II

August 3, 2009

Last week we compared a variety of different exotic and domestic wood species to see how they stacked up. This week we’ll continue the series with a few more wood comparisons to illustrate the differences and similarities between woods found within the US and those imported from without.

The domestic wood this is Ash. The exotic flooring will be Para Rosewood.

Let the games begin.

Ash

ash_natural

Janka Hardness: 1200 lbs

Moduls of Rupture: 15000 PSI

Modulus of Elasticity: 1660 PSI

Density: 770 kg/m3

Tangential Shrinkage: 7.8%

Radial Shrinkage:  4.9%

Para Rosewood

pararosewood_room2

Janka Hardness Rating: 2100 lbs

Modulus of Rupture: 27600 PSI

Modulus of Elasticity: 3200 PSI

Density: 880 kg/m3

Tangential Shrinkage:  3.5%

Radial Shrinkage:  2.7%

Strength and Durability: Mechanically speaking, this week’s round is a no-contest: Para Rosewood outperforms Ash in pretty much every area.  Para Rosewood flooring is nearly 60% harder than Ash hardwood.

Movement in Service: The tangential and radial shrinkage levels of PR are not only low, but they are close together, meaning very little movement in service.

Looks: The reason that Ash could win out in this match up would be due to color; Para Rosewood has a very pronounced red coloration with distinctive brown striping. Ash, like many American domestic species, features a light and dark brown coloring that is far less dramatic than Para Rosewood’s reds and browns. For a more subtle decorative scheme, Ash might be a more reasonable pick.

So there’s the breakdown on these two contenders. Stay tuned next week (or so) for the next installment!

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Exotic Wood Flooring vs. Domestic Wood Flooring – Week I

July 8, 2009

After deciding on hardwood flooring, the second question a homeowner or future homeowner asks themselves is “what kind of wood?”  In the United States, the first species that come to mind are probably domestic: Maple, Oak, Hickory, Cherry, Walnut, etc. But there are also exotic alternatives that feature a wider color spectrum as well as other pros and cons.  Let’s stack up some exotic flooring species against some domestic species and look at the differences.

Enough with the prologues: Let the showdown begin!

This week: Showdown I: Tarara (Canarywood) VS. White Oak

Tarara / Canarywood

Tarara / Canarywood Flooring

White Oak Flooring

White Oak Flooring

Looks: This is quite a distinctive matchup, as Canarywood features dramatic yellows, reds, and browns, while White Oak features soothing brown and creamy yellow tones that are very familiar to the American housing market. Canarywood is definitely a wood for those looking to make their floor a distinctive accent to their home, while White Oak blends into more traditional decorative color schemes.

Strength and Durability: This is a category where the exotic species will typically outperform the domestics. Canarywood features a Janka hardness rating* of 1,860lbs, compared to 1,360 for White Oak.  (For an explanation of the Janka Hardness Rating, see the bottom of this post.)

Movement in Service: Though it sounds like a military march of some type, movement in service means how much the wood can be expected to swell and contract. They typically fall between 1-10%, and the important things to take note of are:
a.) How large the radial shrinkage and the tangential shrinkage values are (the bigger the number, the more the wood moves, and the more potential there is for general mechanical issues with the wood) and
b.) How great is the difference between radial and tangential? (This indicates a higher likelihood of cupping, warping, and twisting.)

Canarywood’s tangential shrinkage rate is 8% and the radial shrinkage rate is 4%. White Oak’s tangential shrinkage rate is 7.4% and the radial shrinkage rate is 4.2%. In this case, the shrinkage rates are fairly comparable, but the differential is slightly larger for Canarywood, making it slightly less dimensionally stable.

Price (clear grade prefinished): Canarywood: Around $6-8/sf. White Oak: $4-6/sf.

Conclusion: If you want a very exotic and striking look along with a bit more resistance to impacts and foot traffic, then Canarywood is worth the extra money. If you’re looking for a tamer though slightly less durable wood with a better price point, White Oak makes a better option.

Stay tuned next week for Patagonian Rosewood versus American Cherry!

*Janka hardness: A measurement of wood hardness measured in the pounds of force required to lodge a .444 inch steel sphere to half its diameter.

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Kempas Prefinished Flooring – A Beautiful Asian Exotic Hardwood

June 22, 2009

Kemp_PSB5ToKempas prefinished flooring is a a beautiful specie of wood native to Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea. It features rich, bright orange tones and a distinctive grain that makes for a striking and unique floor. If you take a look at the pictures here, you can get a good idea of what Kempas’ graining looks like. It gives the appearance of overlapping strands, which makes for an eye catching appearance that projects a feeling of depth.

Like many exotic hardwoods, Kempas is photosensitive, which means that it will react to sunlight and change color over time. In Kempas’ case, this means that the orange coloring of the wood will actually darken. Even with the darkening, Kempas is still an excellent choice for light decor to accompany blonde and yellow tones or other yellow-brown wood tones. It is very decoratively versatile, which makes it a highly desirable option to interior decorators and designers. Additionally, Kempas is also quite a bit cheaper than some of its lighter colored exotic counterparts.

More than just an eye-catcher, Kempas hardwood flooring is durable is well. It features a Janka Hardness Rating of 1,700 lbs, which is over 400lbs higher on the Janka Hardness scale than Red Oak, which sits at 1,290lbs. This ensures that it will be able to stand up to foot traffic and the general wear and tear of every day life. However, just because a wood has a harder-than-average Janka rating does not mean that it doesn’t require maintenance, nor that it will stand up to sharp impacts and emerge unscathed. Tap dancing sessions with stiletto heels are never recommended with prefinished floors or any other type of hardwood flooring.

Kempas hardwood flooring is a relatively new exotic on the market that is gaining quite a bit of popularity, and for good reason. Take a look for yourself!

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Why is my prefinished flooring micro beveled?

June 10, 2009

What is the purpose of micro beveling prefinished hardwood flooring? I have asked myself this question often, so I finally sought out the answers. It seems that micro bevels allow for the manufacturer to produce boards that are of very slightly different heights. Across long runs of wood, it is understandable that slight height differentials can occur from board to board; after all, hardwood flooring is a natural product, not man made. As this is the case, micro bevels on pre-finished hardwood flooring help to afford for these slight discrepancies in height. Another benefit is that they collect the dirt and debris that can accrue on the floor surface.

“Now wait,” you might be saying, “Why would I want to collect dirt? I would rather have a dirt ejection system of some sort.” While that James Bond-ian solution may still be far out into the future, the reason for dirt catching is fairly obvious if you think about it: If the dirt is collected in the little micro bevel grooves, it is not skittering around your floor, waiting for a shoe or the leg of some piece of furniture to drag it across the surface of the floor and produce a big nasty gash.

Square edged flooring, or a “perfect floor,” is something that is fairly common when purchasing unfinished flooring and having that installed. The contractor/installer can then ensure that the heights of each board are perfect by modifying them on site. So, if you would prefer to have no micro beveling, this would be the option for you. But be forewarned that dirt and debris fragments will run free across the plains of your grooveless floor, so it will probably require more frequent cleaning and maintenance.

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3/8″ solid hardwood flooring: Shaking up the 3/4″ status quo

May 21, 2009

In the prefinished hardwood flooring world, it’s easy to get lulled into a sense of consistency, as if every product’s dimensions are and will always be exactly the same. While widths and lengths always tend to vary, the thickness of solid hardwood products is very often 3/4″ wide. However, for those who dare to be different, there are alternative thicknesses that can often yield very large price differences for otherwise similar products. Take, for instance,this 3/8″ thick Brazilian Cherry flooring from Cikel. Here it’s priced at $4.39/sf, whereas its 3/4″ equivalent is $6.39/sf, a little over 1/3 more.

There are pros and cons to this product format, just like any other. On the upside, this 3/8″ prefinished hardwood flooring is versatile and great for remodels because of its slimmer profile. In a house undergoing a remodel where you want a new floor but would rather not tear out the sub floor and have existing toe-kick heights to work around, a slimmer product can be just the thing. There are a few cons as well: Being a slimmer product, there are potentially more dimensional stability issues, which means that some of the exotics and domestics with tendencies to “move” (expand and contract) in service might potentially be more problematic than in the 3/4″ format. Oak and American Cherry would be good bets, as they don’t tend to move as much.

Another option for remodels with size requirements would be engineered flooring, which also tends to be slimmer and dimensionally stable. But if solid hardwood is what you’re looking for, the price point and versatility might make a 3/8″ product the perfect fit for you.

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Prefinished Brazilian Cherry

March 30, 2009

Prefinished Brazilian Cherry flooring is quite possibly the most popular exotic hardwood specie in the United States flooring market today. There are a variety of desirable aspects of the wood that make it appealing over both American domestic species and other exotic products:

1. Brazilian Cherry is quite hard. Its Janka hardness rating weighs in at 2350 lbs. Red Oak, the industry standard for hardness, is 1290lbs. This hardness makes it a desirable candidate for homes and places with higher traffic as it can withstand impacts and the presence of consistent wear and tear.

2. It’s beautiful and exotic, yet moderate enough in color and appearance to complement a variety of color schemes and decors.

3. Brazilian Cherry hardwood, when harvested under sustainable conditions, serves to help preserve the standing forests in the Amazonian region by stimulating the economy of the indigenous regions and preventing clear cutting that would otherwise be done in order to facilitate the cultivation of agricultural exports.

4. Among exotic hardwoods, Brazilian Cherry is dimensionally stable, making it a safe bet to install in a home without worry of large scale expansion and contraction causing crowning, cupping, or other structural defects.

Brazilian Cherry comes in a variety of formats, from engineered to prefinished to unfinished. If you are looking for more information about Brazilian Cherry, be sure to search for its other name, Jatoba, as well.

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Wide Width Flooring

January 27, 2009

Up until about two years ago the most common widths for solid prefinished hardwood flooring were 2-1/4″ and 3″.  These widths of flooring provided a very lineal look, some would say busy, while at the same time offering an added level of dimensional stability; a thinner board will expand and contract less than a wider board.  Recently wider widths such as 5″ all the way up to 12″ (or wider) have become popular.  These floors, while beautiful and impressive, have increased the potential for expansion and contraction related claims.

When choosing a solid wide width prefinished floor there are a number of factors to take into consideration.  The first and foremost is the environment the floor will be installed in.

Does the home have radiant heat?  Solid wood floors can be installed over this type of heating system, but the recommended products are few.  This type of installation is best suited for engineered flooring.

Is there a climate control system that regulates humidity levels?  Is the home in a dry climate, i.e. the desert or is it excessively humid like the coast?  Unregulated interiors with seasonal swings in humidity will allow the solid wide width prefinished flooring to expand and contract at will, generally resulting in either cupping or excessive gaps.  All of these factors should be addressed prior to installation.

Another consideration is the specie of wood.  Some species like American Walnut, American Cherry, and Teak are much more dimensionally stable than Maple, Hickory, or Brazilian Cherry.  Certain cuts, like quartersawn, can also add to the stability of the wood because the flooring expands and contracts vertically instead of horizontally.

Wide width flooring can be installed successfully, but proper precautions and recommendations must be followed and realistic expectations must be provided to the consumer.

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Brazilian Cherry Flooring/Brazilian Cherry Floors

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Aluminum Oxide Finishes on Prefinished Flooring

December 19, 2008

Up until about ten years ago all factory produced prefinished wood floors either had a UV cured urethane or wax finish. Wax finishes have since gone the way of the dinosaur, but urethanes have evolved.

The majority of today’s UV cured urethane finishes come with aluminum oxide suspended in the coats. The aluminum oxide is the same mineral that makes up the grit on most sandpapers. The aluminum oxide is ground into a fine powder so that it is not visible to the naked eye. This mineral, when added to the finish, increases the durability and abrasion resistance up to 10 times that of normal urethane finishes.

The majority of prefinished flooring has approximately six to eight coats of finish. Initially, manufacturers were using aluminum oxide in all coats; however, this created a couple problems. The first was that the product was difficult to refinish with a sanding screen due to its abrasion resistance. The second was that the top coat, in some cases, had a textured feel. Today most prefinished flooring has aluminum oxide in the base coats only and the top coats are a traditional UV cured urethane. This allows for easier refinishing and a smoother feel.

Aluminum oxide finishes are extremely durable and since their inception have significantly increased the warranty period that manufactures are willing to offer consumers. It is not uncommon nowadays for prefinished wood flooring to have 25 year, 30 year, or even 50 year finish warranties. It is important to keep in mind however, that although these finishes are durable they are still susceptible to normal wear and tear. These finishes will still scratch, scuff, and dull, but not as easily.

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