Choosing the hardwood floors for your new or remodeled home is such a great experience, but it can also be stressful.
There are too many styles and materials to pick from. The right hardwood floor depends on your budget, style, and longevity.
If you want to learn which are some of the most popular types of wood flooring, check out this article.
1. Pine
Although pine is one of the most popular types of hardwood floors, it’s not hardwood technically. If you want a softer wood under your feet, pine is the softer option. Those looking for real hardwood, might not have pine on the top of their list because it’s a character wood.
Still, people like pine for their floors due to the typical pin holes and knots. If you have a limited budget, wood might not be the cheapest around.
2. Oak
Oak is one of the most popular hardwood floors in the United States. A lot of families choose oak hardwood floors because it’s resistant to scratches and dents.
This type of floor is a great starter hardwood floor for people who want to avoid rugs, but have younger children.
Oak flooring is also versatile and there are many stain colors for every taste. Some of the most popular colors include red and white oak. The downside is that over time it can look worn and old.
However, it’s easy to bring old floors back to life by getting them refinished.
3. Ash
Those who want to embrace a lighter color for their hardwood floors, they can try ash wood.
Ash wood is a lighter color than most hardwoods and it’s also one of the toughest. Although sometimes ash gets mistaken for hickory, the latter has white dots and is a darker summerwood.
Ash does need a lot more maintenance since it gets dirty easily.
Even though it’s one of the toughest woods, ash is a lot more affordable than some of the similar quality woods.
4. Hickory
You can typically find hickory in rustic-style homes. Similar to ash, hickory has one of the hardest exteriors. Hickory has also a close grain look to it without many figures.
Hickory floors range from light to medium red-brown colors. Although rare, it’s also available in a creamy white.
If you expect your house to have a lot of foot traffic, hickory can handle it. Families of more than 4 members can really make the most of this type of hardwood floor.
5. Walnut
Walnut gets some of its popularity due to the large variety of colors it comes in.
This type of wood is a soft-hardwood, so you should refrain from installing it in a room where you will have heavy furniture such as the dining room.
Although it might not resist heavy items as well, it is quite resistant to light. Even if your walnut floors receive direct sunlight, the wood won’t get damaged.
If you have classic and expensive taste, walnut floors are the way to go. Walnut is a durable and strong wood that comes in a variety of colors.
European walnut is a lot lighter and finer than American walnut. Once you decide walnut is the way to go, you will pay a higher than for other hardwood floors.
6. Cherry
Cherry hardwood floors have a lot more character because the wood darkens over time. You can start with lighter color floors and have darker ones in a few years.
Pink hues and a tight wavy grain are the main characteristics of cherry hardwood floors.
Most people find that cherry wood is easy to maintain, but it does scratch a lot easier than other woods.
There are different types of cherry floors, but American cherry is the most popular by far.
Although cherry wood floors are some of the most popular and common floors around, they’re quite difficult to work with. If you want to install cherry floors, you should make sure to hire someone who is experienced working with this type of wood.
7. Mahogany
People love mahogany because of its beautiful color and patterns. Since mahogany wood is durable, you can find it in furniture, musical instruments, and boats.
Those looking for a beautiful, durable, and water-resistant hardwood floors tend to gravitate towards mahogany. It also gives a house a more timeless and classic look.
8. Lyptus
Lyptus is a type of hardwood floor that widely available in many areas. Because many people mistake lyptus for mahogany, its popularity has grown over the years.
If you’re looking for a type of hardwood floor that resembles the classic look of mahogany at a fraction of the price, lyptus is the way to go. The looks are so similar no one will even know the difference.
9. Bamboo
Bamboo is another type of wood that is not technically a hardwood. Due to the characteristics of bamboo, a lot of people think of it as a hardwood.
In reality, bamboo is a type of grass, but it can be tougher than most hardwoods.
If you want to install bamboo floors in your home, you have two choices — a natural color or a carbonized look. The carbonized color happens after the bamboo gets boiled in order to achieve a darker color.
10. Maple
You might have seen maple hardwood floors more often than you think. Maple is a wood of choice for bowling alleys.
Maple wood has a hard curly grain, which makes it resistant to a lot of foot traffic and bowling balls. Because they’re so resistant, you don’t have to worry about toys or your pet’s paws scratching it.
Knowing that it can resist the foot traffic of a bowling alley, it can handle the foot traffic in any home. Since maple adapts great to stains, they can look like other types of hardwood floors.
Popular Types of Wood Flooring: The Bottom Line
Now that you know about the most popular types of wood flooring, you can pick the one that speaks to you.
Think about which ones fit in your budget, lifestyle, and decor.
If you want to learn how to stop your hardwood floors from being squeaky, check out this article.