Janka Rating For Hardwood Floors

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.

Janka rating for hardwood floors.

Hardwoods are harder than softwoods. Solid hardwood flooring will always be stronger than hardwood veneer engineered flooring. The janka rating scale was created to rank the various degrees of hardness throughout the different species of hardwoods. What does janka rating mean.

The following comparison chart illustrates the relative hardness of various species of wood flooring using the janka scale. The grades are arranged from softest to hardest and the number is the janka rating for that particular grade of hardwood flooring. 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. A janka rating is a hardness estimate given to wood.

A common use of janka hardness ratings is to determine whether a species is suitable for use as flooring. The scale was invented in 1906 by gabriel janka an austrian wood researcher and standardized in 1927 by the american society for testing and materials depending on the room where the flooring will be installed a certain level of hardness may make it a more desirable choice. The janka number is found by pushing a steel ball into a 2 x 2 x 6 wood plank. It measures the force required to embed an 11 28 millimetres 0 444 in diameter steel ball halfway into a sample of wood.

Hardwoods are better than softwoods.