Mahogany wood is identified by its abundant, brown-red color and striped appearance. Mahogany wood is appreciated for its solidity and long life. It is an eye-catching wood, which is utilized for the bodies of guitars and boats and private yachts, and likewise for doors and other furnishings for your home.
Mahogany wood floorings offer your home a timeless and rustic appearance. But in spite of the numerous advantages of mahogany wood floorings, it has numerous disadvantages too. It is essential to weigh the pros and cons prior to making a choice.
Types of Mahogany
Real mahogany’s charm– such as seen in red mahogany– enhances as it ages. This is simply one reason that it is so in-demand. As the wood ages, you’ll see its reddish-brown tones continue to deepen.
It naturally resists decay brought on by both pests and water. It is firmly grained and normally naturally without flaws, including air pockets. And with these characteristics, it is less susceptible to crack over time.
But calling something mahogany doesn’t make it real mahogany. Santos Mahogany, for example, is a popular type of wood from Brazil and is not real mahogany. It originates from a totally different type of tree.
Santos Mahogany is frequently utilized in wood floor covering as an alternative option. Other kinds of woods that are not real mahogany even though its in their name is Honduran and African Mahogany.
Santos Mahogany is comparable to mahogany because its color is close to real mahogany’s reddish-brown. In reality, it is a much better option than real mahogany for flooring areas that get a lot of foot traffic.
Mahogany Flooring Options Available
Mahogany wood floor covering is readily available in all 3 typical kinds of floorboards: strips, hardwood, and crafted floor coverings. The type you pick is a matter of your preferred installation method.
Hard wood is, as the name indicates, a type of floorboard that consists totally of the real wood. The advantages of hardwood floor covering are its toughness and long life. You can sand it down and refinish it a lot of times for many years.
Wood floor covering that can be found in strips is typically 3 inches or less wide, whereas hardwood floor covering typically is available in slabs of around 5 inches wide. Strips have the exact same look as the slabs; it is simply that they are not as thick. This is the initial manner in which wood floor covering was produced.
You likewise can pick from pre-finished and incomplete mahogany floorboards. The range of surfaces readily available varies from a smooth surface to a more textured appearance with hand-scraped surfaces. Various aesthetics can originate from this stunning unique wood based on your choices.
With hard and strip wood floor covering, they are wood delivered in its most natural state. They will react to ecological elements such as dryness and high humidity as wood does, with growth and contraction.
If you live in a location with severe weather condition conditions, you might think about picking crafted floor covering, which is more flexible of environmental problems. The leading layer is the real wood. The layers below are usually put together, with the grain of the wood turning in various directions throughout.
This kind of floor covering can likewise be sanded and refinished, though it can not be done as a lot of times as hard wood flooring can be done. Your setup techniques can likewise differ with crafted flooring. You are not restrained to nailing or gluing boards down.
Engineered floor covering is made with a click/lock design where you can move and lock the boards into their desired location. If you are setting this on concrete with no subfloor and desire to float the flooring, this type of floor covering is remarkably helpful.
Floating the flooring implies you are not securing it to a base. Rather, you lock all the boards into position by connecting them together with a tongue-and-groove system. The flooring is then protected around the boundary of the space with molding.
The Pros of Mahogany Flooring
Why should you choose mahogany floors?
Durable and Tough
You don’t want your floors to show signs of wear or need to be refinished too quickly. This type of wood stands up to a lot of foot traffic, including dog claws running across it day in and day out. You also won’t need to worry about the boards warping, as can happen with some hardwoods.
Both African and South American mahogany types are water-resistant and unappetizing to termites. It’s also not conducive to fungus growth.
Warm Coloring
When you first install mahogany, it will probably be pale tan in color. Over time, however, and depending on how much sunshine it gets, it will deepen in color to become a rich reddish-brown with hints of bronze, honey, or darker browns. The ribbon-like wood grain will also pop more. We’ll discuss how this color change might not be a good thing below, but for many homeowners, the deepening is something to anticipate as it adds character to the floor and makes the entire room seem more inviting.
If you polish mahogany, it will shine and match the modern décor style. With less polish, mahogany’s deep color blends well in a rustic home.
Easy to Install
For hardwood, mahogany is reasonably simple to work with. It’s flexible, sands nicely, and absorbs stain well for an even finish.
Reasonably Priced
Mahogany isn’t a bad deal, falling in the mid-range of hardwoods you can buy. Not all types of mahogany floor covering is “real,” though, and comparable woods are frequently offered as mahogany at an even lower cost. Be aware that these mahogany substitutes may or may not deepen in color, depending on the species.
Cons of Mahogany Flooring
Why would you not want to buy mahogany?
Expensive
Mahogany is moderately priced, so this wood isn’t the very best option if you’re on a tight spending plan. You can certainly get woods that are not as expensive, will look nice in your home, and last for a long time at a lower price. They just might not have the same look as mahogany. Compare prices, wood grain, and coloring to see what’s right for you.
For a lower expense option with comparable looks, try sapele, toona, or khaya wood. These are also part of the mahogany family. You could also consider a more plentiful wood such as cherry.
Color Issues
The color of the wood will deepen, especially if it receives a lot of natural light shining on it from the windows. This means that if you match your décor with the lighter color of floor you get in the beginning, you may not be pleased with it when it becomes a darker shade.
This is a particular issue if you buy mahogany and stain it right away to be a deeper color than its natural light tan. As the wood deepens, that stain may prove to have been too dark of a choice, at which point, you’ll want to sand the floor down and re-stain it to lighten it back up.
And with the darker color, you’ll also see dust, pet hair, etc. more easily. If you need that sort of thing to blend in more, choosing a floor that will stay lighter in color will be your best bet.
Just How Much Does Mahogany Flooring Cost?
Like any other item, the expense of mahogany depends on the quality, the surface, and its desired function. There are other woods that are often referred to as mahogany, though they are not real mahogany.
How to Install Mahogany Flooring
Mahogany wood floor covering offers a stunning and extremely special search for any house. You can set up mahogany floors on your own, with the correct knowledge.
What You’ll Need:
- Mahogany wood floor covering
- Saw
- Floor nailer
- Felt
- Nails
- Wedges
- Measuring tape
- Rubber mallet
- Nail set
#1: Determine How Much to Buy
Prior to you doing any setup, you want to buy the best quantity of floor covering. Take your tape measure and get the length and the width of the space.
#2: Acclimation
You should bring it into the space in that it is going to be set up as soon as you buy your flooring. Leave it in the space for about two days prior beginning setup so that it can become accustomed to the humidity and temperature level.
#3: Preparation
You are going to want to prepare the space correctly prior to starting. Take up any carpet or other floor covering that you have in the space. This will supply a dampness barrier and a little bit of cushion under the wood.
#4: Start Installing
Begin setting up the wood in a corner of the space. You will desire to run the mahogany wood floor covering versus the instructions of the flooring joists. Nail the board down to the flooring through the face of the board.
#5: Next Rows
When you are about 3 rows into the task, you need to be able to utilize your floor covering nailer to nail diagonally through the tongue of the boards. Keep making rows till you have actually covered the whole flooring.
#6: Completion
Tidy up and eliminate your wedges from around the space. You will then wish to set up baseboards or quarter round so that you can conceal the spaces between the boards and the wall.
