Maple vs Yellow Birch flooring

[spazlab]

I had been looking at installing Maple hardwood throughout my first floor.  My wife found one she liked in Yellow Birch.   Both are dark stained.  Yellow Birch seems softer but I don't know if it is a negligible difference.  To be honest,  I had never seen yellow birch flooring before but maybe just my ignorance.  Would you choose one over the other, durability wise?

[merced]

We used yellow birch hardwood with a natural poly finish when we remodeled our house about 10 years ago.  It looks fabulous -- a bit warmer than maple, which I find agreeable.  On paper, birch has somewhat lower hardness than maple.  We've accumulated some dings -- probably more than you'd see in a maple floor of the same age -- but few enough that I can live with them.  However, we do get  significant seasonal variation in the width of the birch.  In winter, we have fairly large and not terribly attractive gaps between boards.  (One of the perks of living in the mid-Atlantic -- we enjoy high humidity in the summer and very dry air in the winter.)  On balance, if I were to do it over again, I'd choose maple.

[jteneyck]

If you look at the tangential (plain sawn) shrinkage of maple and birch you'll see they are essentially equal, so there would be no difference in expansion/contraction during seasonal moisture changes.  For radial (QS) grain maple has a clear advantage. 

I just went through the same decision process in deciding what wood to use for my new kitchen floor.  I was going to go with maple until I started looking into the details and found that no one would approve it for use over radiant heat.  When I looked up the shrinkage values it became obvious why.  If you want to use maple, birch, or any wood with a large seasonal change in width, you would be best off with an engineered flooring product. 

John

[spazlab]

If you look at the tangential (plain sawn) shrinkage of maple and birch you'll see they are essentially equal, so there would be no difference in expansion/contraction during seasonal moisture changes.  For radial (QS) grain maple has a clear advantage. 

I just went through the same decision process in deciding what wood to use for my new kitchen floor.  I was going to go with maple until I started looking into the details and found that no one would approve it for use over radiant heat.  When I looked up the shrinkage values it became obvious why.  If you want to use maple, birch, or any wood with a large seasonal change in width, you would be best off with an engineered flooring product. 

John

No radiant heat here.  I don't think any flooring manufacturer allows that.  I'm in SE PA forced air with a whole house humidifier. I don't really want to use engineered which has its own drawbacks. I am ripping out some builders quality oak.  It's a gamble I guess.

[Cooler]

Yellow birch is softer.  Don't wear your high heels and you should be OK.

http://www.workshoppages.com/ws/misc/woo...-chart.pdf

[spazlab]

I'll try not too.

I'm aware of the official hardness values. Of course that assumes manufacturers are using hard maple.

[Cooler]

I'll try not too.

I'm aware of the official hardness values.  Of course that assumes manufacturers are using hard maple.

It is slightly harder than  heart pine and heart pine has been used for flooring for ages.  Not nearly as hard as bamboo which you can usually get at attractive pricing and in almost any shade of tan to brown.

Note on bamboo.  It is not stained for color it is carbonized (baked) so the color goes all the way through.

[WaterlooMarc]

We put birch in our house (2 houses ago but lived on it for 5 years) to save money over maple. My wife always wears heels and we never noticed any dings. Durability wise I never found any issue with it. We were in georgia at the time and the price difference from maple was quite significant. I agree that it has a warmer tone than maple but if you're getting stained that won't be an issue either way.