Birch Mirage Classic 3/4" Solid Wood Floor: Idaho Stain

Birch Hardwood Flooring

Birch wood flooring is not as common a species as say oak or maple, but rather predominately a north eastern species around the great lakes.

Dimensional Stability: Average, less stable then red oak but better than maple or beech.

Durability: All though the tech notes suggest it is stiff & dense, I have found from customer feedback that it dents more easily than red oak or maple in your daily environment. This maybe a function of the geographic variation in harvesting the wood... northern, slower grown wood will be denser than that harvested farther south.. so I'd guess it varies with the lot.

Janka Hardness Scale: 1260
(the higher the # the more dense)

Colour variation: there are about 50 species of birch, with only a couple being harvested commercially. Wood can have a significant range of colours from pale straw colour to a deep reddish brown, often with a nice curly pattern... I do find it quite a pretty wood.

Colour change: can show significant yellowing on exposure to strong lighing, but this is consistent with its natural colouring.. that being said, most flooring manufacturers do add a UV protectant to the finishes to retain original shading. It reacts quite similarly to white pine and often used as a matching hardwood to this interior pine siding.

Indentation: dents and scratches are more visible on Birch flooring, given its lower density. This is especially true on the higher grades of birch floor that have more consistent straw colouring and limited grain pattern to disquise any imperfections.

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