14 Aug Jarrah Timber Flooring – Buyers Guide
Found only in south-west Western Australia, jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) is a native hardwood that is famous for its unique, rich red-brown appearance.
Jarrah trees have long, straight trunks with a rough bark, and can grow up to 40 metres in height and 2 metres in diameter. One of the only few Western Australian commercial timber species, jarrah is one of the most common eucalyptus trees in the regions between Perth and Albany.
As a timber, jarrah hardwood is used in almost every project, ranging from joinery and paneling to hot tubs. In this article, we’ll take a look at jarrah’s versatility as a flooring timber, and how you can get the class and deep reds of this hardwood from the showroom and installed in your home.
What’s so good about Jarrah Flooring?
Strength and Durability
Jarrah is an extremely dense Australian hardwood – with a density of 820 kg/m3 and Janka rating of 8.5 kN – which means that it can withstand dents and impacts to the highest degree. Jarrah flooring is perfect for the high-traffic areas in your home like the living room, as it’ll look good for decades to come.
Pest Resistance
Backing up its toughness, jarrah hardwood also repels insect, fire and moisture. Jarrah’s naturally highly resistant to termites, marine borers, and rot, which is why it’s commonly used as a timber deck.
Style
And if the extremely diverse uses of jarrah wood don’t already give it away, jarrah floors are also stylish. If you’re looking to make your space rustic and cosy, jarrah timber flooring can be stained after installation to give an almost-black floor that’s still full of character.
What Colour is Jarrah Timber?
Jarrah hardwood has a distinctive natural colour that ranges from pale pinks to rich reds and ochre browns, darkening to a deeper burgundy and becoming more uniform in colour over time. You can expect heartwood – where the plank is from the centre column of the tree – to be deeper in colour than the light sapwood.
Newer jarrah timber flooring from plantations also tends to be lighter in tone than the old growth timber used in an older installation. The tannin content in all hardwood timbers darken slightly over the decades with exposure to sunlight and the air, making the colour richer with time.
What other features does Jarrah Timber have?
Not only does jarrah timber flooring possess a rich, warm appearance, it also has beautiful natural grain that is evenly-textured and can be interlocked or wavy. Depending on the grade of timber you select, your floor boards can also feature natural features like gum pockets or streaks that vary and enhance its unique character. For example, a grade like ‘select grade’ gives you as clean and modern a look as possible. ‘Rustic grades’ on the other hand have more features like knots and colour variation.
Like any natural wood product, Jarrah timber flooring can also be sanded and polished to retain its natural beauty over time. This is an added benefit which enables you provide the floors a complete face lift when wear and tear catches up – multiple times!
What are your Jarrah Flooring Options?
Jarrah Engineered Timber Flooring
Engineered timber floors similarly use a layer of real jarrah on the surface, but they substitute the bulk of the floorboard with quality plywood or composite materials. Not only does this reduce cost, but this allows engineered timber flooring to be water resistant in certain ranges – great if you’d like the look of this flooring in a high-moisture area like the kitchen, and for peace of mind.
Interested in engineered timber? We have a more detailed explanation about engineered timber flooring.
Jarrah Solid Timber Floorboards
It doesn’t get much better than this – by choosing solid timber flooring, you get floorboards that are quality jarrah all the way down. This means that you get the full benefits of this timber – strength, durability, warmth, natural beauty – in the plank.
If you’re looking to learn more about the benefits and drawbacks of solid timber floors and how they’re different from engineered timber, do check the our Solid Timber and Engineered Flooring Comparison!
Jarrah Laminate and Hybrid Flooring
Laminate floors don’t use any real jarrah hardwood, but you’d really need to be looking closely to tell the difference! Instead, laminate floors use high-tech printing and texturing technologies to replicate the look and feel of jarrah onto a resin ‘print layer’.
Hybrid floors are very similar in construction to laminate, but substitute HDF for a composite core to add waterproofness. Stone-Plastic Composite (SPC) and Wood-Plastic Composite (WPC) are the two types of hybrid floors available.
If you are interested in the non-natural wood options, we have a guide to laminate flooring, a guide to hybrid flooring, and a direct comparison between laminate and hybrid flooring for you to learn more.
Conclusion – Which Jarrah Flooring Is Best?
Your budget, your taste and the nature of which area the floors will be laid will play a part in determining the ‘best’ flooring type. Whilst natural wood options like solid jarrah timber and engineered jarrah flooring look and feel the most prestigious, they are also more costly compared to the laminate and hybrid alternatives. In the end, it goes down to your individual circumstance.
Still undecided? We can help you with free consultations with one of our flooring consultants for help and advice. You can also request up to 3 free samples of our product – delivered to your doorstep!
