Maple Hardwood Flooring Details
Maple has minimal grain and is popular for consumers looking to steer away from the heavy grain of ash and oak. It is the second hardest North American species we manufacture next to Hickory. The clear maple is light, almost white in colour. The natural colours have colour variations from white sapwood to dark brown heartwood, to some dark mineral streaks. The Gaylord brushing process brings out the natural characteristics in the wood such as “tiger tail” and “birds eye”.
Like black maple (B. nigrum), sugar maple is classified as a hardwood (other species of maple are considered soft). And like teak and white oak, it has a high crushing strength. It is stiff, strong, dense, and extremely tough, with excellent shock resistance. It is notably resistant to abrasive wear; and for this reason, it is the hardwood flooring of choice for such high-traffic/hard-use locations as bowling alleys, basketball courts, and other sports facilities.
Janka Hardness: 1450
Hard maple is a harder and more durable variety of wood flooring. It is over twice as hard as Douglas fir, roughly six percent harder than white oak, about eighty-nine percent as hard as wenge, twenty-four percent softer than jarrah, and close to two thirds that of santos mahogany’s ranking of 2200. In comparison, black sugar maple has a ranking of 1180.