Difference Between Hardwood And Softwood Floors

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.

Difference between hardwood and softwood floors.

It all has to do with the kind of tree the wood is harvested from. Whereas hardwood floors often come prefinished softwood hardly ever does. The differences in the hardness of the wood can be quite varied for both hardwood and softwood. The best example of this is balsa wood which although extremely lightweight is classed as a hardwood.

In most cases hardwood tends to be harder than softwood but not always. Likewise yew is a hard softwood. But for rooms where foot traffic is lower a softwood floor finished and stained could last just a long for a lower cost. That can be a good thing though since it affords you the opportunity to finish the wood.

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. 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. Botanical difference between hardwood and softwood gymnosperms and angiosperms image.