Maple Hardwood Flooring Fundamentals: What to Know

Maple hardwood flooring is a favourite in so many houses as a consequence of its gentle shade, hardness, and effective grain sample. Maple is an ideal match for contemporary or up to date styled houses or for nearly any area that may profit from a clear, constant floor that brings the pure look indoors.

What Maple Hardwood Flooring Is

Maple hardwood flooring is a strong hardwood or engineered wooden ground milled from maple timber. Maple is a home hardwood that comes from forests within the northern United States and Canada. Since it’s a fast-growing home wooden, maple is taken into account to be sustainable and eco-friendly.

Maple hardwood flooring has a particular look as a result of its shade tends to be creamy white, although typically it may well darken to a light-weight brown. Maple’s clear grain could be very delicate, nearly unnoticeable, with out the sharp contrasts present in different woods, similar to oak.

Maple flooring is extraordinarily dense and onerous, making it a perfect alternative for houses that want sturdy flooring for the long run.

Professionals

  • Laborious and dense

  • Tight grain

  • Reasonably priced

  • Sustainable wooden

Cons

  • Doesn’t settle for stain nicely

  • Scratches are conspicuous

  • Few shade selections

  • Affected by sharp adjustments in humidity

Maple Hardwood Flooring Set up

All strong and engineered wood flooring should be acclimated within the supposed set up area for 48 to 72 hours—particularly maple. Maple flooring is affected by humidity greater than nearly some other species of wooden. Which means an intensive acclimation plan, with the wooden unboxed and stacked to permit for airflow, is vital to the well being of the flooring.

Tip

Take into account buying reclaimed maple flooring. Outdated gyms and bowling alleys are sometimes good sources for reclaimed maple flooring.

Due to maple’s hardness and shut grain, it’s troublesome to sand nicely. Sanding maple flooring needs to be a mission by itself reasonably than an adjunct to set up, and it needs to be executed by professionals.

The sander needs to be stored on its lowest setting for brand spanking new flooring. Any errant motion within the drum or oscillating sander (similar to chattering or shaking) will instantly switch to the maple as imperfections and can should be sanded out.

When staining maple flooring on-site, it may be troublesome to attain a uniform shade. So, it is typically beneficial that maple be left pure and solely clear-coated. Some factory-stained maple flooring have pretty constant shade, however most maple is pure and unstained.

Value of Maple Hardwood Flooring

Pure strong hardwood or engineered maple strip flooring prices $5 to $8 per sq. foot. Manufacturing unit-stained maple flooring prices $8 to $12 per sq. foot.

Variations Between Maple and Different Wooden Flooring

  Maple White Oak Ash
Colour Creamy white to gentle brown Golden brown to grey Mild tan to darkish brown
Stain Stains poorly Stains nicely Stains nicely however normally is left pure
Hardness More durable than oak and ash Softer than maple and ash More durable than oak, softer than maple
Value (Per Sq. Ft.) $5 to $8 $4 to $8 $6 to $8
Scratches Seen Simple to cover Simple to cover

Maple vs. White Oak Flooring

White oak is considerably similar to maple, although it has a extra pronounced grain and it takes stain nicely.

Oak flooring—each white oak and crimson oak—is prevalent and straightforward to search out at most ground retailers. White oak is a softer wooden than maple, however scratches are simpler to cover with oak than with maple.

Tip

The hardness of flooring varieties varies between totally different species of wooden. Sugar maple is the toughest maple wooden, for instance, and usually, white oak is tougher than most sub-species of ash.

Maple vs. Ash Flooring

Ash flooring is the closest to maple flooring when it comes to seems to be. Like maple, it’s light-colored and clear. Ash seems to be good whether or not it’s left pure and clear-coated or stained and coated.

Whereas ash is a robust, sturdy wooden, it is nonetheless not as onerous and dense as maple. Ash flooring is not as straightforward to search out as maple, so you will have fewer selections with such a flooring.

Tip

When you like maple however need extra seen grain, ash may be your most suitable option. Ash has a light-weight grain, and stain will additional intensify the grain.

Upkeep Points

As a result of scratches have a tendency to indicate prominently on maple flooring, remember to use runners and space rugs.

Since maple is light-colored, grime and different particles will present up. Don’t use a moist mop on maple flooring. As a substitute, clear the flooring as a lot as attainable with dry strategies, similar to a mushy broom and pan or a mushy, dry mop.

Sharp humidity and temperature fluctuations over time may cause maple flooring to shrink, warp, cup, or break up. So, it is best to concentrate to your private home’s humidity stage and hold it in examine with a humidifier or dehumidifier. In case your space is especially dry, you could even wish to incorporate humidification into your private home’s complete HVAC system.

The Spruce makes use of solely high-quality sources, together with peer-reviewed research, to help the details inside our articles. Learn our editorial course of to be taught extra about how we fact-check and hold our content material correct, dependable, and reliable.
  1. Hiziroglu, Salim and Hitch, Kenny. Practicalities in Air-Drying Lumber. Oklahoma State College Extension. 2017.

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