Hardwood flooring has been one of the most durable, sturdy, and timelessly beautiful options for a long time. Whether it’s for a home renovation or upgrading an office flooring, or in commercial spaces, hardwood floors still remain a reliable material choice. But do not confuse the fact that all hardwood floors look the same. There is a variety of hardwoods with their unique appearances, densities, and applications. Today, we will let you know in detail about the variety of types of hardwood for flooring needs. We will let you know which hardwood is best for commercial and which residential wood works best in homes.
What Makes Hardwood Special For Flooring?
So why is hardwood considered and valued so highly for commercial and residential flooring needs? Hardwood is sourced directly from the trees, and not the ordinary fast-growing trees; instead, the slowly growing ones, called deciduous trees. Their slow growth results in denser wood that is durable compared to softwood like pine or cedar. This added density allows the wood to resist signs of wear & tear better, and it gets a richer natural color. The wood happens to last for many decades if you preserve it with proper care. Whether you use it for hardwood flooring or custom furniture, the woods happen to be versatile, practical, and elegant.
Common Types of Hardwoods
Out of many options, here are most widely used types of hardwood that you can use for home floors or commercial floors.
1. Oak – The Timeless Classic
Oak is the most popular of the hardwood options and its loved all across the globe by designers and homeowners. Its available in red and white color varieties with red oak offering warm tones with a visible grain. As for the oak itself, it has a cooler, smoother look. You can use it for your home floors, c cabinet making, or custom office furniture. It’s quite affordable, despite its high durability and stunning design versatility.
2. Maple – Strong & Sleek
Maple is the next best choice for hardwood for flooring needs. It has a uniform texture with a light cream color. It comes in color range of pale to light reddish-brown with a mild wood grain. You can have it installed for home gym floors or in a commercial space like a dreamy indoor restaurant seating area. It has strong resistance to foot traffic wear, which makes it ideal for use in commercial spaces.
3. Walnut – Elegant Luxury
Walnut is a hardwood option that is usually reserved for high-end designs. The reason is that it adds sophistication and visual richness to the flooring in dubai. This is all thanks to its dark brow to purplish black hues with a smooth grain. The walnut flooring looks ideal in formal living rooms of homes or in executive office spaces.
4. Cherry – Warm & Refined
Cherry wood has a color that deepens and becomes bolder with age; it develops a rich, warm patina over time. Its appearance is reddish brown with a smooth grain that offers a timeless appeal and elegance to any indoor flooring surface. The cherry wood flooring works for any modern apartment or villa as well as for office floors.
5. Mahogany – Durable & Classic
Mahogany is the prized wood among all the hardwoods, prized for countless centuries. It has been a popular choice due to its water-resistant properties, which make it a perfect choice for flooring in humid climates. The premium mahogany wood has a deep reddish-brown shade with a straight grain pattern. The flooring of this wood is a luxury product that suits high-end villa, penthouse, and luxury hotel flooring needs. It lasts decades, even a full century, and remains dimensionally stable.
6. Ash – Flexible & Strong
Ash wood flooring is installed in commercial settings where you need strength and resistance to high shock for impacts. The wood species features a light beige to medium brown color with a prominent grain texture.
7. Teak – The Outdoor Champion
Last is the teak hardwood that has excellent weather-resistant qualities to it and looks good in golden to medium brown shades. Teak floors are an ideal choice for your beachfront villa properties for their deck flooring. You can even use them for your normal residential flooring needs, as they resist insects and rotting.
Residential vs. Commercial Hardwood
Not all types of hardwoods are suited for flooring in commercial and residential spaces at the same time. Some hardwood are reserved for either of these two spaces.
For your residential flooring, you need a material that offers visual appeal, underfoot comfort, and long term value. For this, your popular choices include maple, oak, cherry, and walnut, making them perfect for hardwood flooring in homes.
The flooring requirements in commercial spaces is usually for durability and wear resistance against high foot traffic. For the office, retail store, and gym flooring and upscale business areas, you can use the walnut and mahogany wood.
Different Types of Hardwood Floors
Hardwood floors are loved for their timeless elegance and high-level of durability. There are 3 different types of hardwood flooring that homeowners and interior designer use mostly.
(i). Solid Hardwood Flooring
This is the flooring that is made from the single piece of hardwood like maple, walnut, teak, oak, or mahogany. This type of solid hardwood flooring can be sanded down and refinished multiple times for a long-lasting use and durability.
(ii). Engineered Hardwood Flooring
This is a type of hardwood flooring that has a solid wood veneer, like oak, walnut, cherry, over a core of plywood or HDF. This type of flooring option is resistant to temperature fluctuations and moisture damage. You can use these floors in basements of your homes and any other high-humidity areas.
(iii). Parquet Hardwood Flooring
Parquet floors are ones that feature small wooden blocks of hardwood. This more of a design option than the wood flooring type. These floors are arranged in patterns to create your unique flooring designs. They work perfectly for both your commercial and residential settings.
Hardwood Examples for Design Inspiration
If you need some extra help designing the flooring in your home, here are some of our designer insights.
- White oak and maple floors are perfect for creating an airy space with their light tones.
- Walnut and mahogany wooden floors add a dramatic look with their dark tones.
- Ash wood and cherry wood floors give a subtle sense of character with their unique patterns.
- Teak wood is perfect for outdoor area flooring, like for poolside decks and patio floors.
Final Thoughts
The world of hardwood is quite vast as there is a wide variety of wood species. You can use them for a unique finish in residential and commercial spaces. Popular options like oak, maple, walnut are almost perfect and affordable for any homeowner or a commercial property owner. Hardwood flooring is not just your material choice but an investment in your home’s elegance and beauty.
