Flooring should be capable of resisting wear and should not splinter.
The hard woods as a class are more adaptable than the soft woods,
although yellow pine and Douglas fir are used a great deal on account
of their cheapness. These latter are divided into two grades: “flat
grain,” in which the annual rings are almost parallel to the surface,
and “edge grain,” in which the annual rings run almost perpendicular
to the surface. The latter is more desirable, since it wears better.
The flat grain splinters off, due to the layers of soft spring wood and
hard summer wood. Oak flooring comes plain and quarter sawn, which is
practically the same as the cut of yellow pine, but since oak is strong
either way, the wearing qualities are not very different. Maple is also
an excellent wood for flooring, since it is hard and smooth.
Door and window frames may be made from many kinds of wood, although
the soft and more durable woods are generally accepted as the best.
Specially hard and durable woods should be used for the thresholds.
Doors which are to be used on the exterior should be of a soft and
durable wood. The choice of wood for interior doors is limited only
by the taste of the designer. The doors which stand best the warping
effect of steam-heat in the winter are constructed of white pine cores
with a veneer on the exterior made from some hard wood.
Sash and blinds require a soft and durable wood. Sash are subject to
the drying of steam-heat on the interior and cold and dampness on the
exterior. Sash built of yellow pine sapwood have rotted in a few years,
and while soft maple, birch, and basswood have been used, they are not
durable, although easily worked. White pine is considered to be the
best for sash and blinds.
The selection of woods for interior trim depends only upon the
designer’s taste, since neither relative durability nor strength
is a requirement. The harder woods in the past have been used more
extensively for interior trim than the soft, because of their
supposedly better and richer appearance, but this is not so true
to-day, for new methods of treating such woods as cypress and yellow
pine have shown them to be fitted for the best artistic places. Of
course hard woods are not dented from knocks by furniture as easily as
the soft woods, and in this way retain their appearance longer.