The demand for acacia hardwood flooring is increasing day by day. It gives a fascinating touch to the wood floor. Acacia wood mainly comes from the forests of Asia and Australia that add beauty to the floor. Smaller shrubs and short acacia trees are used to manufacture acacia flooring.
What Is Acacia Wood Flooring?
Acacia wood flooring offers many advantages to thousands of people by its convenient merging with the latest style. Acacia will be a worthy choice if you want to decorate your house with hardwood flooring.
Acacia tree wood is a tough, environmentally-friendly hardwood floor that adds an attractive feature to your home. Its thickness prevents it from any damage. Acacia flooring will remain new for more than 50 years in houses with maximum foot traffic. Its bright and attractive stains are liked by thousands of people but do not appeal to everyone. If you do not like traditional looks, acacia flooring will not be worthy for you.
Types of Acacia Hardwood Flooring
Just like other wood species, acacia wood produces the following types of hardwood flooring products:
Acacia Engineered Hardwood Flooring
The average thickness of engineered acacia is 10mm to 12mm. The thickness of one plank is 3mm to 5mm. The engineered acacia contains a plywood base and solid acacia as a finishing layer. It is more budget-friendly and suitable for your houses than two acacia floorings. But its drawback is its life span which is less than solid acacia.
Famous Brands
Famous engineered acacia flooring selling brands are Jasper, Saso, and Green Touch. The average price range of one square foot of engineered acacia is 2.6 to 8 dollars.
Products
Engineered acacia along with solid acacia made the following products:
- Standard finishing flooring
- Hand-scraped flooring
- Carved Flooring
Acacia Laminate Flooring
Acacia laminate flooring is manufactured by the fusion of graphical applique of acacia with compound acacia base. Then the product is covered with a protective transparent layer. The plank length of laminated acacia flooring is variable. The thickness of laminated acacia is ranged from 7mm to 15mm.
Famous Brands
Armstrong and Lamton are the famous acacia laminate flooring brands. The average price range of acacia laminate flooring is 0.80 USD to 3.50 USD for one square foot.
Acacia Solid Hardwood Flooring
The average thickness of acacia solid hardwood flooring and plank thickness is 19mm and 3mm to 5mm, respectively.
Famous Brands
TAS and US floors are the famous selling brands of solid acacia flooring. The average price range of solid acacia flooring is 3 to 8 dollars one square foot.
Products
Solid acacia flooring produces the following products:
- Standard acacia flooring
- Hand scraped and carved finishing flooring
Pros of Acacia Wood Flooring
The choice of acacia wood flooring provides you with a lot of benefits. Following are the essential benefits of acacia wood flooring:
Durability
Natural acacia wood flooring is very durable. It can bear a heavy load and be abused easily. The toughness of acacia wood ranges from 1700 to 2220. That’s why it cannot dent conveniently. Due to its pretty thickness, it remains intact for a very long time.
According to a study, a durable acacia floor remains new for up to a hundred years. Vendors offer fifty years of lengthy Warranty on acacia flooring. Acacia wood flooring is a worthy option for home flooring because of maximum foot traffic. It is the best choice to conceal the wear and tear of the daily routine.
Anti-Resistance
The hardness of acacia flooring is much better than many other wood floorings. Apart from its hardness, acacia flooring also has many other benefits.
Acacia wood flooring is heat resistant, moisture resistant, and also offers a barrier against bacterial infections. Its durability maintains the original texture and flexibility. If water spills on acacia flooring, clean it immediately.
Attractive Colors
A great variety of attractive colors for acacia flooring is available in the market. Acacia wood comes from different species that produce a great range of colors. Acacia wood flooring is mainly available in brown shades that vary from darker to lighter. Acacia flooring is also available in reddish-brown or rusty colors.
Variable stains on acacia wood give an attractive look to the flooring. Rusty acacia flooring gives an attractive traditional look to a room. Dark stains appear beautiful on the acacia wood without losing their original woody appearance. Dark or black stained acacia flooring also looks very beautiful.
Simple Maintenance
Simple and easy maintenance of acacia flooring is another plus point that increases its popularity. No need for special care or cleaning agents is required for its cleaning. It can be cleaned with wet mopping and sweeping. Allergens or germs are not stuck on these floors like on carpets.
Multiple Choices
Acacia flooring produces in solid, laminated, and engineered forms. You can also choose a plank of your required width. Famous acacia hand-scraped flooring or carved finishing options are available.
Easy Installation
Versatile installation procedures are used to fix the acacia floor. The procedures vary according to different manufacturers. But overall, installation is easy and requires nails, glue, and floating materials.
Eco-Friendly
Acacia wood is a tropical hardwood. Acacia show rapid growth without extra water, chemicals, and fertilizers. Due to its rapid growth rate considering this wood for flooring is an eco-friendly option.
Warranty
The durability of acacia wood is higher than other hardwoods. It stays the same for years. Besides durability cleaning, and maintenance of acacia flooring is simple and easy. Sellers or manufacturers of acacia flooring offer an attractive warranty of fifty years. Thus it can remain firm for up to a hundred years easily.
Cons of Acacia Wood Flooring
Apart from the perks of acacia flooring, it also has many drawbacks. Below are the few drawbacks of acacia wood flooring:
Plank Length
The plank length of acacia flooring is short. Shrubs or short-length acacia trees are used in the manufacturing of acacia floors. So, the manufacturing of long planks is not possible with such materials. The average plank length is 4 feet.
Not Attractive for Everyone
Acacia floors are distinctive that can be your personal choice. Acacia flooring is beneficial because of less cleaning efforts and consistency than other floorings. But acacia flooring doesn’t attract everyone towards it. It can be a drawback when you sell your house.
Shrinkage Chances
Sometimes shrinkage occurs in the acacia wood which causes a problem in houses. Improper drying of wood in the kiln cause acacia wood shrinkage. Another reason is it requires some factors for its proper installation. It will shrink in extremely dry houses.
Expensive
Apart from its features, acacia flooring is not a budget-friendly option. It can be upside or downside for acacia. Acacia wood is less expensive than many imported wood floorings. On the other hand, it is more expensive than carpet and vinyl floorings.
Occasionally twists and flaws can be seen in acacia hardwood flooring.
Tips to Clean Acacia Wood Flooring
- Sweep your acacia floor with a bristle broom daily. Use microfiber mops for daily cleaning.
- Don’t use a vacuum cleaner to clean acacia flooring. It can cause scratches on hardwood flooring.
- Special wooden floor cleaners are used to clean acacia hardwood. Follow the directions to use the cleaners on the wooden flooring. Some cleaners first dissolve in water and then apply to the hardwood floors. The rest of the cleaners apply directly to the hardwood floors.
- Avoid the usage of cleaning agents that have ammonia or wax.
- The acacia floor offers resistance against water. But try to avoid the use of a wet mop on it. Sometimes moist mop causes damage to the acacia flooring.
- Nowadays, spray mops are used to clean wooden floors. Spray mops are specially used to clean acacia floors instead of moist mops.
Comparison of Acacia Flooring with Others
Many other hardwoods are also a durable option for flooring. But the durability of acacia wood is much higher than others. Some hardwoods have a strong water-resistant ability acacia shows strong resistance against heat and bacteria. Acacia is very dominating in flooring because it doesn’t dent easily. It is shiny and smooth naturally without any polish.
Acacia Flooring vs. Teak Flooring
Acacia comes from a diverse range of species compared to its tropical hardwood competitor. Acacia comes in a vast range of grain and colors. Acacia flooring stays natural for a long time. Even the original color doesn’t fade away with time. Teak’s natural color fades away with time. Stains can be made more easily on the acacia flooring than teak. It is more readily available than other hardwoods. Teak hardwood flooring is cheaper than acacia.
You may read the acacia wood comparison below:
Acacia Wood Flooring Problems and Their Solutions
Below is the detail of acacia flooring problems must be considered before purchasing it for your houses or shops. Read them carefully:
Problems
1. Acacia shrubs and trees are not very tall. So, the maximum length of one plank is for feet. Planks of different lengths are present in each flooring case. But the average length of these planks is less than 2 feet due to the smaller height of the acacia plant. 8 to 12 acacia flooring joints for a 20-feet long is needed in each row. Just 5 or 6 wooden joints are required for other wood species.
2. Color variation in acacia flooring is more significant than in other hardwood floorings. That’s why your floor appears in more colors rather than the color you choose for your room. If you install rusty acacia flooring, that will highlight. But apparent colors also dark brown or tan stains in it.
3. Minor defects and twists are common in the hardwood flooring made from short shrubs and trees.
4. The proper procedure is required for drying acacia wood. If drying is not done correctly, buckling risk increases in arid conditions. Acacia wood is substantial and normally doesn’t prone to these problems. 6 to 8% moisture content must be dried. Otherwise, it will dry in your house. When it dries completely causes shrinkage. Then its planks become separated due to shrinkage. More dryness is caused in houses in deserts and houses with air furnaces with exhaust. There is a considerable risk of wood shrinkage in these houses.
Solutions
Below are the possible solutions to overcome the above problems:
1. Must buy the acacia flooring that is properly dried up to 6 to 8%. Choose the flooring that must pass twice through the furnace.
2. For acclimation of acacia wood with your house, you have to keep flooring for a few days in open boxes.
3. The humidity level must be 35% to 55% in your houses for acacia flooring. The above or below points also cause damage to acacia flooring.
The above three problems are not usual. Hundreds of people found acacia flooring as an attractive part of their houses. And the above solutions are enough to overcome the last problem. But if you are a real hardwood flooring lover, you will accept it with all issues.
Buying Advice for Acacia Flooring
The selection of acacia floorings is not accessible if there are no hardwood sellers around you. Then you can buy acacia flooring from online vendors. Do little research and find trustable sellers. Mainly you can buy engineered acacia from online stores at budget-friendly rates. You can also use Acacia Wood Outdoor Furniture in your home.
Conclusion
Acacia flooring is getting famous daily due to its durability. Acacia is a versatile floor that increases the beauty of your house. Dents or cracks don’t produce on acacia flooring.
The negative point of acacia flooring is the short plank length of 4 feet. But its basket-weave appearance looks very appealing. Three types of acacia flooring products are available in the market. These products are solid, laminated, or engineered acacia flooring.
Acacia wood is available in a vast range of colors and stains. These stains vary from dark to light colors and appeal to the floor. A specific environment is necessary for the proper drying of acacia; otherwise, it shrinks.