What types of wood flooring are there in the Cleveland Ohio?

The most common wood species in the Cleveland area, from the most common to the least common are as follows:

Red oak

White oak

Heart pine

Maple

Birch

Hickory

Cherry

Ash

Beech

Poplar

Walnut

Grant it, there are obviously other species out there, one can potentially order any type of wood, if you are willing to pay the delivery cost/shipping.

So, what’s the difference? We work in all the Cleveland suburbs, so we see a lot of red and white oak. These 2 species are by far the most common that we see and work on.

For the purpose of this Blog, we will categorize all these species 2 ways.

1. Hard wood (more durable) or soft wood (less durable)

2. Ability to take a stain and look uniform vs a marbleized or less uniform look.

HARD VS. SOFT WOOD

Red oak, white oak, maple, birch, hickory, ash, beech are all harder species of wood and will suit most homes and families well. All species will scratch dent, ding, cup/crown, especially with an active family/pets.

Heart pine, cherry, poplar and walnut are all softer wood that will dent/scratch much more easily. These are still common woods found on many floors, they just need to be cared for differently. We recommend having smaller animals on these species of wood and of course, taking your shoes off will help immensely. Also, dragging any type of furniture on these types of floor will almost always result in some type of damage/scratching.

UNIFORM STAINING VS. MARBELIZED STAINING
Red oak, white oak, heart pine, cherry, ash and walnut all will take a wood floor stain pretty evenly, meaning it won’t look blotchy. At times, cherry and hear pine can get a little marbleized, but still looks pretty consistent.
Maple, birch, beech and poplar tend to get marbleized or look blotchy pretty consistently. What we have found over the past 20 years that people either love or hate this look. It’s not for everyone, but we have some clients who specifically want this look. This has a lot of movement and can look wild at times. We have many examples of this on our social media sites.