I’m strongly considering Brazilian Cherry in our new Timberframe house. It’s pretty affordable around here. Anyway, my wife heard rumors that … and i quote… “it’s impossible to keep clean….we’ve regretted it…” <– she read this somewhere on the web and i’m just trying to get some other opinions..
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I have in for my floors. For the price (1.80/sq.ft. 4in. wide boards) I am estatic. I culled the "ugly" pieces so my waste was more like 8% rather than the normal 5%. It does have a high moisture content, so stack it real loose and let in aclimate a loooong time.
Went down easy, used an oil poly, and in 6 months it is a nice rich medium dark tone.
Cleans like any hardword. Vac and swiffer.
The only flaws are from my first time installation learning curve.
I would say how you finish it is more important to how dirty it will get, rather than the type of wood.
Danno -- i hear you but i'm not so sure. I don't think it's any dirtier than any other h/w floor but just the dark tones show stuff up.
In case you're interested here's a thread i found (not sure if it's the same one my wife stumbled on or not)..
http://www.flooringguide.com/forum/topic.cgi?forum=5&topic=68
Maybe it is the color (my burgundy carpet shows both dark dirt and light dirt), but someone on the other site said they had some flooring of the same color but not the Brazillian cherry and it didn't show dirt.
yea...i know. Sure wish i could see a house w/this installed.
We put in a Blond Brazilian Cherry, because it is light, no dirt problems.
That's interesting...i've never heard of it. Was it expensive?
I bought several hundred square feet from a fellow who had put it throughout his house. I paid $1.50 per square foot, he had bought the orginal at Lumber Liquidators on the net.
We purchased blond brazilian cherry for our house from a lumber liquidator for 1.75. We've put down maple and oak in a previous house, plus have access to ash. The cherry is our favorite by far. No problem keeping clean, but it has a good finish. Would highly recommend.
ok great...this is something i'll look into. She wants something light -- to contrast the cherry cabinets and doug fir timber -- so i was considering something really light like maple but i'll take a look at this lighter brazilian cherry.
Don't know the connection between rainforest cherry and a 'timbreframe' house.... but I installed a lumberliquidators Braz. Cherry floor in a small central Wa. house last winter. Great product. Looks great. Used Daly's water-based 2-part urethane finish (similar to water based Glitsa). Did three coats. Only mistake was hand spot sanding a few places where a dust hair had landed. The finish did not flow equally there, so this summer I will do another light orbital hand sanding, and do a fourth coat of Daly's.
I had let the wood aclimatize for a month in warm, dry fall weather. There are STILL a couple shrink cracks between a couple boards (I used 5" wide by 3/4 thick solid planks, and TOTALLY Benite- sealed all 6 sides of every board, and sealed the plywood subfloor, and used 15 lb tarpaper, and this is a second floor space!) Maybe next time I'll nail every 8 inches instead of every foot. I also used 1-1/2' nails in the air gun, perhaps 2" next time. I could also use Gorilla glue on some key long joints. Oh well.
ANY dark surface (like a black car) will show dirt. Be reasonably clean, and enjoy a fast disappearing rainforest !!
the home page to my web site has a jatoba floor on it. there is another shot in there somewhere too as well as a bunch of cabinets and a bar table all with jatoba. the floor your thinking of, is it pre finished or unfinished? floors with grooves in them are always a bit harder to keep clean. also if its glossy it shows up prints easier too. because its cherry has nothing to do with it. when its being installed, if you find dark pieces, its ok to use them, just always use 3 of them and keep them randomish in the same area. once the floor darkens,it tones them down.
i dont know if you were told, but fruit woods, and alot of other woods, especially brazilian cherry, get ALOT richer in colour in the first 6 months. if you put carpets, furniture ect on it, it will not let that area darken until it is uncovered. so move everything around alot for the first year or so. i dont meen you have to rearange your living room weekly but every couple of months is a good idea that way it colours more evenly. if one day you moce something and it has a light patch, just leave it uncovered and it will blend in. when it gets darker it is the most amazing floor. i have put in many floors but none compare to the jatoba. i use it alot in bathroom counters, and its my dining room table top.
http://www.urbanworkshop.ca/index.html
http://www.urbanworkshop.ca/page_2147484144.html picture on far right.
good luck i say go with it, you wont regret how it looks.
Tmaxxx
Urban Workshop Ltd
Vancouver B.C.
Now when i nod my head, you hit it.
Thanks for the response...that table top looks awesome. You do some really nice work.
The wood = unfinished and would not have grooves. I'm definately going to use it some, just unsure if it'll be used in an entire room or more as an accent/border/inlay. Tammy's really wanting me to look for something lighter... primarily because she'd like the built-ins to be dark. So i'm looking at blonde brazailian cherry. It's not really settled though, i really love the look of that darker wood.
Same for us. The Cherry is beautiful, but it is hard to keep looking clean.
I installed about 750' of Bellawood's "Light Brazilian Cherry," a 1/2" thick pre-finished T&G product that I nailed in. It's beautiful - easy to work with, mills great, appears to be very durable, and cleans up nicely with a spray-on water-based hardwood floor cleaner we found at Ace. We had been using another product, but one of the ingredients was ethylene glycol (anti-freeze, I believe) and our dog would not stop licking the floors. As far as darkening goes, we pulled up an area rug after about 3 months, and it's location telegraphed pretty apparently. So we went a couple of weeks without the rug, and that lighter area has blended into the exposed area without much of a trace. I recommend the floor for it's quality and appearance, and I recommend Lumber Liquidators for their price and service. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Rob:
Thanks much.