Q. How many times can you sand a floor?

A. As per the NOFMA calculations, the sanding operation should remove no more than 1/32”. You should thus be able to sand a 1/16” hardwood layer on an engineered floor 1-2 times if correctly done. It is not recommended to sand a 1/32” thick hardwood layer.Solid wood floors can only be sanded to 1/32” above the tongue to maintain the stability of the tongue and groove joint.

Q. Is the Janka rating useful for engineered hardwood flooring?

A. The Janka rating is a good one to keep in mind for engineered hardwood flooring as well as solid hardwood, especially if durability is a key selling feature for you. The Janka hardness rating of the hardwood used for the veneer on your engineered flooring will guide you to the best choice for your intended flooring use. Vanier Hard Maple, Brazilian Cherry and Hand-scraped Oak, Red Oak, and Black-Stained White Oak are all excellent engineered floors for high traffic areas.

Q. Is there a benchmark for comparing the relative hardness of other wood?

A. Red Oak is a very popular, durable species. It has a Janka rating of 1290 and serves as a benchmark for comparing the relative hardness of other wood species.

Q. What is the Janka hardness test and why should I be aware of it as a consumer?

A. As a consumer of quality wood flooring, you naturally want to know how the product you are thinking about purchasing will withstand wearing and dents. The Janka hardness rating is your standard measurement for this purpose. The Janka test is conducted by measuring the force needed to lodge a .444-inch steel ball in the wood species to a depth of half the ball’s diameter. The higher the rating, the harder is the species of wood. Of course, the Janka hardness rating is also useful when assessing how easy or difficult it is to hammer a nail into the hardwood or cut it with a saw.

Janka Hardness Chart:

Q. Besides different species, what else accounts for the different appearances in hardwoods?

A. Hardwood veneers have the same surface appearances as solid hardwood flooring because they’re both natural hardwoods. Different appearances result from the different ways the hardwood are sawn. The different sawing methods are: i) Flat Sawn or Plain Sawn, ii) Rotary Cut, iii) Off-Set Rotary Cut, and iv) Sliced Cut.

Flat Sawn (also referred to as plain sawn) – can be flat grain (which has a cathedral or gothic effect) or vertical grain (which has a radial or edge grain effect).

Rotary Cut – method of cutting wood in which the hardwood layer is peeled off the log using large wood lathes. This peeling method shows dramatic, wilder graining.

Off-Set Rotary Cut – method of cutting wood which gives a sliced appearance and grain pattern with the added cross grain stability of sliced, without the sliced cost. Hardwoods are more dimensionally stable across the grain, and off-set rotary cutting takes advantage of this property. The yield is lower than a regular rotary cut creating a slight price increase vs. standard rotary.

Sliced Cut – method of cutting wood in which the hardwood layer is sawn like regular lumber. This shows method finer graining.