"Distressed" hardwood floors

[Keeem]

I have handscraped hickory floors throughout most of my house. I LOVE IT. I didn't want the usual, standard smooth finish 2" oak that is so popular, I wanted something that had character and would wear well for our lifestyle. We don't wash our floors every other day, we drop things, we have animals that scratch, etc. We intentionally went this route so our floors would age with us in our home, and we would not be sanding and refinishing every few years.

As for wanting to see them in a larger scale in your area, call wood flooring specialists and ask for references. If they haven't done handscraped call someone else until you can get a reference to see it installed. I happily show off my floor to anyone who my flooring guy says is really interested. He did a great job and I am more than happy to let him get more work from the reference.

There is factory handscraped and true handscraped btw. Factory usually has patterns since it's done by machine and the patterns are pretty easy to spot, imo. If you're going to go to the expense get the real deal - either scraped by the flooring company or sent off for Amish people to do. There are different degrees of distressing you can choose when it's done by hand as well. When you find yourself smiling as you walk across the hallway and look at the character in the floor (really) you won't regret the extra cost

Here are some pics of the handscraped portions. This is hickory, estate length, wide planks (4", 6", 8") with a custom brownish-red layered stain and, later, hand wax.

[sbstlouis]

I am considering this hardwood for my home and I am wondering how you like it, does it show any wear and tear, were the boards cut straight, was install o.k. etc. Any help would be very appreciated.

Originally Posted by NewUser

Well, we ended up getting the hardwoods. They are a dark, rich, distressed "Manchurian Walnut" in 3/4" thick by 5" wide planks. Not sure where Manchuria is, but they got some dam fine looking trees there

We are putting this wood down in our family room, dining room, foyer, home office, and master bedroom, which are all on the ground floor. For the kitchen, powder room, and laundry room, which are also on the ground floor, we chose a 18"x18" glazed porcelain tile that looks like a filled and honed travertine. The color is a creamy beige.

[fisher33]

newuser - can you post some photos of your walnut floors? i would love to see them!!
thanks!

[Cosmic]

It seems to me like that idea of peeps buying blue jeans with holes cut in them and all raggy. Those never look like the real things either. For a few bucks I can sell them the real thing, totally worn, some even will have a bit of paint, stain or tar on them. Maybe some blood on a few.

So in a few years the fad will fade, do you want fake workingman's wood in your house. Really bad in a trendy modern junk house that tries to pretend in has a "History". About like them peeps that insist on wearing jeans that didn't earn the holes. The peeps wearing them didn't earn their stripes to be having holes. Least not as quick and painless as they got them.

If you really want to see real distressed stuff, go for the real thing. There is a furniture store I know of. In an old building. They drag heavy furniture around all the time, floor gets damaged. Some bright fellow decided rather than sand it all down proper, they would just refinish over the top. Probably been done a few times. Talk about distressed, puppy has taken a beating. And it is big, huge floors, beat up in different ways, in different spots and it is the real deal. Is any of it attractive? I don't think so, damaged is more like it. Makes me want to barf more than get some glow on. I sure ain't paying for anything like that.

Sounds like more builder psyche jobs to get peeps to pay more for crap. Hey, got to be cheaper than putting in the good stuff. If you have a condo in an old converted warehouse, then using the old floors in their original condition with a bit of clean up can be a nice touch. The floor is part of the history, it fits in the environment, it is the real deal. It always feels right. It has earned its stripes to be there.

A shrink would probably have a field day with some of the mentality behind a lot of this. Is it because peeps don't actually do any type of physical work any more? Do they have this burning desire to connect with an ancient past where real stuff was in houses but they want max comfort and no pain? Is it really a subconscious way of getting "Dirty Again" with workman like roots???? This raw desire to be "Natural" again like them ads on TV that show ideal farms that make this product. A way of connecting with that imagined past where men were men and they had the boots to prove it. Just try wearing boots like the old dazes and bringing any of that stuff in the house, on them like they did back in the old dazes. Distressed floors or no, I bet that gets the fur flying. Hey, we are just pretending to be poor working folk, we ain't living like them.

All this distressed stuff has more meaning for me in the subjective sense. Tells you more about the peeps that want it, than about the materials. It is a sort of "Fake" experience, just like so much of that goes with modern houses. The desire for illusion is very in vogue. But it is also so very fad. Next week the new way to experience the other side of the tracks will be fake cracked ceilings. That and maybe old hissing radiators that don't actually function but use some type of air pump on demand.

[Lmb812]

We're building a new house and will probably go for more of a distressed look. Right now we have Brazilian Cherry floors, and while they were gorgeous when they first went in, we have two cats with sharp claws and a big high energy dog with large heavy paws. The floors have taken a beating. Some of the scratches shallow and others are extremely deep. We can't have this again. We also happen to love the look of the distressed floors. We're probably going to do something like this: Photo Gallery (http://www.somersetfloors.com/images/GALLERY_CC/Ctry_Buttercup.htm - broken link). They are very cost effective, a little distressed but not enough to look like they need refinishing. For us, the high shine of the floors is what's really done us in.

[Hobokenkitchen]

My vote is yes for handscraped or reclaimed hardwood floors and an emphatic 'no' to factory created 'distressed' floors. You can see the difference from a mile away.