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Wood species for flooring

Compare the timber species used for wood floors: hardness, density, colour, stability and sourcing, each profile backed by cited published data.

All species

American cherry

American cherry (Prunus serotina, also called black cherry) is a reddish-brown hardwood with a Janka hardness of 950 lbf (4,230 N), which…

Janka 950 lbf

American red oak

American red oak is the timber of a group of North American oaks, principally Quercus rubra, and a common solid flooring species. It is a…

Janka 1,220 lbf

American white oak

American white oak is the timber of a group of North American oaks, principally Quercus alba, and, alongside red oak, one of the dominant…

Janka 1,350 lbf

Black walnut

Black walnut (Juglans nigra) is a North American hardwood prized for its dark chocolate-brown heartwood. It is softer than the American…

Janka 1,010 lbf

Bog oak

Bog oak is not a separate species but oak that has lain in peat or river sediment for centuries or millennia, where tannins in the wood…

Douglas fir

Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) is a softwood from western North America that is not a true fir and has been grown in European…

Janka 620 lbf

Elm

Elm is a distinctive European and North American hardwood recognized for its reddish-brown heartwood and interlocked grain, with European…

Janka 810 lbf

European ash

European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) is a light to medium brown, oak-like hardwood with a Janka hardness of 1,480 lbf (6,580 N), above English…

Janka 1,480 lbf

European beech

European beech (Fagus sylvatica) is a pale, fine-grained hardwood with a Janka hardness of 1,450 lbf (6,460 N). It moves a lot with…

Janka 1,450 lbf

European birch

European birch means two closely related trees, silver birch (Betula pendula) and downy birch (Betula pubescens). Silver birch is listed at…

Janka 1,210 lbf

European larch

European larch (Larix decidua) is a deciduous conifer whose heartwood runs from yellow to reddish brown and darkens with light and age. The…

Janka 740 lbf

European oak

European oak is the timber of two closely related species, Quercus robur and Q. petraea, and it is among the important parquet woods in…

Janka 1,120 lbf

European walnut

European walnut (Juglans regia), also sold as English, French or common walnut, is a brown hardwood with a straight to wavy grain. The Wood…

Janka 1,220 lbf

Hard maple

Hard maple, mainly sugar maple (Acer saccharum), is a pale, fine-textured North American hardwood and harder than American white oak, red…

Janka 1,450 lbf

Hickory

Hickory is a group of North American Carya species, so any hardness figure depends on which species it refers to: The Wood Database lists…

Janka 1,880 lbf

Iroko

Iroko (Milicia excelsa and Milicia regia) is a durable African hardwood with a Janka hardness of 1,190 lbf (5,310 N) and an average dried…

Janka 1,190 lbf

Jatoba (Brazilian cherry)

Jatoba (Hymenaea courbaril) is a very hard, dense South American timber sold for flooring as Brazilian cherry, although it is unrelated to…

Janka 2,690 lbf

Merbau

Merbau (Intsia bijuga and Intsia palembanica) is an orangey to reddish-brown tropical hardwood with a Janka hardness of 1,840 lbf (7,620 N)…

Janka 1,840 lbf

Sapele

Sapele (Entandrophragma cylindricum) is a golden to dark reddish-brown African hardwood with a Janka hardness of 1,360 lbf (6,060 N) and an…

Janka 1,360 lbf

Scots pine

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) is a widespread European softwood with pale sapwood and reddish-brown heartwood. The Wood Database lists it…

Janka 540 lbf

Sweet chestnut

Sweet chestnut is the timber of Castanea sativa, a European hardwood whose heartwood closely resembles oak but is softer and lighter. It is…

Janka 680 lbf

Teak

Teak (Tectona grandis) is a golden to medium brown timber with a Janka hardness of 1,070 lbf (4,740 N) and lower shrinkage than European…

Janka 1,070 lbf

Zambezi teak

Zambezi teak (Baikiaea plurijuga), also called Rhodesian teak, is a legume from southern Africa and not a true teak. The Wood Database…

Janka 2,990 lbf

The species sets most of what you will live with on a wood floor: its colour and how that colour changes with light, how readily it dents, how much it moves with the seasons, and how it takes oil, lacquer or a colour treatment. Each profile below brings together published data for one timber, with a key-facts table and links to every source used.

How to compare species

  • Hardness: the Janka figure gives a rough guide to dent resistance. See the hardness chart for every species side by side, and what the Janka test measures for its limits.
  • Stability: some timbers move more than others as humidity changes. That matters for wide boards, glue-down installs and underfloor heating.
  • Construction: an engineered board puts a top layer of the species over a stable core, which can make a less stable species practical.
  • Finish: species react differently to finishes and colour treatments. Some woods rich in tannin, such as oak, darken markedly when fumed.

Use the region filter to narrow the list, or the A–Z index to find a species by its common or scientific name. Trade names vary from country to country, so each profile lists the other names a timber is sold under.

Coverage

We start with the species most widely sold as flooring and add more over time. Each profile shows the date it was last checked against its sources. Spotted something that needs correcting? Let us know through the contact page.

A–Z of common and scientific names