Wood Floor Hardness

Relative hardness of wood flooring species.

Wood floor hardness.

Hardwoods are better than softwoods. While the complete janka hardness listings will reveal that there are some fairly hard softwoods and some relatively soft hardwoods in the species most commonly used in flooring the identifiers hold true. The scale used in the table is pounds force. Forest service list the relative hardness for numerous wood species used in flooring.

Wood hardness chart species alphabetical hardness species by hardness hardness mahogany honduran 800 padauk 1725 mahogany santos 2200 tabaccowood 1750 maple hard north american 1450 rosewood bolivian 1780 maple ivory 1500 bamboo carbonized 1800 maple soft 999 hickory 1820 merbau 1925 pecan 1820 mesquite 2345 yellowheart 1820. The janka test measures the amount of force required to embed a 0 444 steel ball into the wood to half of its diameter. Solid hardwood flooring will always be stronger than hardwood veneer engineered flooring. The janka hardness test measures the force required to embed a 444 inch steel ball to half its diameter in wood.

These ratings were done using the janka hardness test. The janka hardness test from the austrian born emigrant gabriel janka 1864 1932 measures the resistance of a sample of wood to denting and wear. A common use of janka hardness ratings is to determine whether a species is suitable for use as flooring. These ratings were calculated using the janka hardness test which measures the force needed to embed a 444 inch steel ball to half its diameter in a piece of wood.

Below are listed the relative hardness for numerous wood species used in flooring.