Hardwood Flooring Options
You may be thinking about adding a hardwood floor to your home, or maybe you've already decided for certain you are going to install one. But have you decided on the species of wood yet? Each different type of wood has different strengths, different colors, and different styles of graining. As the name implies, this type of wood flooring is solid wood all the way through, from top to bottom. It's similar to any other stick of lumber that sawn straight off of the log--no additional materials added. It's usually just called "hardwood floor".
Hardwood flooring comes either unfinished or prefinished. Unfinished hardwood tends to be a little cheaper than prefinished, but does require immediate light sanding, staining (optional), and sealing after installation. With prefinished, you can walk on it right after installation. With unfinished, you need to limit usage until it has been sealed. After sealing, you will need to wait at least 48 hours for the sealant to dry. Even then, additional coats may be required. With unfinished, the advantage is you can stain it and seal it to your exact specification. With prefinished, the advantage is the quick turnaround time. Each different type of wood has different strengths, different colors, and different styles of graining.

Maple Flooring
Maple hardwood flooring is a very pale, creamy white color with slight shade differences from board to board. Depending on the grade chosen, Maple flooring can contain minimal to a lot of brownish/black mineral streaks, Clear grade maple has the least of this streaking. Maple graining is very light and fine and many times barely discernible.