Article Hardened Wood Flooring: Ideal Hardwood for Commercial Use

With commercial flooring, performance is critical — scratch, dent, and water resistance are cornerstones. As a result, luxury vinyl tile (LVT), vinyl composition tile (VCT), and other synthetic options are a popular option in high-traffic areas.

And, it's why hardwood flooring often becomes an afterthought. That’s true even though wood flooring is beautiful, offering a time-honored appeal. However, in busy spaces like restaurants, offices, and retail environments, traditional solid wood floors often can't withstand the wear and tear.

Densified Engineered Hardwood Opens the Door to Wood Flooring

But what if there were a real wood floor with the cornerstone elements we mentioned? That’s where hardened wood flooring enters the picture.

This revolutionary engineered hardwood removes the hesitancy about wood floors. It makes it possible to add the luxury of hardwood into spaces once considered too vulnerable.

So, get ready to learn more about this game-changing engineered hardwood. We'll explain what it is and how it supports high-traffic commercial applications.

What Is Hardened Wood Flooring?

Hardened wood flooring utilizes densified wood technology and is crafted entirely from genuine wood. No fillers. No synthetic additives.

Some manufacturers incorporate fillers and composites into their manufacturing processes. Although it creates a hardened wood flooring product, it is more synthetic and less genuine hardwood.

Densified wood technology strengthens the wood using a proprietary heat and pressure process. AHF™, one of the country's largest flooring manufacturers, patented the process.

This densification compresses the wood’s cellular structure, significantly increasing hardness and durability. Standard wood doubles in hardness. And let's stress this one more time - without using acrylic fillers or synthetic layers.

If you're familiar with Janka ratings, you can see the impact of the process:

Hardwood species with a Janka hardness rating above 3000 are among the hardest and most durable options available. With hardened wood flooring, you get solid hardwood flooring. But it's wood flooring that outperforms any standard wood flooring option.

Performance without Design Compromise

As mentioned, commercial flooring must withstand scratches, dents, and water concerns. Hardened wood flooring fits the bill.

But what about design? Certainly, hardened wood flooring is available in only a few species with limited color options. Not so.

You can access all the traditional wood floor options - red oak, white oak, maple, hickory, and walnut. But get this. The densification process hardens even soft or mid-density wood species.

That allows you to add even more color and grain options to commercial designs, featuring ash, pine, cherry, and birch. These softer wood types of trees would otherwise be unsuitable for commercial use.

Hardened Wood is Real - Meet TimberTones™

Think this is sounding like fiction? Well, it's not. Armstrong Flooring®, a brand recognized for commercial flooring, recently introduced Timber Tones®. The hardened wood flooring, featuring densified wood, is now available for commercial use.

As a result, wood flooring is finally a more suitable option for numerous commercial applications:

• Hospitality environments (hotels, restaurants, lounges)
• Retail stores and boutiques
• Corporate offices and shared workspaces
• Multi-family and mixed-use buildings
• Healthcare waiting areas and education spaces
• Senior living environments, where aesthetics and durability both matter

With a range of flooring options, TimberTones hardened wood flooring allows designers to maintain the warmth of solid wood. Best of all, the flooring delivers commercial-grade performance.

5 Benefits of Hardened Wood Flooring for Commercial Spaces

Commercial interiors are tough environments. From rolling carts and suitcases to constant foot traffic and the occasional spill, your floors need to withstand a beating and still look sharp. Hardened wood flooring does precisely that.

Here’s why TimberTones densified engineered hardwood makes sense in a commercial setting:

1. Scratch and Dent Resistance

It resists the kind of wear and tear that would quickly damage most engineered wood floors in a commercial space. Hardened wood flooring has four times the scratch and six times the dent resistance of standard types of hardwood flooring.

2. Real Wood

Luxury vinyl tile does an exceptional job of replicating the look of wood flooring. But it's not real wood. Hardened wood flooring is 100% genuine hardwood with no fillers. So, you'll get the rich grains and textures of real hardwood, including variations in each plank.

3. Water Resistance

With commercial use, there's always a threat of spills, which can be detrimental to wood flooring. Hardened flooring relieves the concern. It features a six-sided, water-resistant coating that protects the floor from topical staining and damage for up to eight hours.

4. Sustainability

TimberTones is 100% real wood, free from acrylic fillers, making it a sustainable flooring option. Wood is a renewable resource.

The flooring also meets several industry certifications and standards:

• National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA): It unifies and strengthens the wood flooring community through technical standards, education, networking, and advocacy.
• FloorScore® Certification: Products bearing this certification contribute to maintaining good indoor air quality.
• Environmental Product Declaration (EPD): It provides life-cycle environmental impact information for a product, verified by a third party.
• Health Product Declaration (HPD): It provides documentation to meet certification systems and standards, such as LEED and WELL.

5. Design Flexibility

As mentioned, you won't encounter design limitations with TimberTones hardened wood flooring. You can select from ten different hardwoods, each with its unique grain and texture. Twenty color variations provide you with numerous options to capture your design vision. Plus, you can select from 6.5", 7.5", and 8.5" wide planks.

Hardwood flooring installation is also flexible, as you can glue, nail, or even float the planks.

Hardwood Flooring That’s Ready for the Real World

For decades, commercial design teams have had to consider the use of wood flooring carefully. Solid and engineered hardwood are often too fragile for daily foot traffic, heavy loads, and exposure to moisture. However, hardened wood flooring eliminates these concerns.

TimberTones' hardened wood flooring, featuring densified wood, offers a solution that enables designers to incorporate wood flooring into their repertoire. Learn more by downloading the TimberTones brochure. Or call 1-866-243-2726 to speak with a representative.