If you're looking for a light colored hardwood floor, consider maple flooring for your home in Westchester NY. Maple flooring is a light blond color with low graining. It’s a light, smooth look that can open up any room and give a modern, contemporary and northern European feel.
Maple flooring is harder than oak. On the Janka hardness scale, Maple is a 1450 vs. red oak which is 1290. Maple is lighter than oak flooring and its grain is smoother. While traditionally a light blond color, the shade of maple flooring can differ depending on its age and the area where it was grown. Maple’s appearance also differs based on how the trees are cultivated. Flame maple, quilted maple and bird’s eye maple are 3 different types grain patterns that will give your room 3 different looks.
Maple flooring comes in many grades, and it’s important to know what grade you are getting. The clearer the maple, the more expensive it tends to be. Natural flaws such as mineral streaks and pin knots tend to lower the grade and the price of a maple floor. Some of the lower grade maples have a lot of gray boards, and sometimes the samples can be misleading.
Like other hardwoods, maple flooring can be stained darker. Maple tends to be more challenging to stain as it is closed pored, and as a result, sometimes the stains look blotchy. It’s important to add a conditioner to maple before staining, to open the pores and often maple requires a 2nd coat of stain. And, interesting enough, some of the darker brown stains turn gray for a very sleek and stylish look. (Gray has become a very chic color regardless of whether it is tile or metal flooring, carpet or hardwood. Because of its natural beauty, however, most people prefer to use a clear finish that protects the maple flooring while letting its true color and grain show through. 
Maple flooring has a close fine, uniform texture and is generally straight-grained with a natural luster. Hard maple hardwood for flooring can exhibit a bird's-eye or burl grain. Bird's-eye grain in hard maple hardwood flooring resembles small circular or elliptical figures. Clusters of round curls are known as burl.
All woods change color with time, and maple tends to grow more yellow with age. That's another characteristic to consider.
Scientific name: Acer saccharum
Maple Origin: Throughout most of North America; concentrated in the eastern United States and Canada, particularly in the mid-Atlantic and Lake states.
If you’re considering maple hardwood flooring for your home in Westchester NY, give The Flooring Girl a call at 914-937-2950 and let us “bring the store to your door.”
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