02/09/2026
Most people choose a species on colour, then find out about hardness later.
Worth doing it the other way around, at least for the rooms that cop the most traffic. The Janka scale measures how well a timber resists denting. For a home with dogs or a busy hallway, 8.0 kN and up is the sensible range, which puts Grey Ironbark, Spotted Gum, Blackbutt and Jarrah in play.
Softer species are not lesser. Black Walnut at 6.7 and French Oak at 6.5 are two of the most beautiful floors we sell. They just belong in bedrooms, formal living rooms, and studies rather than the hallway the dog sprints down.
You can mix. Plenty of homes run a harder species through the living areas and something softer in the bedrooms.