The best wood for a hardwood floor near the Carolina coast is a species that keeps its shape through a humid August and a dry January, and wears the way your household lives. Hardness is the number most charts lead with, but it only measures dents. Hickory and hard maple, the two hardest common American flooring woods, are also two of the woods that swell and shrink the most.
White oak is the best all-round choice for most coastal homes. It is hard enough for family life at 1,360 on the Janka scale, and its plugged pores slow spills from soaking in. It is readily available quartersawn and as wide engineered plank, the two forms that keep humid-weather movement in check, and engineered plank is the form that goes over a concrete slab.
Red oak is the best value. At 1,290 it is nearly as hard as white oak, and flat-sawn red oak actually moves a little less. It takes stain readily, especially lighter colors, which makes it a good floor to refinish in a new color later.
Hickory and pecan are the toughest floors for big dogs, kids and beach sand, testing at 1,820 and up. Their bold color swings hide scratches. Hickory also moves the most of the common flooring woods, so buy it narrow, or engineered for a beach house that sits closed up.
Hard maple is hard (1,450) and clean-looking, but it moves a lot and turns blotchy under stain. It belongs in a house with steady air conditioning and a clear finish.
Walnut is one of the steadiest woods in humid air and one of the softest, at 1,010. It suits bedrooms, studies and dining rooms, and it can fade in strong sun. Black cherry behaves much the same but darkens instead.
Read the table as hardness for dents and movement for humidity. Low movement means a board swells and shrinks the least with the seasons and high means the most, based on the US Forest Service's Wood Handbook.
| Species | Hardness (lbf) | Seasonal movement | Best coastal use |
|---|---|---|---|
| White oak | 1,360 | Medium to high | Most rooms; wide plank as engineered |
| Red oak | 1,290 | Medium | Best value; takes stain well |
| Hickory and pecan | 1,820 to 2,140 | High | Dogs, kids, sand |
| Hard maple | 1,450 | Medium to high | Steady AC; clear finish |
| Black walnut | 1,010 | Low | Bedrooms and dining rooms |
| Black cherry | 950 | Low | Low traffic; darkens in sun |
| White ash | 1,320 | Low | Oak look, lighter tone |
| Brazilian cherry | 2,350 | Medium | Stair treads; strong red color |
| French oak | About 1,120 | Medium | Stair treads, wide plank |
| Heart pine | 870 | Low | Restoring older floors |
The page runs in this order. First, why hardness is not the whole answer on the coast, with Wilmington's own humidity figures. Then each species, ending with Brazilian cherry and French oak for stair treads and heart pine for older houses. After that come choosing for dogs, beach houses, kitchens and slabs, how each wood looks after years of sun, cost, humidity care, who installs locally, and common questions.
Why the Hardest Wood Is Not Always the Best Choice by the Coast
A wood floor near the ocean can fail in two ways. It can dent and scratch, which hardness predicts, or it can gap, cup and crown as it swells and shrinks with the air, which hardness does not predict at all. In a humid coastal house the second failure is the one that ruins floors, so the best species is the one that does well on both counts.
What the Janka hardness number measures
Janka hardness is the force it takes to press a steel ball 0.444 inch across halfway into a board. The US Forest Service's Wood Handbook, the standard American reference on wood, defines it as resistance to indentation. A higher number means fewer dents from dropped pans, chair legs and claws. It tells you nothing about humidity and only part of the story on scratches, where the finish does much of the work.
The handbook's measured values set the scale. Longleaf pine tests at 870 pounds-force, black walnut at 1,010, northern red oak at 1,290, white oak at 1,360 and sugar maple at 1,450. Pecan tests at 1,820, and the true hickories run from 1,880 to 2,140.
Flooring makers, including Hartco and Robbins, usually list hickory at 1,820, which is the pecan figure, because mills sell the two woods mixed. Either way, hickory is the hardest common domestic flooring wood.
How much each species swells and shrinks
Every wood swells when it takes on moisture and shrinks when it dries, and the Wood Handbook measures how much for each species. Wood moves most in the direction of its growth rings, which is the width of an ordinary flat-sawn floorboard. It moves about half as much across the rings and barely at all along the length.
Ranked by the handbook's dimensional change coefficients, the share of its width a board gains or loses per point of moisture, the flooring woods fall in a different order from hardness. Black cherry and longleaf pine move least, and true hickory moves most, with walnut, ash, red oak, pecan, maple and white oak in between. The softest woods are among the steadiest, and the hardest are among the busiest.
A worked example shows the size of the difference. Take a 5-inch board that goes from 7 percent moisture in a heated January to 11 percent in August, and apply the handbook's equation.
| Species | Flat-sawn board | Quartersawn board | Across a 12-foot room |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black cherry | 0.05 inch | 0.03 inch | 1.4 inches |
| Black walnut | 0.05 inch | 0.04 inch | 1.6 inches |
| Red oak | 0.06 inch | 0.03 inch | 1.8 inches |
| Hard maple | 0.07 inch | 0.03 inch | 2.0 inches |
| White oak | 0.08 inch | 0.04 inch | 2.2 inches |
| Hickory | 0.08 inch | 0.05 inch | 2.4 inches |
These are estimates for boards that are free to move. An installed floor is held down, and its finish slows the exchange of moisture, so real floors move less. The movement still shows up somewhere, as thin gaps between boards in winter and as cupping or pressure against the walls in summer.
What Wilmington's humidity does to a wood floor
Wilmington's outdoor air averages between 68 and 80 percent relative humidity by month, according to the National Weather Service's climate summary for the city. April is the driest month and August the most humid, and morning readings reach 91 percent in August and September. Wood takes on or gives up moisture until it matches the air around it, a balance point called equilibrium moisture content.
The Wood Handbook's tables show where that balance lands. At room temperature, wood in air at 35 percent humidity settles near 7 percent moisture, and at 55 percent humidity near 10 percent. At 75 percent humidity it reaches about 14 percent, and at 80 percent about 16 percent.
Bruce, one of the brands we carry, gives 6 to 9 percent as the usual target moisture for residential hardwood. A house held within the flooring makers' humidity range keeps its floor close to that. A house that lets the summer air in, or sits closed with the air conditioning off, pushes the same floor toward 14 to 16 percent.
The handbook's own advice reflects the coast. It recommends installing interior flooring at about 8 percent moisture in most of the country and about 11 percent in damp, warm coastal areas, and its map puts southeastern North Carolina in that coastal zone. That is why wood for a Wilmington job is acclimated to the house it will live in.
Two of the brands we carry give slightly different indoor ranges. Shaw Floors asks owners to keep humidity between 35 and 55 percent to prevent warping, and Bruce's acclimation guide gives 30 to 50 percent. A house held between 35 and 50 percent meets both.
Quartersawn and rift-sawn boards move less
How a board is cut from the log matters almost as much as the species. In a quartersawn board the growth rings run up and down through its thickness. The Wood Handbook says quartersawn lumber shrinks and swells less in width, and cups, checks and splits less in use, than flat-sawn lumber. Rift-sawn boards are cut at an angle between the two and behave much like quartersawn.
In the worked example, a quartersawn white oak board moves about half as much across its width as a flat-sawn one. The trade-offs are price and look. The handbook notes that flat-sawn lumber costs less because it is easy to get, and it shows the familiar arched grain. Quartersawn oak shows ribbons of fleck, often called tiger rays, and rift-sawn boards show tight, straight lines.
Wider boards show more movement
A wide plank moves more than a narrow strip because the change is a share of its width. With the same 4-point moisture swing, a flat-sawn white oak strip 3 inches wide changes by about 0.05 inch and a 7-inch plank by about 0.1 inch. The room moves the same total either way, but on wide planks the movement collects at fewer seams, so each gap or ridge is bigger and easier to see.
That is the main reason wide planks in coastal homes are usually engineered, with a hardwood top layer over a cross-layered core that resists swelling. Our comparison of engineered and solid hardwood for coastal Carolina homes goes through foundations, refinishing and cost for the two constructions.
Does the species still matter in engineered hardwood?
Yes, the species still matters in engineered hardwood, because the layer you walk on is real wood of that species. Bruce describes engineered flooring as a natural hardwood top layer over plywood layers. That top layer decides how the floor dents, how it looks, how it changes color and how it takes stain, while the core decides how steady the plank stays in humid air.
So engineered hickory still resists dents like hickory and still shows hickory's color swings, while swelling far less than solid hickory. Engineered maple still blotches under a dark stain. Most of the hardwood colors in our catalog are engineered, so for most coastal buyers the species choice is really a choice about the top layer.
The Best Hardwood Species for Coastal Homes, One by One
These sections cover the species we carry and the ones Wilmington buyers ask about, with every hardness and movement figure taken from the Wood Handbook so they compare directly. Each one ends with what to buy if you choose it, and you can see the oak, hickory, maple, pecan and walnut floors we offer, solid and engineered, in our hardwood catalog.
Why white oak suits most coastal homes
White oak is where most coastal Carolina buyers should start. At 1,360 on the Janka scale it resists dents better than red oak, and Hartco describes its cooler tan, beige and grayish undertones as a neutral, clean look. It is also readily available quartersawn, rift-sawn and in wide engineered planks.
Its best trait near the water is in its pores. The Wood Handbook explains that white oak heartwood pores are usually plugged with growths called tyloses, which make the wood nearly impenetrable to liquids. That is why white oak is the traditional wood for barrels and boat planking, and the handbook adds that its heartwood resists decay well. On a floor, a spill or a wet paw print takes longer to soak in.
Plugged pores do not keep out humid air, though. White oak takes on moisture from the air like any wood, and its flat-sawn movement coefficient in the current handbook is higher than red oak's. When a flooring site calls white oak the stable choice for humid climates because of its tight grain, it is mixing up resistance to spills with resistance to humidity.
The National Wood Flooring Association describes white oak heartwood as light brown, sometimes with a pinkish or grayish cast, with less variation between boards than red oak. If you choose white oak, buy it rift-sawn, quartersawn or engineered for wide planks, and engineered for any house that sits closed up or any slab.
Red oak for value and custom stain colors
If you are choosing between the two oaks, choose white oak for a pale or gray floor, for kitchens, and for quartersawn or wide engineered plank. Choose red oak to spend less, for a warm traditional look, or if you expect to restain the floor someday. The hardness gap between them is only 70 pounds-force, a difference few households would notice.
Red oak is the classic American floor and still the best value in real hardwood. It tests at 1,290 on the Janka scale, and in flat-sawn boards it moves somewhat less than white oak. Its open grain takes stain readily, and Hartco points to red oak for custom stain jobs, especially lighter colors, so it is a sensible pick if you expect to change the floor's color later.
The same open pores lack the tyloses that plug white oak, the Wood Handbook notes, so a spill soaks in faster. Keep a mat at the sink and wipe spills right away. NWFA describes red oak as slightly redder than white oak, and that warm cast shows through light and gray stains, which is where white oak's cooler undertones help. Under a medium or dark brown stain the difference fades.
If you choose red oak, a solid strip or plank does well in a house that keeps its air conditioning running, and engineered red oak is the route for a slab.
Hickory and pecan for dogs, kids and sand
Hickory is the floor to choose when big dogs, small children and beach sand are part of daily life. It is the hardest common American flooring wood. Pecan, which mills sell mixed with hickory, tests at 1,820 on the Janka scale, and the true hickories run from 1,880 to 2,140 in the Wood Handbook's measurements.
Its looks do half the work. NWFA notes that hickory and pecan boards show strong color differences, often from creamy white to reddish tan in a single board. Robbins, one of the brands we carry, describes hickory's color as bold and varied next to oak's more uniform tone. That busy surface hides the small scratches and dents a plain, even floor would show.
The price of that toughness is movement. The Wood Handbook says true hickory shrinks considerably as it dries, and its flat-sawn coefficient is the highest of the common flooring species. A narrow solid hickory floor does well in a house that runs its air conditioning all summer. For a raised beach house, a rental that sits empty, a slab, or planks wider than about 5 inches, choose engineered hickory.
Hickory or white oak for a dog household comes down to the look you can live with. Hickory hides more wear and shrugs off more dents. White oak gives a calmer, lighter floor and holds up well to most dogs in a character grade with a matte finish. With big, active dogs and a busy door to the beach, choose hickory.
Hard maple needs steady humidity
Hard maple is the pale, fine-grained wood of basketball courts and bowling lanes, and at 1,450 on the Janka scale it is harder than either oak. Hartco notes that fine-grained woods like maple hide scratches better than bold-grained ones. It suits a light, modern room with clean lines.
Maple has two drawbacks on the coast. The Wood Handbook describes hard maple as a high-shrinkage wood, with a flat-sawn coefficient well over red oak's, and it resists stain. The American Hardwood Information Center, the hardwood industry's consumer site, explains that tight-grained woods such as maple and cherry often turn blotchy when stained. Finishers apply a thin wash coat first to even them out.
If you choose maple, keep it for a house with steady air conditioning, and finish it clear or close to its natural color. Engineered maple is the safer form on a slab or in a house that sits closed. For a dark or gray floor, choose oak instead.
Walnut and cherry for quieter rooms
Black walnut and black cherry are among the steadiest American flooring woods in humid air, and among the softest. The Wood Handbook calls walnut stable in use and cherry very dimensionally stable after drying, and both sit near the bottom of its movement chart.
Dents are the trade-off. At 1,010 for walnut and 950 for cherry, both mark more easily than oak under chair legs, heels and claws. Hartco places walnut in formal rooms and lighter traffic, and cherry in low-traffic spaces. A walnut floor in a bedroom, study or dining room will look rich for decades, while the same floor in a busy kitchen with a large dog will show every bump.
Both woods change color in light, in opposite directions. Hartco warns that darker woods such as walnut can fade unevenly in very sunny rooms, and NWFA notes that cherry's reddish heartwood darkens over time. Our catalog carries only a little walnut, so if walnut is the look you want, ask what is available.
Ash and its shrinking supply
White ash looks much like white oak, often a little more yellow, with a bold, open grain. At 1,320 on the Janka scale it is nearly as hard as white oak, and it moves less with humidity than either oak, which makes ash a steady, practical floor.
Supply is the problem. The Wood Handbook notes that American white ash and its eastern relatives are now listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The cause is the emerald ash borer, a beetle that has killed ash trees across the eastern United States. Ash flooring is still made, but the choice is narrow. Hartco adds that ash's bold grain shows scratches more than a fine-grained wood does.
Brazilian cherry and French oak for stair treads
Brazilian cherry and French oak are two of the species Carpet Smart offers for custom hardwood stair treads, along with red oak, white oak and hickory. They suit a staircase meant to stand out from the floor, or treads that match an imported plank.
Brazilian cherry is the trade name for jatoba, a South American hardwood. The Wood Handbook measures it at 2,350 on the Janka scale, harder than any domestic species here, which suits a stair nosing that takes every step. Its shrinkage figures are close to red oak's.
Color is the thing to understand before you buy Brazilian cherry. NWFA describes the heartwood as salmon red to orange-brown when fresh, turning russet or reddish brown as it seasons. The treads you see on day one will not be the treads you have in a few years.
French oak is European oak, a member of the white oak group. The Wood Database, an independent wood reference, lists it at about 1,120 on the Janka scale, somewhat softer than American white oak, with lower shrinkage figures. As a white oak, it pairs naturally with a white oak floor on the stairs.
Heart pine in older houses
If your older house has pine floors, they may be heart pine, and the usual advice is to keep them. Heart pine is the dense, resin-rich heartwood of old longleaf pine, a tree that the Wood Handbook says grows from eastern North Carolina southward. NWFA lists antique heart pine as limited in availability, so new boards to match are hard to find.
By hardness alone heart pine is soft. The handbook measures longleaf pine at 870 on the Janka scale, the lowest on this page, so it dents under heels and furniture. It is also one of the steadiest woods here, tied with cherry for the least movement. NWFA notes that heart pine turns from yellow to a warm reddish brown within weeks of cutting because of its resin.
A worn pine floor can often be sanded and refinished instead of replaced, and a low-sheen finish lets the dents read as character. For a new room beside it, the choices are reclaimed heart pine, when you can find enough, or a different species finished to sit comfortably next to the old floor. Our hardwood sand and finish service uses dust-controlled sanding and custom stain colors, which is what makes the second route work.
Choosing a Species for How You Live
Who walks on the floor and what the house does while you are away change the answer more than style does. Dogs and sand favor hardness, a closed-up beach house favors stability, a kitchen favors white oak, and the foundation decides the construction before any species is chosen.
Big dogs, small kids and beach sand
You have two big dogs, a couple of kids and a beach bag that empties sand at the door, and you want wood anyway. Choose hickory or white oak in a character grade, with a matte or wire-brushed finish. Hardness handles claws and dropped toys, and the natural variation hides what hardness cannot stop.
Hartco's guidance for dog owners covers the finish. Matte finishes absorb light and make scuffs and nail marks far less noticeable, glossy finishes highlight every scratch, and factory-applied finishes stand up to claws better than finishes applied in the room. Shaw Floors adds the habit that matters most, which is keeping pet nails trimmed.
Sand deserves as much thought as the species. Grit on shoes and paws wears through a finish whatever wood is underneath. Put a mat outside and a washable rug inside every beach-facing door, sweep often, and follow Shaw Floors' advice to use rugs in high-traffic areas and at pivot points, the spots where people turn.
A beach house or rental that sits closed up
Real wood can work in a beach house that sits closed between visits, but only if something holds the humidity down while it is empty. With the air conditioning turned off, or set to a high temperature, the air inside drifts toward the outdoor humidity, and the Wood Handbook's tables put wood in 80 percent humidity at about 16 percent moisture. That is roughly double Bruce's target, and it is where cupping and swollen boards come from.
For those houses, choose engineered construction first and a stable species second. An engineered white oak or engineered hickory holds its shape far better than solid boards of the same wood. While the house is empty, run the air conditioning or a dehumidifier set to hold about 50 percent humidity, inside the range both Shaw Floors and Bruce accept.
For a rental with heavy turnover, it is fair to ask whether wood is right at all. Our article on how laminate and hardwood handle Hampstead and Leland humidity compares the two for that kind of house.
Kitchens, entries and spills
White oak is the better species for a kitchen or a back door, a fit Hartco also recommends, because its plugged pores take in spills more slowly than red oak's open ones. No species survives standing water, though, so in a kitchen the finish and fast cleanup matter more than the wood.
Put a washable mat at the sink and dishwasher, wipe spills right away, and choose a factory-finished floor where you can, since Hartco rates factory coatings tougher than finishes applied on site. Hartco also says that even engineered hardwood is water-resistant, not waterproof, so wood in a kitchen is a commitment to quick wiping.
Slabs, crawlspaces and radiant heat
If your house sits on a concrete slab, or has radiant heat in the floor, the construction question comes before the species. Hartco's rule of thumb is engineered wood for slabs and radiant heat, and solid wood where conditions are stable. This Old House points out that nails are not an option on a slab, so the floor has to be glued or floated.
Over a crawlspace, the moisture under the floor matters as much as the air in the room. In a house with a dry crawlspace and the air conditioning running, solid hardwood is a normal choice, which fits Hartco's stable-conditions rule. Over a damp crawlspace or open pilings, choose engineered. Either way, Carpet Smart performs moisture testing before installation.
Once the construction is settled, the species advice on this page holds. On a slab, engineered white oak or hickory is the usual choice. Over radiant heat, follow the maker's instructions for the exact product, and look for the radiant-heat approval listed on products in our catalog.
How Each Species Looks After Years of Coastal Sun
Every wood floor changes color in light, and the sunniest rooms in a house by the water show it first. The change cannot be stopped, but it can be planned for, because it differs by species.
Which woods darken and which fade
Floor Detective, a flooring inspection firm, sums up the general rule in its claims guide. Depending on species, finish and exposure, wood may darken, lighten, yellow or amber, and areas under rugs and furniture age at different rates.
Cherry darkens over time, according to both NWFA and Hartco. Brazilian cherry moves from salmon toward russet and reddish brown, and heart pine warms from yellow to reddish brown. Walnut tends to go the other way, and Hartco warns that darker woods such as walnut can fade unevenly in very sunny rooms, while lighter and medium tones are more forgiving.
In a bright room by the water, a light or medium oak is the forgiving choice. Shaw Floors asks owners to protect floors from direct sunlight to prevent fading. Use shades or window film on the windows that take the afternoon sun, and move rugs now and then so no rectangle stays a different color.
Which woods take stain evenly
Red oak takes stain readily, and Hartco recommends it for custom stain jobs, especially lighter colors. White oak takes stain well too, and HomeAdvisor's oak guide calls it easy to stain. Because its own tone is cooler and less red, white oak suits natural, sand and soft gray colors.
Maple and cherry are the difficult ones. The American Hardwood Information Center explains that tight-grained woods such as maple and cherry often turn blotchy when stained. It adds that even open-grained oak and ash can stain unevenly between grain textures when the color goes very dark. The Wood Handbook describes walnut as well suited to natural finishes.
Grade and cut change the look as much as species
Two white oak floors can look like different woods. The grade decides how many knots, mineral streaks and color swings you see, and Hartco sums it up as character grades for rustic variation and clear, consistent grades for a polished look. The cut decides the grain pattern, from arched grain on flat-sawn boards to straight lines on rift-sawn and the ribbons of fleck NWFA describes on quartersawn oak.
Plank width and finish sheen change the room again. Before deciding, take large samples home and look at them in morning, afternoon and evening light next to your cabinets and trim, as Hartco suggests. Carpet Smart ships samples free, so you can see them in your own light.
What Hardwood Costs by Species
Red oak is the least expensive of the common flooring species, and white oak costs slightly more. Bruce puts that down to supply, since red oak grows more abundantly, and to demand for white oak in other uses. Bruce also says red oak costs less than hickory or maple, and Robbins says hickory typically costs more than oak. Walnut and imported woods such as Brazilian cherry sit at the top, and Bruce notes that exotic species tend to carry a higher price.
HomeAdvisor's June 2026 oak cost guide, built from surveys of customers after their projects, puts numbers on the oak gap. It lists solid red oak at $8 to $12 a square foot and solid white oak at $9 to $14, with engineered red and white oak each about $1 lower at both ends of the range.
For hardwood in general, HomeAdvisor's installation guide puts the installed cost at $6 to $25 a square foot nationally, with an average project of $4,723 and labor at $3 to $6 a square foot. Within that range, grade, width, cut and construction move the price as much as species does, so a clear-grade, wide, rift-sawn white oak costs far more than a character-grade red oak strip.
A quote should list the flooring, installation, subfloor preparation, removal of the old floor and trim. Carpet Smart's estimates are free, and each one lists the material options, installation timeline and preparation requirements.
Keeping Any Wood Floor Stable in a Humid Coastal House
The species sets how much a floor can move, and the house sets how much it does move. Steady indoor humidity does more for a coastal wood floor than any species choice, and these habits keep it there.
- Keep indoor humidity between about 35 and 50 percent all year, the range that satisfies both Shaw Floors and Bruce.
- Let new flooring acclimate until its moisture matches the room and subfloor, which Bruce says usually takes 3 to 10 days.
- When the house is empty, set the air conditioning or a dehumidifier to hold about 50 percent humidity instead of switching it off.
- Keep mats at every door and sweep sand away before it grinds into the finish.
- Clean with a pH-neutral cleaner made for wood, as Shaw Floors advises, and never a wet or steam mop, as Bruce warns.
- Watch for gaps in winter and cupping in summer, and check the indoor humidity before either gets worse.
Who Installs Hardwood Floors in Wilmington
Carpet Smart is a locally owned flooring store in Wilmington, North Carolina, in business since 1999, with a showroom at 710 S 17th St. It serves Wilmington, Leland, Hampstead, Surf City, Southport, Topsail, Porters Neck, Burgaw and New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties. Its team installs solid and engineered hardwood using NWFA-approved methods, in glue-down, nail-down and floating systems, with wide plank options.
Our hardwood comes from makers including Shaw Floors, Hartco, Bruce, Robbins, Mohawk and Chesapeake. We perform moisture testing before installation, make custom hardwood stair treads in red oak, white oak, hickory, French oak, Brazilian cherry and more, and sand and refinish existing floors. The full list is on our services page.
Whoever you buy from, these questions pin down a hardwood floor for a coastal house:
- Which species, and which cut: flat-sawn, rift-sawn or quartersawn?
- Solid or engineered, and for engineered, how thick is the hardwood top layer?
- Which grade, and can I see several boards rather than a single sample?
- Is the finish factory-applied, and what sheen is it?
- What indoor humidity range does the warranty require?
- Is it approved for my subfloor, and for radiant heat if I have it?
- How will the wood be acclimated, and what moisture readings will you check before installing?
Hardwood Species Questions People Ask
What is the hardest wood flooring you can buy?
Hickory is the hardest common American flooring wood, with pignut hickory testing at 2,140 on the Janka scale in the Wood Handbook. Imported woods go higher. Jatoba, sold as Brazilian cherry, measures 2,350, and ipe measures 3,680. Past the oaks, extra hardness buys fewer dents, but the finish and grain decide how much everyday wear you see.
Is white oak waterproof?
No, white oak is not waterproof, though it resists spills better than most species because tyloses plug its pores. Water left standing will still swell the boards and seep into the seams. After a flood, the question is whether the floor and subfloor can dry out, and our guide to when to replace floors after a Cape Fear flood walks through that decision.
Does salt air damage hardwood floors?
No, not directly. Salt air affects a wood floor mainly because it is humid air. The Wood Handbook's moisture tables are built from humidity and temperature alone, so what the ocean breeze does to a floor is raise the moisture in the wood. The salt that reaches the floor usually arrives with sand on shoes and paws, and grit is what wears through a finish.
How long does hardwood need to acclimate in a coastal house?
Hardwood needs to acclimate until its moisture content matches the room and subfloor, which Bruce says usually takes 3 to 10 days, and longer in very humid weather. The calendar is only a guide, so the installer checks with a moisture meter. The Wood Handbook's coastal target of about 11 percent moisture shows why wood shipped from a drier region needs time in a Wilmington house.
Is hardwood flooring sustainable?
Yes, domestic hardwood comes from forests that are cut lightly. The Wood Handbook reports tree cutting on less than 2 percent of US forest land a year, less than the nearly 3 percent disturbed each year by insects, disease and fire. For imported species, the federal Lacey Act makes it illegal to bring in wood that was harvested illegally, so ask for the species and the country of origin. Among domestic flooring woods, ash is the one under real pressure, from the emerald ash borer.
What is the most popular wood for floors?
Oak is the most popular flooring wood in the country, according to Bruce, with maple and hickory the next most common. Between the two oaks, white oak suits pale, natural and gray finishes, and red oak is the value pick.
If you are down to two or three species, the fastest way to decide is to see them side by side in your own light. Take samples home, or bring a cabinet door or paint chip to the showroom, and when you are ready, request a free estimate. We will measure, test the subfloor for moisture and quote the species you picked.
