What Are Most Wood Floors Made Of?

Wood Floor Materials

• The most common wood used in flooring is oak, according to the Utah State University Cooperative Extension. Manufacturers and homeowners prefer oak for the hardwood's durability: Its surface isn't easily dented or scratched. Oak comes in different grades, including clear, select, better, no. 1 common and no. 2 common. Clear oak is the highest quality, with no blemishes or knots, making it the most expensive option. Select and better oaks have some small knots and a bit of dark graining. The common varieties have more knots and visible graining and are the most affordable oaks. Other woods frequently used in flooring include maple, cherry, ash and hickory, according to the World Floor Covering Association.

Solid Wood

• Solid wood floors consist of a single piece of 3/4-inch-thick wood with tongue-and-groove sides for linking to other planks. Solid wood floors are made almost exclusively from oak, according to the World Floor Covering Association. Solid wood floors are vulnerable to warping and damage from moisture, so experts don't recommend them for damp basement floors. They also must be nailed down, so they don't work on concrete slab floors. Their advantages? They're sturdy --- some solid-wood floors can last a century or more --- and homeowners can sand and refinish them, rather than having to replace them, after too much wear and tear.

Engineered Boards

• Engineered wood floors are made mostly from oak, maple or hickory. Manufacturers make engineered wood boards by gluing together two to five thin sheets of wood to create one plank ranging from 1/4 of an inch to just over 1/2 of an inch in thickness. Engineered wood floors are more stable and not as susceptible as solid-wood floors to changes in moisture levels and temperatures. In high humidity, the separate sheets in engineered planks counteract each other and keep the boards from expanding. Installers can nail, staple or glue down engineered planks, so they work on any subfloor. For the sake cost, underlying sheets are often a less expensive variety of wood than the top ply.

Longstrip Planks

• As with engineered wood floors, longstrip planks consist of several wood sheets laminated together to make a single board of about 1/2 of an inch in thickness. The center ply is usually a softer, less expensive wood, but the difference comes in the top layer, which is made of narrower, individual boards laid in three rows, rather than one board spanning the width of the underlying sheets. The construction method allows a single plank to include several boards of differing grain patterns and colors, for a less uniform look. The top layer can be made of any hardwood, and no one variety of hardwood is used more often than others. Longstrip floors can be glued or stapled down to nearly any subfloor.

Stains and Finishes

• A wood floor's stain will determine how light or dark the final product is, while a finish applied post-staining will protect the floor from scrapes, scratches and wear. Floors can be stained and finished during installation or at the factory. The hardest finishes are made from urethane or acrylic. Another finishing technique uses a wire brush to slough off soft wood from the floor's top, which creates a tougher surface that hides scratches and provides a weathered look that some homeowners prefer.