The Jenka Hardness Scale for Hardwood Flooring

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The hardness scale is important because the hardness of the wood is an important aspect when shopping for hardwood floors for your home. One way to determine the hardness of the different types of wood is by using this.

This scale has been around for a long time and was designed to measure the hardness of any wood. This helps you to determine the durability and quality of the wood, which in turn helps you make the best possible choice of hardwood flooring for your home.

Here is how the hardness test works. It measures the force needed for a .444-inch steel ball to embed itself to half its diameter in the hardwood. The hardness of the wood species is conveyed numerically as the pounds per square inch (PSI) of pressure required to put the ball into the hardwood. So, the higher the number, the harder the wood.

It is the industry standard for judging the ability of various hardwood flooring to withstand denting and wear. It also determines the effort required to either nail or saw that particular wood, so it also helps determine whether the hardwood is suitable for flooring.

It is interesting that the hardness of the wood is not just checked on the topside of the wood. It is checked on the bottom side and the ends as well. The reason for this is the wood species with grain will vary in thickness.

The benchmark, or the reference the industry uses for hardness, is the Red Oak flooring. It has a Janka rating of 1290.

Click here to see the Janka Hardness Scale Graph of the different types of wood ratings. Thanks to jankahardnessscale.com for the Janka Graph.





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