Types of Hardwood Floors: Species, Grades and Construction

The types of hardwood floors differ first by how the board is built, then by species, then by grade. A solid floor is a single piece of wood through its whole thickness; an engineered floor is two or more layers glued together, with a hardwood veneer on top and the layers underneath running at right angles for stability (Wikipedia's wood flooring article and Bruce describe it the same way).

The trade-off is wear reserve against stability. A solid floor has a thicker wear surface and can be sanded and refinished more times. Bruce, a flooring manufacturer, puts numbers on it for its products: solid hardwood can be refinished at least five times and can last 100 years or more, engineered two or three times with a lifespan up to 50 years, while engineered is more stable and water resistant. Hartco, another manufacturer, says engineered floors suit every level of a home including basements. Treat those counts as manufacturer figures; the real limit is how much wood sits above the tongue.

The National Wood Flooring Association's species gallery lists 33 flooring species. The domestic ones below are the species its grading standard covers; hardness is USDA Wood Handbook side hardness at 12% moisture, and tangential shrinkage (green to ovendry) is from the handbook's Table 4-3 - higher shrinkage means more seasonal movement.

• Red oak - 1,290 lbf, 8.6%. Easily available, with open, porous grain and a reddish tone (NWFA). Red oak
• White oak - 1,360 lbf, 10.5%. Plugged pores and a grey-brown tone; tiger-ray flake when quartersawn. White oak
• Hard (sugar) maple - 1,450 lbf, 9.9%. Pale, fine, closed grain; NWFA's Clear hard maple is described as almost ivory white. Hard maple
• Hickory-pecan - 1,820 lbf for pecan, 8.9%; shagbark hickory 1,880 lbf, 10.5%. Strong contrast between pale sapwood and reddish-brown heartwood. Hickory
• White ash - 1,320 lbf, 7.8%. Light colour, oak-like grain. White ash
• American beech - 1,300 lbf, but 11.9%, the highest movement here. Beech
• Black walnut - 1,010 lbf, 7.8%. Dark and stable but soft for a floor. Walnut
• Black cherry - 950 lbf, 7.1%. Darkens with light; the softest common hardwood floor. Cherry
• Longleaf pine - 870 lbf, 7.5%; a softwood, and NWFA's gallery includes southern yellow pine among flooring species. Southern yellow pine

Imported species sit higher. The handbook's Table 5-5b gives courbaril, sold as Brazilian cherry, 2,350 lbf and ipe 3,680 lbf at 12% moisture. See Brazilian cherry and ipe.

Grade is about appearance, not species. The NWFA/NOFMA standard for unfinished solid flooring sets four oak grades:

• Clear - mostly heartwood with a minimum of character marks, for a uniform look.
• Select - colour variation from heartwood and sapwood, unlimited sound sapwood, and one small tight knot every 3 feet.
• #1 Common - prominent colour variation and character; broken knots over 1/2 inch are not allowed.
• #2 Common - sound natural variation and some manufacturing imperfections, meant for homes, general use, or where character marks and contrast are wanted.

Higher grades also mean longer boards. For strip flooring under 3 inches wide the standard sets minimum average lengths of 36 inches for Clear, 33 for Select, 30 for #1 Common and 24 for #2 Common. Every character allowed in a higher grade is automatically allowed in the lower ones.

Manufacturers often use their own names instead. Bruce, for example, describes three grades - Select, Natural and Rustic - so compare photos of full cartons rather than grade names across brands.

The same species looks different depending on how the log was cut. NWFA describes red oak this way: plainsawn boards have a plumed or flared grain, riftsawn boards a tighter pattern with low figure, and quartersawn boards a flake pattern sometimes called tiger rays or butterflies. The USDA Wood Handbook's shrinkage table explains why cut matters beyond looks: radial shrinkage is roughly half of tangential in most species (white oak 5.6% against 10.5%), so quartersawn boards move less across their width.

Finish is the other choice. Prefinished floors carry a factory-applied finish, typically aluminum oxide, which Bruce and Hartco both describe as the most wear-resistant option; site-finished floors are coated after installation, which allows custom colour matching but needs more care.

Work from the outside in.

• Is it wood at all? Laminate carries a printed image of wood and vinyl is plastic formed to look like wood (Wikipedia).
• Solid or engineered? Look at a plank edge where it is exposed: at a floor vent, a threshold, or the gap along a baseboard, cabinet or closet, using a mirror if needed. Floor Sanding Cambridge's guide says engineered boards show many layers stuck together, while solid boards show one piece with continuous grain.
• Which species? On a sanded or worn area, look at the pores. Open pores with a reddish tone suggest red oak; plugged pores with a grey-brown tone suggest white oak; very fine, pale grain suggests maple; strong pale-and-brown contrast from board to board suggests hickory.

A clear phone photo of an unfinished edge or a worn spot is enough for WoodLens to suggest the species, and our wood grain identification page explains the pore check in detail.

Species and grade set most of the price. As a reference point for raw wood, one retail yard's list - The Wood Yard in Concord, Georgia, updated September 2026 - prices 4/4 lumber per board foot at $6.00 for hickory, $6.10 for red oak and ash, $8.35 for hard maple, $10.00 for white oak and $16.50 for walnut. Those are lumber prices before milling, finishing and installation, and yards differ by region, but the ranking matches what floor shoppers see: red oak is the budget benchmark and walnut the premium. Select and Clear grades cost more than Common grades of the same species because they use the cleanest, longest boards.

The best type of wood flooring depends on where it goes and who walks on it. Hartco's selection guide gives these rules:

• Kids and pets - hickory, at 1,820 lbf, with color variation that hides wear; Hartco calls it the pick for busy households.
• Formal, low-traffic rooms - walnut (1,010 lbf) and cherry (950 lbf) for their color, accepting that they dent more easily.
• Kitchens - water-resistant engineered floors, as long as spills are wiped up quickly.
• Basements and concrete slabs - engineered construction only.
• Bathrooms and laundry rooms - Hartco does not recommend wood at all because of constant moisture.
• Finish - matte and satin sheens hide dust, smudges and footprints better than gloss.

The Janka values Hartco quotes (oak 1,290 to 1,360, maple 1,450, hickory 1,820, walnut 1,010, cherry 950 lbf) match the USDA Wood Handbook figures used above.

Hartco's trend notes describe the premium look as warm tones (honey oak, soft chestnut, warm walnut), wide planks, matte rather than glossy finishes, and textured surfaces such as wire-brushed and hand-scraped. At the custom end, unfinished floors are sanded and finished on site, which allows blended stain colors and oil-based or European hardwax finishes, and gives a seamless wall-to-wall surface. Hartco also cites a survey figure that 54% of home hunters would pay more for a home with hardwood floors.

In practice that points to wide-plank white oak, often quartersawn or riftsawn, in a matte site-applied or hardwax finish. Our white oak page shows how to confirm the species.