If you are seeking something a little different, handscraped hardwood flooring may be the right option for you. It is a hardwood flooring option made to look worn, old and distressed. Using a technique called hand scraping, the wooden flooring is designed to have a rustic, old look and comes in a variety of unique designs.
Hand scraping may be the latest craze in home design, but its roots go back many years. The style gets its name from the once-common technique of using a draw knife to scrape a plank into smoothness. Before the days when we had machines to fashion wooden planks, those planks had to be sawed and finished by hand, as you can imagine, this often left them uneven. The handscraped hardwood flooring is most suitable for homes desiring a rustic appearance.
How Is Hardwood Flooring Made
Knowing the construction of this type of hardwood flooring provides you with an appreciation of the hardwood flooring right from its inception. The wooden planks of this flooring type have undergone the handscraping process, where an artisan treats them with various tools to give them a worn, distressed appearance. They construct solid wood floors of planks made from a single piece of wood with tongue-and-groove edges. They then deliver planks to factories pre-finished or unfinished.
Manufacturing of the flooring starts with the tree itself. After they cut trees into logs, what they will use it for is determined by the quality of the tree. Trees marked for flooring are chosen for their natural beauty with tight grain and few knots. They cut the chosen logs into rough planks using a variety of cutting methods which affect the stability and price of the board. Three of the most popular are the flat, quarter, and rift swan. Next, they grade the planks based on appearance.
After the planing stage, a machine then cuts the tongue-and-groove edges in the plank to make the boards fit tightly together. At this stage, the planks may go through a distressing process to give them an older, antique look by hand. They seal the final product or stain them with several coats of protective finish before shipping them unfinished to the marketplace where they are further prepared for flooring installation.
What Wood Species Is Used for Handscraped Hardwood
There is a noticeable difference between the floors that were handscraped and those that were machine-scraped. Genuinely handscraped floors and planks have a unique and distinct pattern that shows noticeable, but random scratch marks. Placement is crucial and should have a bit of a flair for the artistic. However, with machine scraping, the designs will be more uniformed, and repetitive.
Hand scraping is an option for both solid hardwood floors and engineered hardwood floors. Engineered flooring is made by pressing or gluing several strips of wood together to form a single plank. While engineered wood is a little less durable than solid hardwood, it is easier to get this flooring in wide planks.
Oak, pecan, hickory, pine, and walnut all stand up well to hand scraping, and they are some of the most popular wood choices. Maple and teak, however, are hard to work with and do not look as appealing to the eye when distressed. While some of the more exotic species of wood are difficult to scrape, it is not so hard for the bamboo which is used to make bamboo floors.
Benefits of Handscraped Hardwood Flooring
There are a few benefits to handscraped hardwood flooring.
- Easy to maintain: Handscraped wood flooring is great for concealing dust, dirt, pet hair, and other small debris. This means less time spent cleaning your floors. The grooves remain shallow, making it easy to sweep the floor clean. Carpets are harder to keep clean and flooring experts agree. Whether you use solid hardwood, engineered wood, or luxury vinyl tile, you can remove dust using minimal effort and spills are easy to mop up.
- Durability: Handscraped wood flooring is good for pet owners and families with small children and it is a great option for high traffic areas. It makes normal wear and tear less stressful when small marks and dents are made by the traffic on the flooring. Handscraped hardwood enhances in its beauty year after with added scratches and markings.
- Unique Appearance: Handscraped flooring adds character to your home. It is visually appealing and pleasing to the eye. Scraped floors give an authentic, rustic look and feel. With changing light levels, the uneven surface of the wood presents changes in its appearance. Property-owners who love a historic appearance will love handscraped hardwood flooring.
- Environment Friendly: The natural beauty that is the handscraped hardwood flooring is environmentally friendly. It is manufactured from natural wood harvested from trees in areas where new trees are always being planted. The strips of wood come in different thicknesses too, which is important, depending on the traffic in the area where your hardwood flooring will be installed. Wood strips can be as thin as 1/4 inch.
- Anti-Scratch Finish: Handscraped hardwood flooring usually comes with a durable finish designed to last for decades. This anti-scratch finish helps protect your floors from wear and tear and prevents you from having to refinish your wooden floors frequently. After the initial 20 years have passed, you can screen and re-coat handscraped hardwood floors to revitalize them without having to deal with sanding or refinishing.
Handscraped flooring goes in and out of style but that does not change the fact that it is a beautiful and unique and timeless look. Hiring a professional for the installation of handscraped hardwood flooring is a must because the process to install the flooring can be challenging. The flooring experts at Supreme Hardwood Flooring Inc. has the experience and technical skills needed to install your flooring at the highest standard. Contact us to find out how we can get you the hardwood flooring you need.
