Janka Rating For Hardwood Floors

In hardwood flooring the score is used to determine the durability of hardwood species that it might be suitable for a home.

Janka rating for hardwood floors.

The grades are arranged from softest to hardest and the number is the janka rating for that particular grade of hardwood flooring. While the complete janka hardness listings will reveal that there are some fairly hard softwoods and some relatively soft hardwoods in the species most commonly used in flooring the identifiers hold true. The janka hardness test from the austrian born emigrant gabriel janka 1864 1932 measures the resistance of a sample of wood to denting and wear. The janka hardness scale determines the hardness of a particular type of wood over another.

Solid hardwood flooring will always be stronger than hardwood veneer engineered flooring. Hardwoods are better than softwoods. A common use of janka hardness ratings is to determine whether a species is suitable for use as flooring. Similar to a laminate ac rating the hardwood floor hardness determines the durability of the species.

Hardwoods are harder than softwoods. What does janka rating mean. The janka number is found by pushing a steel ball into a 2 x 2 x 6 wood plank. The janka rating scale was created to rank the various degrees of hardness throughout the different species of hardwoods.

The following comparison chart illustrates the relative hardness of various species of wood flooring using the janka scale.