Douglas Fir Flooring Durability

The stiffness quality makes it good for.

Douglas fir flooring durability.

When it comes to general strength oak is also the winner but fir is more workable. Its modern clean lines make douglas fir flooring the perfect choice for the modern home and its light tone makes it ideal for creating the illusion of increased space and light. How to use douglas fir once laid it can be treated with a white lye solution to enhance its naturally light coloring and increase its durability. We need only look to the early twentieth century houses of the pacific northwest many of which have douglas fir floors that have retained their quality for nearly 100 years in order to see this.

Carol goodwin of goodwin heart pine in micanopy florida says fir compares in density with antique heart cypress. Guide to natural durability and treatability of selected wood species of importance in europe. Natural durability of solid wood. The janka rating for red oak the softer of the two oaks is 1 220 pounds force while that for douglas fir is only 620 which is a little more than half.

Both red oak and white oak are harder than douglas fir wood. Many of these buildings still boast their original doug fir flooring and many other have had this appealing and durable flooring installed in the decades since. Douglas fir sets the standard by which other framing materials are measured and is ideal for structures that need to withstand high winds or earthquakes. Flooring is one of the most common uses of the wood especially in the west where douglas fir is still widely available.

As with any wood when the grain is tighter the wood is harder. The pros and cons of softwood flooring if you re in the market for a wood floor in a low traffic room don t ignore the rustic charm and extremely low cost of softwoods like pine. In addition to its strength douglas fir has rich coloring with the heartwood aging to a dark tan red color and the sap wood remaining light tan. Durability of douglas fir hardwood flooring douglas fir is a very durable hardwood flooring option.

Janka hardness is commonly used to determine a wood s durability especially in relation to flooring but it is not an absolute determinant. Frank lloyd wright used the two interchangeably she says. The timber durability chart contains 5 classes of timber with each class determining how long each timber listed will last these are all to bs en 350 2 1994 durability of wood and wood based products.