One question we hear a lot is about hand scraped flooring is if a customer can get them redone. These floors are special because they have a unique, old-time look. They make any room feel warm and full of character. But many customers ask us, "Can hand-scraped floors be refinished?"
This is an important question. It's kind of like asking if you can repaint an old, classic car to keep it looking new. People want to know if their beautiful floors can be fixed up if they get scratched or worn over time.
What Are Hand Scraped Hardwood Floors?
Hand scraped floors are hardwood flooring that has been scraped with a hand planer. Well, that's what they were in the beginning. Then, because of rising labor costs, some manufacturers started using a machine to do this. Those early machine floors looked horrible, leading other companies to produce floors that were a hybrid of machine- and actual hand-scraping. Today's better floors, like the Bruce American Scrape and Stovall Mill, utilize this method.
What Are The Benefits Of Hand Scraped Wood Flooring?
The truth is that any hardwood that is distressed, be it hand scraping or wire brushing, will last longer than a floor with a smooth surface. The reasoning for this is because a floor is structurally sounds for decades, but most people want to refresh or replace a worn out looking floor. The abrasive wear in the traffic patterns, as well as accidental gouges or scratches, a floor will collect over the years will show a loss of gloss level. It is this development over years of usage that lets you know that it is time to replace your hardwood. And while the aluminum oxide with polyurethane finish will prolong the lifetime of your floor by many years due to its resistance to scratches and abrasive wear, a texture on the wear layer will help to hide any change in appearance. So make sure you love your hardwood floors before you buy them, because you will have them for a very long time!
The other major benefit is the look of a hand scraped hardwood product. Many customers that I talk to think handscraped flooring is the best looking type of flooring that is on the market. Certainly it is a unique look, offering something different than the typical smooth finish.
What Does Refinishing Entail?
Refinishing, as opposed to sanding, a wood floor is easy, and can be done several times. When you refinish a wood floor you are only updating the polyurethane finish that is there now. You do this by scuffing the existing finish, then vacuuming the floor to remove the dust. Then apply one or more new layers of water-based polyurethane. You can see that the process required to refinish a wood floor is not complicated. After the wood floors in your home are refinished they will look new again.
How Much does It Cost To Refinish Hand Scraped Floors?
You can expect to pay between $3-10 square foot to refinish hand-scraped hardwood floors. The final price will depend on several different things that add cost to the refinish process. Is there furniture to be moved? Stairs that need finished? Will you use an expensive type of finish like Bona's Traffic or pick something inexpensive? All of these will contribute to the cost.
What Would Sanding Do To The Hand Scraping?
Sanding a wood floor that was installed in the 20th century was a common occurrence, because the old oil-based finishes scratched up easily. Since aluminum oxide entered the picture floors are seldom sanded. If they are, it is usually because of water damage. But I will answer the question, as it was asked.
What would sanding do to a hand scraped hardwood floor? It would convert it from a scraped hardwood to a smooth hardwood!
There are 2 reasons that you will never sand your hand scraped flooring: One, it will never need it. Sanding is what we do to repair a sick, ugly, hardwood floor, whether it is a solid or engineered hardwood. Handscraped floors will never exhibit the gouges and dents that make sanding necessary.
The other reason is because sanding is a guaranteed way to ruin your hand scraped floors.
If I was truly concerned about getting damage to my hand scraped hardwood floor I would take one full, unopened box of flooring and wrap it tightly in plastic. Then tape it up and put in in storage somewhere. Then, if something happens to damage a few boards, you can replace them. This is a much better option than sanding your hand-scraped floors.
How Can I Save Money On A New Hand-Scraped Hardwood Floor?
If you are looking to save money on hand scraped wood flooring, ReallyCheapFloors.com can help. We recently put together a program with our largest partner, Bruce Hardwood Flooring, to liquidate several truckloads per month of prefinished solid Hickory hardwood floors. Of the 6 special SKUs, two are hand scraped in the American Home lineup. In the photos below you can see what these floors offer in looks. However, their best feature is their value: only $3.99 square foot! To the best of my knowledge there is no first quality hand scarped hardwood floor in the USA for less than $6 a sq ft. And this Bruce product will be bouncing outta here cheap.
Please do not hesitate to call or email with any further questions, or if you would like to see a sample of one of our American Home products.
