Wood Species 

Red Oak

Red Oak Floors

Red Oak is one of the most popular wood types in North America due to its abundance and its balance between beauty and durability. Our Red Oak is the preferred species grown across eastern United States and southeastern Canada which is finer, and denser than its southern counter-part. Depending on the grade of the floor, there can be a somewhat significant variation in color.

Red Oak’s sapwood is pale white, and it is usually one to two inches thick; the heartwood is brown with hints of red and pink. Unlike its White Oak cousin, Red Oak has open pores, and is susceptible to water, and stains a dark color when water is allowed to penetrate the surface.

Red Oak in the Wild

More than 200 subspecies of oak are found in North America. The Northern Red Oak can be found all over the eastern United States and in the southeast of Canada. The colder temperature makes the red oak in the north denser and finer in texture.

The tree can grow up to 150 feet tall, and its trunk can grow to 4 feet in diameter.

White Oak

White Oak Floors

White Oak is the cousin to Red Oak with distinctive characteristic of its own. Unlike Red Oak which has pores in its planks, White Oak has tyloses in its cellular structure which prevents water from seeping through, that’s White Oak is also often used for wine barrels. In addition, White Oak is relatively resistant to rotting and bugs.

White Oak sapwood is relatively light in color and its heartwood is light to dark brown. It has a coarse texture and is usually straight grained.

White Oak in the Wild

White Oak grows naturally in the eastern side of North America in a variety of environments. Depending on the environments, White Oak can be a shrub in high altitude and harsh places, or up to about 85 feet in most common environments. Because White Oak’s branches like to grow laterally to the ground, it is an excellent shade tree.

Hickory

Hickory Floors

Hickory is known for its exceptional hardness and its extreme contrast in color between its heartwood and sapwood. In fact, it is the strongest wood known across North America. Its tan and reddish brown heart wood creates a distinctive look with its cream white sapwood.

Because of its exceptional toughness and shock resistant property, it can be hard to work with hand tools, but hickory wood floors hold down glue and nails well.

Hickory in the Wild

Hickory is primarily grown in the Eastern part of North America. Hickory have two main groups: true hickory and fruit bearing hickory or more commonly known as pecan hickory; however they are very similar in all aspect so they are commonly sold together.

The trees can grow as tall as 120 feet, and can take as long as 200 years to mature.

American (Black) Walnut

American Walnut Floors

American walnut is a moderately hard floor. It has heartwood ranging from a deep, rich dark brown to a purplish black. Sapwood is nearly white to tan. American walnut shows little color variation when exposed to intense light. Unlike many other wood species; walnut actually lightens in color over time.

The grain of a walnut wood floor is usually straight, with some burly patterns if the wood has been cut close to a limb. The burly pattern gives walnut wood flooring a hint of exoticness within the domestic species.

American Walnut in the Wild

The American Black Walnut tree is a native species to the eastern area of North America but can grow westward toward central Texas. It can attain heights of about 30 to 40 feet.

The walnut nuts are shelled commercially in the U.S. for a variety of abrasive cleaning, cosmetic, and oil well drilling and water filtration products. Its popular nutmeats provide a robust, and distinctive natural flavor, and also high nutritional value.

Brazilian Cherry (Jatoba)

Brazilian Cherry Floor

In the wood flooring industry, Jatoba is known to be one of the strongest and durable species available exotic species. The sapwood color of the Jatoba exhibits some gray-white. The Jatoba heartwood color varies from salmon red, orange-light brown color when fresh to a reddish darker brown color after drying. Dark streaks on the finished Brazilian Cherry hardwood floor is a common feature.

Brazilian Cheery in the Wild

A huge canopy tree native to the Caribbean, and South America region. Though it's commonly referred to as Brazilian Cherry, it is in no way related to the common Black Cherry tree in North America.

In the South American region, Jatoba is also known as South American Locust, stinking toe (because of the fume of its seed pod), and various other names.

Brazilian Walnut Ipe

Brazilian Walnut Floor

Brazilian Walnut is one of the, if not the densest hardwood flooring in the flooring industry. It is seen as a perfect type of wood for high traffic area because of its chart topping toughness on the Janka test. However, Ipe wood also exhibit problem such as sanding and finishing, so it is generally not recommended for consumers to buy unfinished Ipe. At FERMA, we finish our Ipe with the high industrial standard, so rest assured when buying FERMA Brazilian Walnut floor.

Brazilian Walnut floor can vary greatly in color from light yellowish-tan with green overtone to a blackish brown like chocolate color.

Brazilian Walnut in the Wild

Because of its extreme hardness, Ipe wood has risen dramatically in demands in the past decades, and even raised environmental concern in the 1990s. Ipe trees are large shrub-like trees that grow to about 16-160 feet tall. Ipe trees are also a very notable flower tree which produce flower of various different color.

Ipe selected by FERMA all complied with standard governmental policy and are all legally logged.

Brazilian Tigerwood

Brazilian Tigerwood Floor

Just like its name implies, Tigerwood Floor has an unique look that exhibits a pattern similar to that found on a tiger. It has a dark orange background accented with bold black strip that will give any home an beautiful exotic look.

Because of the natural pattern found on tigerwood hardwood floor, it usually does well to hide marks and daily wears well.

Brazilian Tigerwood in the Wild

Found generally in South America region, and although it shares a common name with its Hawaiian cousin Koa they have very different properties. Brazilian Koa grows around Mexico, Central America, Bolivia and Paraguay and is also known as Zebrawood because of its bold stripes. The tree grows in both wet and dry tropical forests, and can grow as high as 120 feet. Its trunk can also grow to about 5 feet in diameter.

Santos Mahogany (Red Cabreuva)

The more common of the two type of Santos Mahogany available in the market. Cabreuva hardwood floor comes usually with uniformed straight grain and a general medium-fine texture. The color of Cabreuva usually fall between rosy red to salmon, and can have very noticeable color variation when exposed to intense light.

Santos Mahogany in the Wild

Cabreuva is a native tree to the South American and Brazilian region. Cabreuva trees can grow as high as 150 feet and its trunk can attain a diameter as wide as4 feet.

Santos Mahogany (Balsamo)

A lesser seen variation of Santos Mahogany, but shares similar property with Red Cabreuva.

Brazilian Teak (Cumaru)

Brazilian Teak Floor

Brazilian Teak floor exhibits some special colors. When it is cut fresh, its color varies from dark-reddish-brown to purple-brown, but sometimes light yellowish-brown as well. When it gains more exposure as time passes by, the teak become more uniform in color varying from light brown to yellow-brown.

Teak hardwood floor has a very fine texture and a very interlocked grain, and the surface feels oily and wax-like. The teak wood is actually so dense that it will not float on water.

Brazilian Teak in the Wild

The Brazilian Teak can grow to be a rather big tree: as tall as 120 feet, and 5 feet wide. A native species to the rich rainforest of South America, and parts of Central America. Cumaru fruits are well known among the local to emit a sweet aromatic fragrance and are used in other industry such as cosmetic; it also carry medicinal value.

Brazilian Maple

Brazilian Maple Floor

The Brazilian Maple floor is a unique wood floor that have very fine texture, and a pale-cream color, which makes the wood known as the Ivory Wood among locals. The wood also exhibit distinctive curl marks at varying angle on its pale-cream color surface. Its heartwood can sometimes be a little darker brown-like color.

Brazilian Maple in the Wild

Though Brazilian Maple maintains a look of domestic wood species, it is an exotic wood found in South American region. It is a perfect type of wood for customers who are looking for a more subdued look but with a touch of exotic flavor.

Brazilian (Patagonian) Rosewood

Brazilian Rosewood Floor

The Brazilian Rosewood is an exotic dark-colored wood floor accented with characteristic black strips similar to Tigerwood. Its sapwood can range from yellow brown to pale pink, and heartwood is usually pale borwn at first, but darkens upon exposure to air to a reddish brown which give the wood a very attractive apperance.

The grain of Brazilian Rosewood is irregular and sometimes strongly interlocked and is very finely textured.

Brazilian Rosewood in the Wild

The Brazilian Rosewood is another native species to the South American region. It is reported to be able to reach a height of about 80 feet, and a trunk diameter of 2 two 3 feet wide.

Brazilian Oak (Amendoim)

Brazilian Oak (Amendoim) Floor

Brazilian Oak offers a rich and lustrous reddish-brown with tan hue. The wood’s yellow-brown tones combined with its luster and wavy grain creates inherent visual warmth. It fits perfectly suited for tan or beige furniture. It has interlocked grain with medium texture and is moderately hard within its South American species.

Brazilian Oak in the Wild

The Brazilian Oak tree can attain a height of over 100 feet, and its trunk can grow to as wide as 4 feet. It is a native in the South American region with scatter growth throughout Argentina, Brazil and South Paraguay.

Asian Rosewood (KEMPAS)

Asian Rosewood Floor

May also be commonly known as Kempas wood, it is a native species from Malaysia and Indonesia. Kempas has a wide color variability that range from pale pink-tan to a medium dark-reddish color.

It has a coarse texture, medium grain, and is rather hard. It is a very popular flooring choice in East Asian countries.

Asian Rosewood in the Wild

A native from Malaysia and Indoneisa, this wood compares very well with its Brazilian cousin, the Patagonian Rosewood. The species in the Asian Rosewood family can grow to between 50 feet to 100 feet tall.

Chinese Maple

Chinese Mpale Floor

Chinese Maple is a lightly colored wood that suits well with glass furniture to amplify the visual appearance of a more spacious room. Its sapwood range from a creamy yellow color to a pale white color; its heartwood is a light reddish brown with hints of red. It is usually straight grained, and has occasional curvy and wavy features.

Chinese Maple in the Wild

Chinese maple is an exclusive native species to the far Eastern part of the Asian continent. It usually grow in the rugged and mountainous area of southwestern China. Its habitat was once endangered with the building of new dams in China.

Chinese maple is usually not a very tall tree which matures at between 30 and 40 feet tall. The Chinese maple leaves have a very unique color when season changes, when becomes crimson red in the fall.

African Walnut

African Walnut Floor

African Walnut is one of the most exotic species that come from the tropical area in Africa. Its sapwood is light gray, and its heartwood is yellowish brown. The texture of the wood range from fine to medium and has an unique irregular ribbon figure that is characteristic to this type of wood. It is also a rather hard wood.

African Walnut in the Wild

The African Walnut is a native species to the tropical area of Africa such as the area from Sierra Leone to Angola. It is also commonly found the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria. Although it is called African Walnut, it is not related to normal walnut tree; however, its nut exhibit superficial resemblance to that of normal walnuts. The tree can grow to upwards of 125 feet, and is an evergreen tree.

Bamboo

Bamboo Wood Floor

One of the most unique type of "hardwood" floor because technically bamboo is not a tree, but a type of grass. It is usually in light manila or yellow tone. The grain is very distinct at that it shows the nodes found on bamboo stalks. Bamboo floor comes in two ways: vertical and horizontal constructions which have varying properties.

Bamboo in the Wild

Bamboo is a very commonly found in the far Eastern region of Asia. It is commonly mistaken as a type of tree, but in fact is a type of grass. Bamboo can grow at an amazing rate at about 24 inches a day depending on the richness of its soil. Bamboo also bares heavy culture influence from Far-East Asia because of its extensive use from that region. However, Bamboo actually have a wide distribution around the globe even in part of Mid-Atlantic United States.