Hickory Hardwood Flooring
Hickory hardwood flooring is one of the most durable domestic wood species you can find in any flooring store. Check out our prefinished hand scraped or classic finishes in decor-friendly hickory flooring colors today! Call us at 1-800-253-2728 to start your order.
Our Popular Hickory Collections
Bringing the beauty of hickory floors to our customers at amazingly low prices is our passion and delight. Hickory is a classic wood species that our family installation business has installed in thousands of homes in the last 50 years of doing business. Shopping solid or engineered hickory will both yield amazing results for years to come. Flooring with incredible durability and amazing visuals can rock the socks off in any homeowner. We have the best price on narrow and wide plank options in America!
Add our 5 star reviews into the mix and you'll see why so many decide to order from us. All we need to know if you like hickory and everything that comes with these wooden floors. Hickory wood flooring's style and its resilience and low maintenance make it perfect for the living room and beyond.
Why Choose Hickory Hardwood?
Hickory is an extremely hard tree. It's no wonder the flooring industry has advertised it as the perfect flooring material to walk on for years to come. Hickory's dense and this is it's claim to fame feature.
All domestic hardwoods like white oak, red oak, and even walnut are put through a universal lab coat environment test called the Janka Hardness test. A Janka test is meant to settle once and for all what the difference in hardness between each plentiful wood species we have found in the wild. A janka test is performed by pressing a steel ball into a slab of wood and records how much force is used to push this metal ball halfway into the test piece of wood.
The Janka scale rating for a hardwood is the reported force of this test. Hickory has the highest domestic wood Janka rating. This information makes hickory flooring a superior choice compared to oak when long-term durability is the main focus of a customer. Professional installers need quality tools, equipment, and supplies to properly work with hickory due to its exceptional density and hardness.
A High Wood Density Flex
A high density rating for hardwood flooring means its got the stuff off longevity. All other domestic wood compare to a hickory floor as softer and less dense. These lesser wood flooring materials will dent, scratch, and wear down faster.
The lifetime of hardwood flooring is based on its change in appearance. Most flooring that is replaced has a longer lifespan, but they probably just looked bad.Â
Any hardwood with lots of dents and scrapes will be replaced because of looks, not because its unsafe or a risk to a homeowner. However, Momma will ask if you can sand and refinish this battered hardwood to make her feel better.
The Durability and Style of Hickory Flooring
Solid hardwood can be refinished and it brings a real boost to home values. A thick solid plank will last for years and its character will be talking point for years to come as well. Hickory flooring stands out among hardwood floors for its remarkable strength and distinctive grain patterns that add warmth to any space. When comparing different hardwood floors, hickory consistently ranks as the top choice for homeowners seeking flooring that combines beauty with unmatched durability.
One Hardwood Floor to Take A Beating
Hickory can take on heavy foot traffic with high wooden resilience and low maintenance.
Hickory has lots of color variation and natural style on one plank. The knots, heartwood browns, and light sapwood cream colors will contrast in hickory.Â
Where The Brown and Cream Color Contrast Comes From
The other reason is the vast difference in color tone between the heartwood and the sapwood. It is this contrast that gives Hickory planks the unique look that so many homeowners fall in love with.
What Grade is Best For Me?
Hickory, more than any other wood in my opinion, offers very different looks between grades. While some of the same grading rules apply as Red Oak or Maple, much of the lower grades of Hickory are due to extreme contrast in color.
The color variation is much of the appeal to many consumers the demand for Cabin grade Hickory flooring in both solid and engineered is very high.
Our fastest Selling Hickory Hardwoods
Our American Home collection is a first quality solid hickory hardwood that is our best value for our customers looking for lots of color, long boards, and a good warranty!
Hardwood flooring can be tricky to give blanket recommendations to anybody. We think this new collection hits every high note for a classic hickory product.
American Home is a perfect example of an oddball product. But our American Home is easily the most popular and best-selling first quality product in our warehouses. If you have been shopping for Hickory you will understand why.
You are probably one hickory installation job away from always choosing hickory for your home.
The Hickory Species for Hardwood Flooring FAQ
What are the main downsides to hickory wood flooring?
Density cuts both ways. That extreme hardness comes with a catch: hickory has very little porosity compared to softer species. While pine or fir can absorb moisture into their pores without warping, a traditional solid hickory's plank has densely tight grain has nowhere for that water to go. This increases the risk for the boards to swell and create a cupped floor. The common remedy to this is to purchase a prefinished engineered plank hickory for increased stability, especially if you are looking for a wider size for your selected room.
Is that a problem? You darn tootin' it is. Once cupping sets in, you've got ruined boards. The fix usually involves getting aggressive with climate control—cranking the HVAC or running a dehumidifier to stabilize the environment.
The Color Issue
Natural hickory isn't for the faint of heart if your heart and style don't like the sound of the character hickory effect! Those wild swings between dark heartwood and pale sapwood create a striking color contrast across your floor that some folks find less than appealing. The amount of variation you see depends heavily on the lumber grade you choose. If you want to understand how grading systems work for hardwood flooring, read our breakdown of hardwood lumber grades—the same select vs. natural principles apply to hickory, even though that guide focuses on oak. If you want more consistency through your plank floor without sorting through grades, look at stained options. The staining process evens out those dramatic variations while keeping hickory's character intact.
Solid vs. Engineered: Which handles moisture better?
Engineered flooring exists specifically to solve hickory's stability issues. Instead of one solid slab that expands and contracts as a single unit, engineered planks layer the wood with alternating grain patterns. This cross-ply construction fights back against the swelling that ruins solid boards.
| Feature | Solid Hickory | Engineered Hickory |
|---|---|---|
| Construction | Single piece of wood, 3/4" thick | Sawn face veneer over 7-ply hardwood core |
| Moisture Resistance | High risk of cupping/buckling | Stable, resists dimensional changes |
| Appearance | Authentic grain throughout | Identical to solid with quality brands* |
*Somerset's SolidPlus and Bruce's American Home lines use sawn face veneers—actual sliced wood faces rather than the rotary-peeled veneers common in box stores. This gives you the same grain patterns as solid flooring, not that plasticky peeled look.
Why do some engineered floors look cheap?
It comes down to how the top layer gets harvested. Most budget engineered flooring uses rotary peel—the log gets spun against a blade like an apple being peeled. High yield, low character. The grain looks flat and repetitive.
Sawn face veneer is different. Manufacturers slice across the log face the same way they mill solid hardwood boards, just thinner. That veneer gets laminated to a 7-layer hardwood core. You get thick, moisture-resistant boards that can actually handle spring humidity changes. Go ahead and kick the doors open to let the fresh air in—proper engineered hickory can take it.
Should I choose natural or stained hickory?
Depends on your tolerance for chaos.
- Natural finish: Shows the full spectrum of hickory's color range—cocoa browns bumping right up against creamy whites. Dramatic? Yes. Busy? Also yes.
- Stained finish: Dyes those lighter sapwood sections to blend with the darker heartwood. You lose some of the wild contrast but gain a floor that doesn't fight with your furniture.
If you want the durability but not the "rustic cabin" aesthetic, staining is your friend.
Is hickory actually worth the hassle?
Despite the moisture headaches, hickory ranks near the top of the Janka hardness scale. It laughs at dog claws, dropped pots, and high heels. Available in multiple plank widths, it works in contemporary lofts or farmhouse kitchens. The grain patterns are distinctive without being boring, and with proper climate control, this floor outlives most homeowners.
Busy households that actually live in their spaces and not just staged for Instagram, tend to love it.
Ready to see it in person?
We ship free samples to new customers. Call 1-800-253-2728 to request specific hickory products or ask about delivery options.
Don't see what you're looking for online? We often have inventory en route that hasn't hit the website yet. Worth a call.