Chestnut Hardwood Flooring

Chestnut originates from North America. It is also called American chestnut, Chinkapin, Sweet chestnut. The sapwood of chestnut is white to light brown, while the heartwood is grayish-brown to brown in color. The species has a straight, sometimes spiraled grain and is fairly coarse in texture. Chestnut wood flooring has a high resistance to decay. The wood remains smooth under friction and is reported to have no odor. It is difficult and time consuming to dry Chestnut properly.

As a flooring option, chestnut is one of the softer species available. It is just under thirty percent harder than white pine, is sixty percent as hard as cedar, is fifty-four percent as hard as teak, just under forty-two percent as hard as red oak, roughly thirty-seven percent as hard as hard maple, about one third as hard as wenge, and only approaches twenty-five percent that of santos mahogany's ranking of 2200.

Chestnut is somewhat difficult to saw properly. Pre-boring is suggested yet the wood holds nails well once applied. Glue holds well with chestnut flooring. This species sands fairly well but does mar somewhat easily under heavy traffic.