Known for its fine, even texture, varied grain pattern, and warm color tones, birch wood is a popular option for making furniture, kitchen cabinets, tool handles, millwork, doors, and wood flooring. When you’re looking for beautiful wood flooring that feels organic, birch flooring is the perfect choice to add life to your home space without feeling overly rustic.
But is birch wood strong? Yes, birch is a heavy wood, hard and very strong. It has very good benign properties, with good crushing strength and shock resistance. 1,260 pounds of pressure is required to mar yellow birch, so it’s very durable. On a hardness scale, birch lumber ranks at the top with hard-rock maple, and in fact, it is often mistaken for different types of maple wood.
At Stone and Tile, you will find a wide selection of birch flooring and other types of wood flooring.
Should You Choose Solid Wood or Engineered Wood Option?
Many homeowners choose solid birch hardwood because it is timeless, durable, and authentic. It is also a very easy hardwood to stain and finish and makes floors that are easy to maintain. The yellow birch is the most commonly used in flooring and is only slightly less strong than red oak, while the sweet birch is slightly harder than hard maple. Still, many homeowners also choose birch engineered wood flooring that is available at our store. Why?
Unfortunately, birch hardwood is sensitive to humidity levels in your home, so it will perform the best in rooms where moisture levels are balanced. And if you decide to install it in your kitchen, you should make sure that it does not get exposed to excessive moisture. Birch wood has a low resistance to rot, decay, and insect attack. Hence it isn’t suitable for outdoor use. Besides, birch hardwood is rather expensive.
If you like the look and feel of birch wood, but want something less expensive, at Stone & Tile, we offer a stunning selection of birch engineered wood flooring that is more stable and durable. It is a layered product that is made up of a base or supporting layer, often of lesser grade wood or plywood, covered in a softwood plywood core (as “softwood” is cheaper than “hardwood”), and topped with a hardwood veneer and a protective finish coat.
Engineered birch flooring is less sensitive to moisture and can be installed in almost any room in your house or condo. Engineered birch flooring can accept a broader range of humidity fluctuation before it fails and works well with radiant floor heating systems. Besides, engineered hardwood is a good choice for a DIY project and can be installed by homeowners with little experience.
