A floor sold as mahogany, cherry, jatoba, acacia or sapele is answering two questions at once. On most of the solid floors we stock the exotic word is a colour laid over a North American species: red oak or hard maple stained to read tropical. On our acacia and sapele floors it is the species itself. That difference decides hardness, the board you receive and the price per square foot, so the five floors below are priced with the label showing and the species named beside it. Browse our solid hardwood collection while you read.
Quick answer: colour name or the real species?
- Mahogany. On the Appalachian floor it is our colour name on hard maple. On the Red Mahogany Oak floor, mahogany is a tone on oak.
- Cherry. On the Riche and Sunshiny floors, cherry is a stain tone on red oak, not a wood.
- Jatoba. The Seasons floor called Jatoba is red oak; real jatoba is a separate, harder species we do not stock.
- Acacia and sapele. The real thing, named in the titles.
- What changes. Hardness follows the species, not the colour word. The Red Mahogany Oak is $4.20 per sq ft and the Appalachian Mahogany $5.19 per sq ft.
What each exotic name means on the five floors we stock
Read the whole title, not the colour word. Makers put species and colour on one line, and the order gives the answer: Seasons writes Red Oak before Jatoba, Riche writes Red Oak before Cherry, Appalachian writes Hard Maple after Mahogany.
| Floor | Name on the label | Species in our data | Box price / coverage | Per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appalachian Mahogany Hard Maple | Colour name | Hard maple | $103.80 / 20 sq ft | $5.19 |
| Red Mahogany Oak | Colour name | Oak | $102.52 / 24.41 sq ft | $4.20 |
| Seasons No. 1 Red Oak Jatoba | Colour name | Red oak | $84.42 / 18 sq ft | $4.69 |
| Illusion Acacia | Real species | Acacia | $99.65 / 21.71 sq ft | $4.59 |
| Sapele Bronze | Real species | Sapele, from the title | $110.67 / 25.42 sq ft | $4.35 |
Prices checked October 26, 2026. Box prices and coverage come from our current catalogue.
- A colour adds no hardness. A stained red oak board is still red oak. The Appalachian floor is the reverse case: an exotic colour name on hard maple, which is harder than the oak under the other stains.
- Coverage per box moves the price more than the box price does. The Seasons box costs $84.42 against $102.52, yet the two land within half a dollar of each other per square foot, because one box holds 18 sq ft and the other 24.41 sq ft.
- Real species carry no premium here. Acacia at $4.59 and sapele at $4.35 cost less per square foot than the Appalachian Mahogany at $5.19.
Cherry names follow the same pattern. Riche Red Oak Cherry and Sunshiny Red Oak Cherry put the species first, so both are red oak with a cherry-toned stain and neither contains cherry wood.
How to tell a colour name from a real species before you pay
Three checks settle it, and all of them work from a product page.
- Read the species line, not the colour line. A title pairing a species with a name, such as Red Oak Jatoba, is telling you both things at once.
- Check the maker's own naming. Appalachian's catalogue says the wood behind its maple floors can carry two names: "Hard Maple is also known to some people as Sugar Maple."
- Ask whose colour name it is. Appalachian Mahogany is a colour name we use, not a species and not a claim about the mill's own chart. The board is hard maple, and that is the fact worth pricing.
This matters more with solid wood, where one species runs through the board from top to bottom. For a wider species comparison across oak and maple, see our species comparison for Toronto homes.
Hardness: what the species underneath actually gives you
Hardness is what shoppers assume an exotic name is selling, and it is easy to check. The USDA Forest Service Wood Handbook reports side hardness at 12% moisture content: sugar maple, which is Appalachian's name for hard maple, at 6,400 N, northern red oak at 5,700 N and sapele at 6,700 N.
| Species | Side hardness, 12% moisture | Floors that use it |
|---|---|---|
| Hard maple (sugar maple) | 6,400 N | Appalachian Mahogany |
| Northern red oak | 5,700 N | Red Mahogany Oak, Red Oak Jatoba, the cherry-named red oaks |
| Sapele | 6,700 N | Sapele Bronze engineered |
Two cautions come with that table. A floor named after a tropical wood is not automatically harder, and a mahogany name is not automatically softer, since mahogany here means a colour on hard maple.
The second caution is construction. Sapele Bronze is engineered rather than solid, and the NWFA's homeowner handbook is direct about what that does to hardness numbers: "Ratings for both domestic and imported species are included in the scale; however, none of these values apply to engineered wood flooring." Read the 6,700 N figure as a property of the sapele species, not as a rating of the board you would install.
The same handbook ranks real jatoba, as Brazilian cherry, above sapele and above hard maple. Our Seasons floor shares the name but not the wood. Acacia gets no figure here at all. For the full ranking and what it means for dogs, kids and traffic, see our Janka hardness chart for flooring.
What 300 sq ft of each floor costs in material
The material line is the part you can work out before anyone visits. We use the same steps on every quote, and 300 sq ft suits a living and dining area:
- Add 5% for waste. 300 sq ft x 1.05 = 315 sq ft.
- Divide by box coverage and round up, because you pay for whole boxes.
- Multiply boxes by the box price.
- Add 13% Ontario HST.
| Floor | Boxes for 315 sq ft | Material | HST | Material plus HST |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appalachian Mahogany Hard Maple | 16 boxes | $1,660.80 | $215.90 | $1,876.70 |
| Red Mahogany Oak | 13 boxes | $1,332.76 | $173.26 | $1,506.02 |
| Seasons No. 1 Red Oak Jatoba | 18 boxes | $1,519.56 | $197.54 | $1,717.10 |
| Illusion Acacia | 15 boxes | $1,494.75 | $194.32 | $1,689.07 |
| Sapele Bronze | 13 boxes | $1,438.71 | $187.03 | $1,625.74 |
One floor costs $328.04 more in material than another, and $370.68 more with HST.
For the installed cost of a whole room rather than the material line alone, our 2026 hardwood flooring cost guide for Toronto walks through the same arithmetic with labour and the other lines included.
Here is the whole calculation once, for the Appalachian floor in a house. Material is 16 boxes at $103.80, so $1,660.80. Labour is 315 sq ft at $2.00 per sq ft, so $630.00. Subtotal $2,290.80, HST $297.80, total $2,588.60, or about $8.63 per sq ft of floor. Removing an old floor, subfloor work and delivery are not in that figure: each is quoted after we see the site or confirm your postal code.
Installation: nail-down rates, condos and basements
| Method | House or basement | Condo |
|---|---|---|
| Solid hardwood, nail-down | $2.00 per sq ft | Priced after viewing |
| Engineered, nail-down | $2.00 per sq ft | Measured on site |
| Engineered, nail plus glue | $2.80 per sq ft | Quoted per job |
The condo column carries no rate for any of the three methods, so condo work is priced after viewing rather than per square foot.
Solid boards also narrow your options before labour starts. Appalachian's solid installation guide fixes the method: "Rather the installation method for solid flooring is exclusively stapled or nailed." The same guide lists ground floor and second floor as suitable and a basement as not, so plan the Appalachian Mahogany for an on-grade or above-grade room. For a basement, ask us which engineered floor suits the room; the engineered rates above apply to engineered floors. Acacia is solid, so it prices at the solid nail-down rate.
Matching the name to the room and the budget
- Lowest material cost in a dark red-brown? Red Mahogany Oak at $4.20 per sq ft is the least expensive of the five.
- Most hardness in a solid board? Hard maple at 6,400 N beats northern red oak at 5,700 N, so the Appalachian floor is the harder of the two solid species.
- A genuine species without a premium? Both real species, acacia and sapele, come in under the $5.19 Appalachian floor per square foot.
- A basement or below-grade room? Appalachian's guide rules out its solid floors below grade, so ask us which engineered floor suits the room.
- Only the cherry look? A cherry-named floor is red oak under a cherry tone, as on the Sunshiny and Riche floors.
If the decision is really about tone, the solid hardwood stain colours we stock sorts our red oak and maple into tone families. If you like the acacia look but want a waterproof plank, the acacia-look and teak-look vinyl plank guide covers the SPC versions, which are a different product with a printed colour rather than a stained species.
Mahogany, cherry and exotic hardwood FAQ
Is mahogany hardwood flooring real mahogany wood?
Not on any floor we stock. Mahogany is a colour name on two of our solid floors, one hard maple and one oak. We do not carry genuine mahogany wood, so buy these for their tone and their species line.
Is jatoba harder than oak?
Real jatoba is. The NWFA's Janka scale puts Brazilian cherry, which is jatoba, above sapele and above hard maple, so well above any oak. Our Seasons floor named Jatoba is red oak with a jatoba-toned stain and carries red oak hardness.
Is acacia a good choice for a floor?
It is a real hardwood species and it is named in the title, so the label is telling you the species rather than a colour. We publish no hardness rating for it, so judge it on look, solid construction and the $4.59 per sq ft price.
Which is harder, cherry or maple?
Maple, by a wide margin. The NWFA handbook places walnut, cherry and birch below maple, hickory and oak, and the floors we sell under a cherry name are red oak anyway, so you get red oak hardness with a cherry tone.
Does a colour name change the installation price?
No. Labour follows construction and building type: solid and nail-down engineered floors are $2.00 per sq ft in a house or basement, nail plus glue is $2.80 per sq ft, and condo work is priced after viewing.
Get help reading the label on a Toronto floor
Send us your room sizes, the species line from the products you are comparing, and whether it is a house, basement or condo, and we will run the same box, labour and HST arithmetic on your numbers. You can request a quote online or reach us through the contact page.
Top Floorings Depot
3781 Victoria Park Avenue, Unit 1, Toronto, ON M1W 3K5
www.topfloorings.com
Call: 416-499-0117
Text: 416-770-8819