Welcome back to the Elemental Hardwoods blog, the most in-depth hardwood species series on the web. Today’s blog is a product spotlight on a hardwood species that is often considered the perfect choice for hardwood flooring.
Merbau is a beautiful exotic hardwood that grows in the forests of Southeast Asia as well as throughout the South Pacific region. When freshly cut the color of the wood is yellow to orangish-brown, but upon exposure will darken to a rich dark brown to reddish-brown color much like Brazilian Cherry.
Merbau Hardwood Natural Mineral Deposits
One unique characteristic of Merbau is the yellow flecks, or mineral deposits, which can be seen in many of the pieces. These flecks will become more subtle over time, but when initially finished the wood appears to be flecked with gold. The wood has a coarse texture with a straight to interlocked grain. Merbau has a hardness rating of 1925 making it almost 50% harder than Red Oak. Additionally, Merbau is exceptionally stable adding to its reputation as an ideal species for wood flooring.
Merbau Hardwood Flooring With Finish
Merbau truly is a perfect exotic wood floor species for a number of reasons. Not only is it a great alternative to Brazilian Cherry, which has become harder & harder to acquire, not to mention somewhat expensive, but it has all of the properties you look for in a wood floor; beautiful color, optimum hardness and outstanding stability.
It doesn’t matter if you live on the West Coast or the East Coast, in the Great Plains or the Rocky Mountains, this exotic hardwood will meet all of your markets requirements.
Beautiful Merbau Hardwood Floors
Elemental currently imports Merbau in a Solid 11/16″ x 3-1/4” & 5” width. The product is Clear grade with 1’-6’ lengths and is only available Unfinished. Elemental will be importing Prefinished Merbau with the same specifications in the near future.
If you have any questions regarding this species, or any of our other products, please don’t hesitate to contact us.