What is Wood Flooring and Decking? To get more information about those 2 types of wooden products, please check our previous article. In this occasion, we are going to discuss about the type of wood that are commonly used for manufacturing wood flooring and decking in Indonesia.

Indonesia is an archipelagic country located in the tropics which makes it rich in lush forests overgrown with various types of hardwood trees. The majority of these forest products are processed into wood products for building construction, wooden houses, wooden furniture, and wooden floors. There are several types of trees that are specially processed for this purpose. The tree species include Teak, Merbau, Ulin, Sonokeling (Java Palisander), Bengkirai (Yellow Balau), and Sungkai.

In addition to fulfil domestic consumption needs, Indonesian wooded products are also exported worldwide. The most wooden products sold to the market abroad are wooden furniture and wooden flooring. In this article, we will discuss about what types of wood are often manufactured into wood flooring. Here are some types of Indonesian forest wood products that are often used as flooring and their characteristics.

Teak. When compared to other types of wood, teak wood is still the prima donna because of its special characteristics until now. In terms of color, fiber motif, and wood texture, teak has unique characteristics. The brownish yellow color of teak gives an elegant impression, the characteristic wavy teak fiber motif exudes beauty, the strong teak texture shows strength and durability. In addition, teak wood has an oil that protects it from fungus, termites and also against decay due to humidity.

Merbau (Intsia bijuga Kuntze). Merbau trees grow a lot in the forests of Kalimantan, Papua, Maluku, and Sulawesi. The color of Merbau wood is reddish brown, brownish yellow, and blackish brown. Merbau wood has a texture that tends to be rough with straight transverse wood fibers. In terms of texture density, Merbau has a high level of texture density that shapes it into a very hard wood. Due to that characteristic, Merbau become very durable and has high resistance in various conditions and weather and has high resistance to fungus and termite attacks.

Ulin (Eusideroxylon Zwageri). Another name for the Ulin tree is the ironwood tree, which is one of the most famous trees from the East Kalimantan forest with its hard, strong, and dark wood characteristics. Ulin tree height reaches 50 meters with a diameter of up to 120 cm. Ulin wood has a strength class I and a durable class I, as well as a specific gravity of 1.04. Ulin wood is resistant to termites and stem borer insects, resistant to changes in humidity and temperature, and also resistant to sea air. Because of its resilience, it is natural to say that Ulin is the wood of all season and a life time wood. This wood is very difficult to nail and saw but easy to split. Not only used for flooring, this wood is also often used to make house walls, docks, house poles, wooden house ceilings, wooden decking, bridge construction, and rail bearings.

Sonokeling (Rosewood). Similar to Teak, Merbau, and Ulin, Sonokeling is belong to the group of hardwood. Sonokeling trees are widely cultivated in Java, but the number of trees are limited. The wood texture of Sonokeling is smooth with a straight grain direction. However, there are some Sonokeling wood has wavy fibers texture. Sonokeling is also resistant to termites and wood rot fungi. The color tone of the Sonokeling heartwood and sapwood are very contrasting. The heartwood color is a dark mauve brown, with streaks of very dark brown to black while the sapwood is whitish to yellowish 3–5 cm thick.

Bangkirai (Yellow Balau). Bangkirai tree grows in the tropical forests of Borneo, the Philippines, and Malaysia. This tree can grow until the diameter of the wood reaches an average of 90cm and even reach 120 cm with a tree height of about 40 meters. Bangkirai wood has brownish yellow color similar to teak wood, but with a straight wood grain.

Sungkai (Peronema Canescens). Sungkai trees can grow to a height of between 20 up to 30 meters with branches reaching 10 meters. The average diameter of Sungkai tree is 60 cm with straight and shallowly grooved stems, no buttresses, and twigs covered with fine hairs. The sungkai tree produces light yellow or cream-colored heartwood. Sungkai wood has a rough, rough, uneven texture with a straight grain direction and some slightly wavy.

Those are the typical of hardwood that commonly manufacture wood flooring and decking in Indonesia. If you are new to Indonesian Wood Flooring industry or wish to meet with new Indonesian Wood Flooring Manufacturer to upgrade your wood flooring business volume, there are many Indonesian sourcing agents who will be professionally happy to assist you identify the reliable Wood Flooring Manufacturer. Feel free to contact LUMASA for further assistances. LUMASA 24 hours support available at +62 812 2805 4565 or e-mail to [email protected]. Happy sourcing… Happy shopping!

Reference:

1. https://courtina.id/kayu-untuk-lantai/
2. https://www.pengadaan.web.id/2021/11/kayu-merbau.html
3. https://bogorkab.go.id/post/detail/mengenal-pohon-ulin-si-kayu-besi-indonesia
4. https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonokeling
5. https://www.pinhome.id/kamus-istilah-properti/kayu-bengkirai/
6. https://rimbakita.com/pohon-sungkai/