Amendoim from BR-111

Q: We spent a lot of time researching wood and colors and finally decided upon Amendoim, we like the look of Oak and the hardness greater than oak. I found that there are three engineered options from BR111,
Amendoim 3″ 5/16″ Prefinished $3.19/sf
Amendoim 61/4″ 5/16″ Prefinished $3.19/sf
Amendioim 3 1/4″ 3/8″ Triangulo $6.09/sf
My question is what sets the Triangulo apart, why is it so expensive? Also when I looked up BR111 site for these it shows that the Triangulo version is more than double hard than OAK, whereas the regular Engineered wood hardness was shown same as OAK. I thought the hardness of the product is the same as the species, if the same species engineered prefinished product has different durability, hardness than it becomes very tricky in making our selection.
thanks
Ananth
A: Typically when it comes to an engineered product, Hardness is somewhat affected because the thickness of the species layers and plies will affect the floor’s hardness. Keep in mind hardness is measure based on how much pressure is required to fire a ball bearing at the floor and bury it to half the ball’s diameter in depth. Since some engineered products have thinner species layer than others (even when made by the same manufacturer) the hardness can vary even when the species itself is the same. Normally this change is when the species layer is a veneer (paper thin layer of wood) or thinner than roughly 1/8″. This can also be affected by the quality of the engineered substrate as some manufacturers have lines which use a different substrate than poplar (the most common).
The best way to see the difference between these products is to order samples from BR-111’s site. The nice part about BR-111 is that they offer up to 4 free samples of their products directly from their website www.br111.com, so you can easily order each of the ones you are looking at and compare them in your home. Triangulo is one of BR-111’s better lines of engineered products (hence the price difference). From my experience with the Triangulo series, it is rather well built and I have had several customers who absolutely love theirs.