Cherry Trees and Reclaimed Cherry Flooring

The cherry tree is one of the most beloved of all the trees. The reason for the cherry's high status is primarily two-fold. Firstly, the cherry produces delicious fruit and secondly, the cherry has a stunning white and pink blossom.

Every spring millions of Japanese partake in hanami or cherry viewing. It is one of the most important cultural events of the year because the cherry is the national tree of Japan and the other-worldly blossoms capture the ephemeral nature of life that their poets and painters also seek to capture.

There are three main types of cherry tree: the wild cherry, the red cherry and the black cherry. The Black cherry in America is also called the rum cherry, the wild black cherry, the escarpment cherry, mountain black cherry and chokecherry. The red cherry and the wild cherry produce the sweet fruit but it is the black cherry which grows the tallest that makes the best lumber.

The sapwood of the cherry is a pale pink and the heartwood is a reddish color which darkens with age. It is because of the beautiful heartwood color of cherry that it is favored as a flooring material.

Unfortunately, the black cherry is prone to insect attack and thus is not a popular commercial lumber. If you want cherry wood for your floor it is best to buy reclaimed cherry flooring.

Much of the reclaimed cherry flooring planks in the United States come from mixed wood barns dating back to the Nineteenth Century, or from piles of long forgotten lumber in haylofts dating back to the same period. One of the best places to source reclaimed cherry flooring is on the internet. Search for a directory of reclaimed hardwood flooring suppliers to find a dealer near you. By finding a local dealer you cut down on travel costs and reduce the total carbon output of your new flooring.

The obvious advantage of reclaimed cherry flooring is that it is from recycled cherry wood. By buying reclaimed cherry flooring you are not contributing to the further decreasing numbers of mature black cherry trees. The other great advantage of reclaimed cherry flooring is that time deepens the red of the flooring planks making them look simply stunning. Although cherry flooring can take a high polish this rich red of reclaimed cherry is not something that can be artificially copied with stains because the wood doesn't take well to stains.

Once installed reclaimed cherry flooring is very stable. In other words it reacts less than other hardwoods to changes in humidity levels in a room. This makes reclaimed cherry flooring suitable for people living in areas with high summer humidity levels.

The other advantage of reclaimed cherry flooring is that it is anti allergenic in the sense that it doesn't allow any place for dust mites to live and breed. Dust mites are one of the main triggers of allergic rhinitis.

After seeing reclaimed cherry flooring in a friend's house it is hard not to envy them. Like the cherry blossom, it is thing of true beauty.