Iroko Wood Flooring

IROKO WOOD FLOORING INFORMATION

Iroko Wood produces an amazing and solid hardwood. Just a touch deeper than Oak, Iroko flooring provides a warm and deep texture that can be used as a tool to provide a sense of comfort for any room. Being an extremely popular floor that is found across the globe, the wood can be used in a variety of rooms and due to its general ambience, it can even be used as a tool to create the elusion of space within the tightest of confines. Overtime, because of exposure to the sun, the wood will mature and darken, often into a richly deep brown tint. With a Janka hardiness rating of 1260, the wood is slightly softer than the benchmark hardiness rating. Despite this, the wood offers excellent stability and can be used even in areas that expect heavy amounts of traffic and friction.

Iroko wood is produced from the large hardwood tree found on the tropical west coast of Africa. Although the tree is sometimes referred to as ‘The African Teak’, the tree is naturally unrelated to the Teak species that is often found around Asia, India and Burma.

The tree can grow to staggering heights of around 60 metres, that’s about the size of the average wind turbine in the United Kingdom. The trunks can also be a thick as 2.6 metres in diameter. The bark of the tree varies from dark grey to black and the treetop produces a large crown of thick, green foliage. The tree is often found at elevations up to 1200m and has even been found around Kilimanjaro at a height of around 4500m, which is considered an especially unusual environment for the tree. If left undisturbed the tree can live for approximately two hundred years with some trees even being recorded to have lived past the remarkable age of four hundred years.

The tree has long been considered a sacred tree by the tribes of eastern and southern Africa. The Yoruba tribe of Nigeria considered the treed to be of special significance, so much so that they have carved ceremonial masks standing five feet tall from the wood of the Iroko tree.

The treetops of the Iroko tree have also been found to be a clamor of life with flying squirrels, birds and bats taking root in the heights of the tree. As the tree provides much needed fruit for the animals, they in turn repay this by distributing small seeds from their fir as they move from place to place. One scientist discovered that a colony of 400,000 Flying Foxes could distribute up to 300,000,000 Iroko seeds in one night alone.

Humans have also used the Iroko tree for medicinal ailments, including usage of its twigs as a form of toothbrush, which is said to prevent tooth decay.

Other than flooring, Iroko wood is also used for furniture, cabinets, railway cross ties as well as the occasional musical instrument.