Viraró
Light chestnut with darker grain.
The classic Buenos Aires floor. Stable, hard, with a figure that forgives daily use.
- Hardness: High
- Grain: Marked, with contrast.
- Where: Homes, offices, stores.
Hardness, grain and colour decide more than anything else. What withstands a hotel lobby is not what looks best in a boutique.
How it is chosen
Three questions before colour.
Colour is the first thing looked at and the last that should decide. Three questions come first: how many people walk over it, how much humidity there is, and how many times the floor will be sanded over its life. Those three shorten the list far more than a sample on the table.
Tone, besides, can be corrected: a stained oak goes a long way. Hardness cannot be corrected. So it is better to choose the species that holds up first and adjust colour afterwards, rather than the other way round.
- TrafficA lobby and a bedroom do not ask for the same hardness.
- HumidityIt sets the system before the species: solid or engineered.
- SandingsThe more expected, the more wear layer is needed.
Domestic
Argentine woods for flooring.
Four Argentine species in routine use on site. They are the ones that respond best to the local climate, and they arrive without the lead time or the cost of a container.
Curupay
Dark reddish, almost purple.
When traffic is the problem. It is among the densest woods worked here, and it shows five years in.
- Hardness: Very high
- Grain: Tight, deep tone.
- Where: Lobbies, high-traffic stores.
Guatambú
Very pale, with almost no figure.
When the floor has to lighten the room and compete with nothing. It is the natural counterpoint to dark joinery.
- Hardness: Medium-high
- Grain: Discreet, even tone.
- Where: Light interiors, showrooms.
Lapacho
Olive-brown, extremely dense.
Where wood has to genuinely resist: sheltered exteriors, stairs, loading areas.
- Hardness: Very high
- Grain: Fine, greenish tone.
- Where: Stairs, sheltered exteriors.
Imported
Oak, teak and walnut.
When a project arrives with an international specification, it nearly always names one of these four. They are worked just like the domestic ones, with the supply lead time factored in from the quote onwards.
American oak
Straight grain, light and even tone.
It is the most specified, and with reason: it takes stains evenly and reaches almost any tone without losing its figure.
- Hardness: Medium-high
- Staining: Even and predictable.
- Where: Retail, hospitality, offices.
European oak
Livelier figure, warmer tone.
When the project asks for wide boards and a floor that reads as material rather than surface.
- Hardness: Medium
- Format: Usual in wide boards.
- Where: Residential, hospitality.
Burmese teak
Golden, naturally oily.
Where there is water or changing humidity. The wood's own oil does half the work.
- Hardness: Medium
- Humidity: The best on this list.
- Where: Spas, changing rooms, wet areas.
Walnut
Chocolate, dark by nature.
When the dark tone has to come from the wood and not from a stain. It is softer: worth measuring the traffic first.
- Hardness: Medium
- Tone: Dark without staining.
- Where: Boutiques, meeting rooms.
Finish
The species shows after the finish.
An unfinished sample says little: the finish lifts the tone, brings out the grain and shifts a good deal of what was chosen on the table. That is why the sample approved is the one that already came off the UV line, not the raw board.
The finish is applied at the plant, on a line over twenty-five metres long: every board comes out cured and even. On site that means no smell, no waiting, and no sanding dust over a project that is already finished.
- Approved sampleApproved with the finish on, not raw.
- Colour across batchesControlled batch by batch against that sample.
- No acclimatisationThe board arrives stabilised and is laid.
Questions
What we always get asked.
Which wood suits a high-traffic store?
From this list, curupay and lapacho respond best by density. American oak also works, with the advantage of colour: it stains evenly and reaches almost any tone. Walnut, by contrast, is better kept for quieter areas.
Which one takes underfloor heating?
The question belongs to the system before the species. With underfloor heating an engineered floor is what applies, because the cross-laid core moves far less than a solid board. Once the system is set, the species is chosen for hardness and colour.
Does wood change colour over time?
Yes, and it is worth saying beforehand: nearly all of them shift with light. Walnut tends to lighten, oak to turn golden, teak to settle into a more even tone. It is not a defect, but it explains why furniture moved two years later leaves a lighter mark on the floor.
Can an already-installed wood be matched?
It can be brought close, almost never matched outright: the existing wood carries years of light. The usual approach is to work from a sample taken from the least exposed area, adjust the stain against it, and say beforehand how visible the difference will be.
Do you work species beyond these eight?
Yes. These eight are the ones in routine use, not a limit. When a project specifies another, supply and lead time are assessed before committing, and that is stated together with the proposal.
Next step
Two ways to start.
Have a detail that is only half resolved?
Send us the drawing, the section or a photo of the reference and we will tell you how it is produced: which profile, which joint and in what time frame. No commitment.
Send a detailIs the project already defined?
Tell us what you need, with drawings or with an idea of the scale. We reply with a proposal and a delivery date committed against your opening.
Request a proposal