Walnut hardwood flooring is an upscale type of flooring that is very beautiful. Its color ranges from deep brown heartwood to snow white sapwood. Although, the material is softer than red oak, it’s heavy, hard, stiff and has great dimensional stability. It’s also very strong and has good shock resistance.
The flooring is famous for its beautiful grain. The flooring has straight grains; however, it might sometimes have waves or curls.
Since it’s not too hard, walnut easily works with hand and machine tools. It also works well with nails, glues, and nails. If you need to stain it you don’t have to worry as it’s very easy to stain.
Although, the flooring is tough and great to look at, its main flaw is that it tends to dent easily. Due to this, you should avoid installing it in high traffic areas. If you have children in your house, you should consider painting the flooring a dark color in order to hide the dents that might come up.
American Black Walnut vs. Brazilian Walnut
American black walnut and Brazilian walnut are two of the most common wood species used in making the flooring. Both species are dark and they add an air of sophistication in your house.
While the two are dark, they differ in terms of hardness. American black has a hardness of 1,010 while Brazilian walnut has a hardness of 3,650 on the Janka hardness scale. If you are planning of installing the flooring in high traffic areas, you should consider installing Brazilian walnut as it’s much harder. Experts recommend that you should also use Brazilian walnut for decking and other outdoor applications as its resistant to fungi, insects and fire.
While American black is softer than Brazilian walnut, it doesn’t mean that it’s softwood. You can go ahead and install it in your low traffic areas of your house. To avoid denting the flooring you should take precautions. For example, you should avoid trimming pet nails on the floor. You should also place pads under the feet of your furniture.
Conclusion
This is what you need to know about walnut hardwood flooring. If you are planning of installing the flooring in your house there are many options that you can choose from. For example, you can go for: prefinished, unfinished, solid, or engineered walnut flooring. Regardless of the flooring that you go for, always ensure that you buy it from a reputable store.