7 Pros and Cons of Maple Hardwood Flooring
Maple wood is a preferred wood flooring because of its natural beauty and strength. Maple wood flooring enhances the style along with the resilience of the house. The smooth and glamorous look with little grains is the reason behind the popularity of maple wood.
Like any other hardwood floors, maple wood comes with its advantage and disadvantages. Hard maple flooring offers a brilliant appearance but is highly sensitive to humidity and heat. So, you can consider other aspects of maple before zeroing on it.
Here are some of the pros and cons of maple hardwood flooring that you must consider.
Advantages of Maple Hardwood Flooring:
Great Appearance
When it comes to beauty, very few can beat maple wood flooring. The best thing about maple is that it is available in multiple colors such as beiges, reds, browns, and chromatic grays. Hence, it goes almost with any color schemes. If you prefer a dark tone, through stain or dye, you can achieve it.
The minimal grain on the maple floor offers a smooth and clean appearance. Maple is an excellent option offering you the reminiscent of the European charm.
Superb Hardness
If you are looking for a reliable hard floor, then your search ends at maple. On the Janka hardness scale, it scores 1450lb compared to 1290lb of Red Oak. The scores show how hard and durable the maple wood is. Maple wood flooring hardness is more than any average wood.
If you are looking for hardwood for public spaces, such as bowling alleys and gymnasium, then maple will be the best choice. Maple wood with a strong polyurethane finish can be a perfect option for high foot traffic areas.
Affordability
Maple wood is widely available in all-over North America and Canada. The easy availability makes maple wood an affordable flooring option. Several types and grades of natural maple hardwood flooring are available.
Hence, selecting the right one that suits both your need and budget will not be a difficult option.
Cost of Maple
If you are zeroing on maple, the good news is that you can select from a range of brands. It means that getting the maple of your budget will not be a difficult task. However, if you find the choice is difficult, look over here.
You can get solid maple flooring around $3 to $10 per square foot. However, if you go for the maple engineered flooring, then the deal will be cheaper, and you may expect to pay between $2.50 to $9 per square foot. Finally, if you want to settle down with the laminate maple flooring, the range will be around $1 to $5 per square foot.
So, you can see that plenty of options are there.
However, along with the advantages, few disadvantages are there too of natural maple hardwood flooring.
Disadvantages of Maple Hardwood Flooring:
Easy to get scratches and marks
Natural maple wood has a light texture. Scratches are often visible more on the light maple floors with fewer grains. If you have pets or kids, be careful about them. The claws can leave scratch marks on the floor.
However, you can apply a strong polyurethane finish on the floor to protect the flooring and make it look attractive.
Difficult to Stain
Maple has a light grain, so it hardly absorbs the stain and leads to uneven patches. Areas with open grains absorb quickly, resulting in dark spots. It can be an issue when considering the light maple.
You can opt for the high-grade maple, which is mostly white as a dye works better to darken the maple. Both the stain and dye are difficult on maple, so it’s better to leave it on a professional.
Fades over the Time
A common problem with any light-colored hardwood is that it turns into yellow under the constant exposure of the light. Hence, if a few sections of your maple wood are exposed under the direct sunlight for long, it will fade faster result in an awkward dual-tone.
Bottom Line
Almost like any hardwood floors, maple adds beauty and charm to any home. Like any investment, maple hardwood has its pros and cons. However, several types of maple wood are available, from which you can select yours.
If you want to know more about it, get an appointment with us.
