Sustainable Flooring & Architecture with Becky Alexis

In this Podcast Episode

Floor guy, Rob McNealy, interviews Becky Alexis of HIVE Architecture about sustainable flooring and LEEDS certified flooring projects. They also discuss factors that influence flooring choices from an architect’s perspective.

Becky Alexis’ Bio

Becky knew that she wanted to contribute aesthetically to the built environment since she was fourteen years old. 1989 she graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture while working for Michael Barber Architecture in Denver. Then she took a year and a half to work and travel abroad. In 1998 she graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle with a Masters of Architecture, where she studied abroad for 10 months in England, France, Sweden, Norway and Finland. She then returned to her home town of Denver to find that residential architecture was her forte. She loves making special places for people to live. During eight wonderful years working with D. H. Ruggles and Associates as the Director of Design, she completed over 35 projects. In July of 2007 Becky started HIVE Architecture. She works out of her home and often visits sites by bicycle. She is passionate about design that is sensitive to the environment and to the pocket book. She believes that good design does not constitute higher building costs. Becky would love to help you remodel, add on, build new, or just chat about design. Feel free to call her at 303-733-2171.

Flooring & Interior Design with Lynn Williamson

In this Podcast Episode

Floor guy, Rob McNealy, interviews Lynn Williamson of StudioMetro about how interior design considerations impact flooring projects, and how flooring choices can impact overall design and aesthetics.

Lynn Williamson’s Bio

Lynn Williamson is a Principal in StudioMetro, LLC, a Denver interior design firm. StudioMetro specializes in bringing the urban experience to their clients. They have pioneered the ‘Design Concept’ approach to their projects which gives the client flexibility to implement their design in the way that works best for them while providing the assurance of knowing that the fee for the ‘Design Concept’ is fixed.

Ms. Williamson has more than 20 years of experience in Business Operations Management. Her resume includes Sales and Account Management, Project Management, and Operations Management – both domestic and international. Ms. Williamson holds two bachelor’s degrees: a Bachelor of Science in business and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in interior design. She is a Professional member of ASID, currently serving as the Communication Director for the Colorado Chapter and a member of the Best Practices Network – a select group of 100 Interior Design firms in the US dedicated to excellence in the business aspects of interior design.

Janka Ball Hardness & Hardwood Floor Durability

Dear Rob: I have three very large dogs and two kids. I was told not to put in hardwood floors because it will get scratched, but if I did, I should go with a really hard wood. How do I know how hard a wood is?

-Darlene D. from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Dear Darlene: With three dogs and two kids, your floors will certainly take some abuse, but you can minimize the damage and extend the life of your floor with a harder wood. The harder a wood is, the less susceptible to denting and scratches it will be. Although more expensive than oak, many of the South American Hardwood like Brazilian Cheery (Jatoba), Brazilian Teak (Cumaru) and Brazilian Walnut (Ipe) are incredibly hard woods and would certainly hold up better to your lifestyle.

Wood hardness is calculated by using the Janka Ball Hardness Test. So, to determine how hard a wood is, all you have to do is look for the Janka Hardness of that species of wood.

The Janka Ball Hardness Test measures the force required to embed a 11.28 millimeter (0.444 inch) steel ball into wood to half its diameter. This method was chosen so that the result would leave an indentation 100 square millimeters in size. It is one of the best measures of the ability of a wood species to withstand denting and wear. It is also a good indicator of how hard a species is to saw or nail.

The Janka Ball Hardness Test ranks hardness in a range from about 350-3800. The most common hardwood used for flooring in the United States is Red Oak which has a relatively low hardness of 1250. The Janka ranking for Red Oak is 1290, whereas Brazilian Cherry has a Janka of 2350, which is nearly double that of Red Oak. That means that you can reasonably expect much more durability from Brazilian Cherry than that Red Oak. It’s important to not however, that no matter how hard the wood you choose is, the finish can still be scratched or worn under heavy use. There are certain finishes that are more durable, and will also help extend the life of your floor, but that is a topic for another post.

Now the downside to this is that the harder a wood species is, the more expensive it usually is. Red Oak is very common, readily available, and inexpensive. People staying in their homes for a long time will benefit from the upgrade to a harder wood as it will add value to the home, help their home sell faster in the future, and most importantly, the harder floors reduces will reduce the cost of maintenance, as the floor will need to be sanded less often. A softer (cheaper) floor may be less expensive up front, but it will need to be sanded more often, which shortens the life of the floor and costs much more long term.

Below you find a short list of common wood species and their hardness:

Wood Flooring Species	Hardness
Ipe / Brazilian Walnut / Lapacho	3684
Cumaru / Brazilian Teak	3540
Strandwoven Bamboo	3200
Brazilian Cherry / Jatoba	2350
Hickory / Pecan, Satinwood	1820
Rosewood	1780
Merbau	1712
Highland Beech	1686
Wenge, Red Pine	1630
Zebrawood	1575
Natural Bamboo (represents one species)	1380
Australian Cypress	1375
White Oak	1360
Ash (White)	1320
American Beech	1300
Red Oak (Northern)	1290
Heart Pine	1225
Carbonized Bamboo (represents one species)	1180
Brazilian Eucalyptus / Rose Gum	1125
Black Walnut	1010
Teak	1000
Black Cherry, Imbuia	950
Southern Yellow Pine (Longleaf)	870
Southern Yellow Pine (Loblolly and Shortleaf)	690
Douglas Fir	660

-Rob