I am currently building my first home. We have just finished drywalling. I have to finalize what type of hardwood floors we are going to put in our new home very soon. I found a good price on maple ($6.50sq/ft) and was then told by someone that it was sugar maple which is a softer maple than hard maple. It does seem to be a lot lighter than other maple wood sampels I have seen. We have a large dog and young children so I do want a harder wood flooring. Everywear I look on the internet hard maple and sugar maple are the same. The Janka scales I have seen only lists hard maple. Does anyone think I should be concerned about the sugar maple and possible look at spending more to get a hard maple?
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Check in at hardwoodinstaller.com They are a very good wood flooring forum, and they also sell quality wood at decnet prices. Ken's the guy in charge there.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Maple is so blagh no grain (flooring grades no comments birds eye,burle,ect. ect) Try bamboo renewable,super hard and prefinnished.
See this recent thread for dog vs hardwood floor issues:
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages/?msg=70232.34
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We have an oak parquet floor in our bedroom finished with Street Shoe,
http://www.basiccoatings.com/asp/arch_dec/commercial_products.asp that has held up very well to a Newfoundland.
In the kitchen there is a Brazilian Cherry floor in need of Street Shoe which has some mild dents where the crazed Newf exits to keep the yard free of squirrels. I know from experience that this floor will be bullet proof, that Street Shoe is proven tough.
Or you could go the other direction and choose something easily refinished.
On the dog keep those nails trimmed! Fortunately for me a Newfoundland has what is considered a cat's paw in that the nails are well above the pad and don't touch the surface when they walk. These is a adaptation to rocky Newfoundland where a more common dog paw would be a hindrance.
But really any large dog is going to show it's presence on a wood floor.
as far as I know, sugar maple is hard maple. Lighter colors are expected as it is the sapwood that is valuable. Softer colors may be red or soft maple, a different product. Dark streaks in lighter, hard maple are the heartwood showing up. There is not much that is harder among the North American Woods. I don't think I've seen soft maple used for flooring, although why not? It is a lot harder then pine which is often used and can be stained, not dog friendly. $6.50 is high for my neck of the woods ( Vermont). I did just get some White Oak flooring for a project, I believe that may be even harder (not sure, but I think so), was happy with some knots so got #2 for under $2, clear would have been just over $3.
good luck.....