Most durable hardwood floors

Most durable hardwood floors

Install a New Durable Hardwood Floor That Lasts


Durability is always a top concern for home and business owners when choosing the perfect interior hardwood floor. Whether its customers, kids, or pets coming through, their hardwood floors experience constant foot traffic. They want to know which floor to choose to minimize maintenance and preserve that all-important lustrous hardwood shine. A+ Hardwood Flooring in Denver, CO, offers the insights and solutions you need. For more than 25 years, we have been serving commercial and residential clients’ hardwood flooring needs, offering unmatched guidance for all our clients and installing the most durable hardwood flooring available. Working with us, you know you have experienced advocates by your side to listen to your unique concerns, discuss your specific layout, and recommend the top hardwood flooring products to match your needs. Contact us today to schedule your free estimate and discover hardwood flooring quality you can measure in lifetimes.

How Do I Measure Wood Flooring Durability?


When discussing wood floor durability, most people think hardness is the only factor that counts. While important, hardness and durability are not synonymous. Other, equally important elements can determine the overall durability of your hardwood flooring and potentially prolong its life by decades. These factors include:

  • Finish: While hardness is a terrific way to limit your hardwood damage, the finish helps provide an additional layer of preservation and protection that saves you more. Most contractors utilize polyurethane and oil-based finished products to create an extremely strong top layer that seals the wood. Polyurethane finish sits directly on top of the wood, giving it additional hardness and enhanced, abrasion-resistant qualities. When using an oil-based finish, the wood becomes saturated through its pores, preserving the natural wood grain texture and hardening it from the inside.
  • Sheen: Sheen is the gloss that gives hardwood flooring its attractive shine. This coating is an important addition that improves the overall durability of a wood floor and has become a standard inclusion for many flooring manufacturers and installers in recent years. In fact, lower sheen and matte finishes on oil-finished and polyurethane products can disguise surface scratches and light dents in dramatic ways by lowering the reflection of light on the impacted areas.
  • Color: Color should get more consideration than it does when measuring durability. Not only does it have the ability to help enhance existing styles in a residential or commercial interior, but it is also adept at camouflaging scratches and abrasions. Lighter colors minimize the chance that a scuff or scratch will catch your eye, while alternating plank color variations give a more pristine, uniform look.
  • Hardness: One must, of course, consider wood hardness as one of the premier factors in flooring durability. Using the Janka Hardness Test, the scale that measures the overall hardness of each type of wood, you can determine the amount of force it will take to embed a steel ball into a certain species of hardwood. This measurement, generally between 0 and 4500, is crucial for determining dent resistance and superior durability for your chosen floor.


Top 10 Durable Hardwood Flooring Options


You can measure durability for any species of wood. Some hardwood flooring types will be harder, more apt to accept any finish, customized in color, or have a higher sheen. At A+ Hardwood Floors, we have access to a broad array of the top flooring products with the highest proven durability. These include:

  • Oak: Oak is the industry standard when it comes to hardwood flooring. With a Janka rating of approximately 1300, it is incredibly durable, available, and comes in various colors (including white and red).
  • Ash: Ash flooring offers a light, stylish grain that is perfect for modern designs and a Janka rating of 1320. However, it is under threat from natural predators, making it one of the least eco-friendly flooring choices on the market.
  • Maple: Maple is a contemporary hardwood flooring dream with light colors, velvety finish, and unparalleled shock absorption. Maple’s Janka rating of approximately 1450 makes it a bit softer but still very strong and durable.
  • Hickory: Hickory is the most durable species of wood that is grown domestically in the United States. With a Janka rating of approximately 1800, it is hard enough to offer excellent resistance to damage, yet beautiful and varied enough to have many different color options and a rich grain structure.
  • Mahogany: Mahogany is one of the most common exotic hardwoods there is. Its Janka rating is approximately 2200, so it is harder than hickory and an excellent alternative. Mahogany is mostly reddish in color and possesses a very tight grain structure.
  • Teak: Teak has much to offer when it comes to real wood flooring. Its 2330 Janka rating makes it one of the hardest woods available, but its high-gloss finish, natural oils and resins, and high water resistance make it ideal for almost any room in your home or business.
  • Jatoba (Brazilian Cherry): Jatoba combines the strength of a 2350 Janka rating with the stylish red/brown beauty of a cherry grain to give residential and commercial customers a top choice for their exotic flooring. Best of all, it is fully resistant to most pests, including termites, and fully sustainable, which is excellent for the planet.
  • Ebony: Ebony is incredibly hard wood, clocking in on the Janka scale at about 3220. It is also the only wood that comes in jet black. However, these qualities make it incredibly sought after, threatening to cause ebony wood to go extinct. Be sure your ebony is ethically sourced.
  • Cumaru (Brazilian Teak): Brazilian Teak is even harder than its domestic counterpart at Janka 3540. However, it is also less expensive! Cumaru has all the fantastic attributes of teak and is among the most affordable exotic imports you will find.
  • Ipe (Brazilian Walnut): Brazilian Walnut is off the charts with a Janka hardness rating of 3680, making it one of the hardest and most durable woods there is. Couple that with its wide range of broad grains, deep exotic colors, damage resistance, and you have a hardwood floor you can be proud to show off.


The Most Durable Hardwood Flooring


So what is the most durable choice for hardwood flooring you can find for your home or business? Not surprisingly, the answer is bamboo. Growing at approximately 35 inches per day (or 1.5 inches per hour), bamboo is the ultimate in sustainable wood. It is technically a grass, so it has limitless customization potential, including carbonized, uncarbonized, vertical, horizontal, strand-woven, and even engineered bamboo. It also offers a superior hardness, coming in on the Janka scale at well over 3000. Bamboo is truly a one-of-a-kind flooring option, offering all the benefits you want for quality, looks, and a shine that lasts a lifetime.

Which Finishes Make for the Most Durable Wood Flooring?


Whatever hardwood you choose for your flooring, adding the proper finish can only make it stronger, more durable, and better looking in your home or business. The experts at A+ Hardwood Floors can guide you through all the best available options and make your choice as easy as possible, depending on the type of wood you want for your interior. Top finish choices for more durable hardwood flooring include:

  • Oil-Based Polyurethane: This finish provides the unquestioned protection of standard, water-based polyurethane but with the enhanced saturation power of an oil-based solution. Oil-Based polyurethane gets down into the pores of the wood, sealing and protecting it from the inside and outside and giving it unmatched durability that lasts.  
  • Aluminum Oxide: Aluminum Oxide is a modern invention that often appears in pre-finished flooring. The finish excels in scratch resistance and protecting against UV rays and fading.
  • Natural Oils: Natural oil and hard wax finishes can be extremely durable and help you get more from your floor. However, you will have to apply new layers of finish every so often to maintain the natural shine.


The Best Hardwood Flooring for Pets


If you have pets, they can damage your stunning hardwood floors in a hurry. Their claws put scratches in the wood. They can bring in mud and debris from outdoors and cause your wood floors to lose their luster. But more durable hardwood options that you can refinish again and again are the best selections if you have four-legged friends. Bamboo, again, makes an excellent choice, as does cork flooring. Choose something hard, scratch, and abrasion-resistant, and you cannot go wrong. Contact A+ Hardwood Floors today for your free estimate.

Engineered vs. Solid Hardwood Flooring


The impressive durability of hardwood flooring isn’t your only option when building or renovating your interior. You can get the same quality, looks, and personalization from synthetic laminate flooring as well. This composite flooring material is engineered with multiple layers and photorealistic characteristics to resemble hardwood but offers surpassing durability that never ages. Contact us today to learn about our engineered wood flooring options.

Contact A+ Hardwood Floors for the Most Durable Flooring Available


It is important to remember that the most durable wood flooring choice depends on you. Your commercial or residential interior is unique, just like your tastes and lifestyle choices. No matter what type of durability, hardness, color, or sheen you are looking for from your flooring, A+ Hardwood Floors can be there for you with the expertise you need. Our talented technicians and installers give you real choice in your selection, helpful flooring services, and maintenance offers that do more.  We invite you to contact us today for your free on-site estimate and discover the real difference our flooring company can make.