Why Choose Hand-scraped Hardwood Floors?
If you are considering installing new floors in your home or office, hardwood flooring is a popular option. While there are many varieties of hardwood and hardwood laminate flooring, many people prefer the aged look of hand-scraped hardwood floors. Does this Spark an idea?
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What is Hand-scraping?
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As the name implies, hand-scraped hardwood floors are created by hand by a craftsman using a variety of tools and techniques to achieve an aged, distressed look. One hand-scraping technique involves gauging or scraping with a tool such as a wire brush to bring out the wood's natural grain. Other methods involve using different colors of stain to obtain an antique look, sanding the floor unevenly to create patterns or leaving visible saw marks between or on planks. The most skilled of hand-scrapers can make a new wood floor appear to be hundreds of years old, complete with wormholes and other features normally only found in the original wood flooring of old homes.
Some companies offer floors that are scraped by a machine instead of by hand, but these floors lose the customized look because the markings and stains will have a pattern instead of being random.
Customized Beauty
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If you purchase hand-scraped hardwood flooring, you can determine exactly how distressed or marked your floor will be, creating your own custom look. If you want it to look like the wood has been in your house for a century or more, you can have wear patterns sanded or marked into the floor along common travel paths, such as in hallways or near stairways. With all of options available, you can be sure your floor will be uniquely suited to you and you won't see the same floor next door.
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Durability
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Because hand-scraped floors already have marks, scrapes and wear patterns in them, some of the stress of purchasing hardwood floors is eliminated. You won't be nearly as worried about a toddler throwing toys, a rambunctious pet running on it or even dropping a dinner plate. Any additional markings that you create through everyday life will just add more character to the floor, not damage or ruin it.
How to Buy
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Hand-scraping techniques can be used on both hardwood and hardwood laminate flooring, so be sure to determine which type is best for the climate where you live before making your purchase. Several flooring manufacturers offer both hardwood and hardwood laminate hand-scraped floors. You might want to start with Armstrong and Shaw, which are sold in flooring stores nationwide. Because of the extra time and money it takes to create the distressing and markings on these floors, the price per square foot will be higher than other options you will see. But the timeless, custom look they bring to any room makes them worth the extra money.
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