What is Meranti (Dark Red)?
The Wood Guide · Wood register
Wood speciesDark red meranti
The tropical wood you probably have at home without knowing it: meranti is in most wooden front doors and window frames of recent decades.
- Shorea spp.
- Class II to IV
- Easy to work
Dark red meranti
The tropical wood you probably have at home without knowing it: meranti is in most wooden front doors and window frames of recent decades.
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A trade name, not a tree species
Meranti is not a single species but a group: dozens of species from the genus Shorea, sorted by colour and density.
In the trade, meranti is graded by colour: light red, dark red, white and yellow. Dark red meranti is the heaviest and most durable of that group, with a brownish-red to pink heartwood and a clearly lighter, greyish-pink sapwood. The two are easy to tell apart — and that matters, because only the heartwood is durable.
The trees come from the tropical rainforests of South-East Asia, mainly Malaysia and Indonesia. They grow 30 to 40 metres tall with branch-free trunks of 10 to 30 metres and trunk diameters of 70 to 180 centimetres. That explains why long, straight, knot-free lengths can be sawn from them — exactly what a window frame needs.
Meranti became popular because it is easy to work with: it dries without much trouble, machines and hand-works well, and takes lacquer and paint nicely. For a joiner making windows, that is the whole reason.
Meranti combines four things windows need: long straight lengths without knots, good dimensional stability, easy working and a price below that of oak or afzelia. That is why it was the standard for decades.
- Botanical name
- Shorea spp., family Dipterocarpaceae
- Origin
- Malaysia and Indonesia
- Tree height
- 30 to 40 m, branch-free trunk 10 to 30 m
- Trunk diameter
- 70 to 180 cm, sometimes up to 300 cm
- Heartwood
- brownish red to pink
- Sapwood
- greyish pink — clearly lighter, and not durable
- Durability class of heartwood
- II to IV
- Durability class of sapwood
- V
To be fair: the durability class of dark red meranti ranges from II to IV, and that is a big difference: class II lasts decades outdoors, class IV does not without treatment. You cannot tell from a board which category it falls into. So if you use meranti outdoors, always treat it — and keep the sapwood out in any case.
What meranti does
| Property | Value | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Heartwood colour | brownish red to pink | darkens under the influence of light |
| Sapwood colour | greyish pink | clearly contrasting; not durable |
| Heartwood durability | class II – IV | varies widely by batch and by species |
| Drying | goes easily | little risk of cracking or distortion |
| Working | good, by hand and by machine | the reason joiners work with it |
| Finishing | takes lacquer, stain and paint well | suitable for painted exterior joinery |
| Use in sheet material | veneer and plywood | meranti plywood is a common product |
What meranti is used for
Windows and exterior doors
The classic use. Long straight lengths, dimensionally stable enough to keep closing properly, and it takes a coat of paint well.
Interior doors and skirting boards
Indoors, durability plays no role, and what remains is a wood that is easy to work and looks warm.
Stairs
Hard enough for treads, and available in wide boards.
Furniture
Mainly in painted or stained furniture, where the figure matters less than workability.
Cladding
Possible, provided it is heartwood and well treated. Expect maintenance.
Plywood and veneer
Meranti plywood is a standard product in construction, also for formwork and interior work.
Maintaining meranti
Meranti used outdoors is almost always painted or stained. Untreated it turns grey, like any other wood, and because of the variable durability class, decay is then less predictable than with a class I species.
On new joinery
Prime all surfaces, including the end grain and the underside of a door — those surfaces absorb the most.
Check every year
Look at bottom rails and sills, corner joints and sealant joints. That is almost always where decay starts in wooden joinery.
Touch up in time
As soon as the coating turns dull or shows hairline cracks. Waiting until the wood is bare means sanding it right back.
Interior work
Needs nothing special: dust it, and touch it up every few years if it is oiled.
Frequently asked questions about meranti
Is meranti a hardwood?
Yes, botanically it is: it comes from a broadleaf tree. In terms of hardness, dark red meranti is mid-range — harder than spruce, much softer than azobé.
What is the difference between dark red and light red meranti?
Dark red is heavier, darker and more durable. Light red is lighter in colour and weight and less suitable for outdoor use.
Can meranti go outdoors untreated?
Better not. The durability class ranges from II to IV and you cannot tell from a board which one you have. Always treat it, and do not use sapwood.
Why are so many windows made of meranti?
Because it yields long straight knot-free lengths, is dimensionally stable enough to keep closing properly, is easy to work and is cheaper than oak or afzelia.
Can I recognise sapwood by its colour?
Yes. The heartwood is brownish red to pink, the sapwood clearly lighter and greyish pink. That lighter part is not durable.
Is meranti suitable for garden furniture?
It can be, with treatment. For outdoor furniture that stands outdoors untreated for years, teak, iroko or properly pressure-treated spruce are more logical choices.
More in the wood register
Each species has its own page, with the same figures and the same honest downside.
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Photo via Wikimedia Commons: Shorea curtisii et al. (dark red meranti) — Cirad (Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement), Public domain