Maple

About Maple

One of the most common and widely used North American woods, the Hard Maple tree is found in eastern North American. While grown in abundance, it is more expensive to get the pure white sap wood. In flooring, you will get a combination of heart and sap wood in any hard maple. Hard Maple is a very clean looking wood with not much grain at all, and very little colour variation which gives a very consistent look. If you don’t like much grain and want a smooth, even tone to your floor, maple is for you. Hard Maple has a variety of grade combinations in different colours.

Due to the extreme sensitivity of Maple, Superior Flooring by HSL WILL NOT warranty these products unless the products are kept at a relative humidity of 35% to 50% before and after installation. These products do NOT need to be acclimatized to their environment.

Colour

The sapwood of the hard maple is virtually white with perhaps a slight reddish tinge and the heartwood is a uniform light, pale reddish brown.

Grain

Hard Maple is a very dense wood, with white to grey overtones. It is closed pored and has a tight grain. The sugar maple develops special grain patterns such as bird’s eye maple (with dots or elliptical figures resembling the eyes of birds) and there is also the curly and quilted maple, with wavy and rippled grain respectively.

Stability

The wider the sapwood the more the lumber is prized. Hard maple machines well and is hard when dry, it is stable but tends to shrink and swell taking on moisture when there are changes in humidity. DO NOT acclimatize your maple hardwood flooring when it arrives at your home. Install immediately upon arrival.

Hardness

Hard maple is heavy, hard, strong, tough, and stiff. It is also close grained and sands to a beautiful tight finish. It has excellent resistance to abrasion, indentation and shock.