Prefab handscraped hardwood floors vs. actual handscraped hardwoof floors -

Marie Sanderson
by Marie Sanderson
does anyone have any experience with this? We are debating on putting down the wood floore that is handscrpated and finished in the factor and shipped in planks vs. the floors being handscraped at out home. The process is the same minus the handscraping and fnish.
  3 answers
  • The quality of the higher end pre scraped planks are much better then anything you can get if you finish them yourself. However a good quality oil stain on a DIY hand scraped floor works really well also. My personal selection would be to purchase a high end pre scraped and finished floor.
  • KMS Woodworks KMS Woodworks on Mar 23, 2013
    Actually the process is not the same. Flooring that is purchased as "pre scraped" typically has a better more consistent finish. In most cased this is a ceramic oxide type finish, which is a bit more durable than the basic finish applied "in house". You will also have the "look" being different. Planks that are scraped in the factory are scrapped as individual planks, then finished. When these are installed the edges and ends will have a more random pattern. Flooring that is installed THEN scrpped will have the scrap pattern cross one or more board joints. Clearly showing it was scrapped "inhouse". Factory "hand scraped" is often "machine" scraped as this is in a production factrory environment. The "hand" scraping in house generally is actual hand work...so there is an added cost for labor. The look of hand scrapped is a "fashion" tend and may or may not be in style over the life of the floor. This process is also something that reduces the over all life of the floor. The scrapping process removes relatively large bits of wood. And in the future if the homeowner wants a smooth floor, then level of sanding is much greater to make it all smooth. This removes more wood than a basic sanding. The durability of a floor varies by the wood itself and the finish that is applied. Check out this article I wrote on floor finishes. http://www.networx.com/article/exotic-wood-floor-finishes-you-havent-s and a blog post I did on bamboo and wood durability http://kmswoodworks.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/the-great-green-washing-of-bamboo-flooring/ My hands down favorite is a good dense wood like Jatoba finished with a penetrating oil finish. This is what I used in my master suite. As seen in this pic http://www.flickr.com/photos/kmswoodworks/4497266296/in/set-72157623787645678
  • Marie Sanderson Marie Sanderson on Mar 25, 2013
    Thank you for your replies. Very helpful information.