Difference Between Hardwood And Softwood Floors

The differences in the hardness of the wood can be quite varied for both hardwood and softwood.

Difference between hardwood and softwood floors.

Classifying wood as either a hardwood or softwood comes down to its physical structure and makeup and so it is overly simple to think of hardwoods as being hard and durable compared to soft and workable softwoods. The best example of this is balsa wood which although extremely lightweight is classed as a hardwood. It all has to do with the kind of tree the wood is harvested from. This happens to be generally true but there are exceptions such as in the cases of wood from yew trees a softwood that is relatively hard and wood from balsa trees a.

But for rooms where foot traffic is lower a softwood floor finished and stained could last just a long for a lower cost. Don t make the mistake of thinking that softwoods are soft and hardwoods are hard. That can be a good thing though since it affords you the opportunity to finish the wood. Wikimedia commons coming to the reproductive description in botanical terms softwood trees are gymnosperms whereas hardwood trees are angiosperms the seeds of hardwood trees will have a shell or a fruit.

If you re ready to switch to hardwood floors or replace the ones you already have you ll need to choose between softwood and hardwood. Whereas hardwood floors often come prefinished softwood hardly ever does. In most cases hardwood tends to be harder than softwood but not always.