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Character/Distressed hardwood- solid vs. eningeered

14 years ago

I like the character or the slightly rustic wide plank floors (such as walnut random width) however I always thought I would go with solid wood, as that is what I have now. But all the retailers are telling me solid is pointless as it cannot be refinished if its a rustic look. What does everyone else get?

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Comments (5)

uniquewoodfloors
14 years ago
There is a tendency from flooring covering store sales people to recommend engineered wood flooring over solid lately. I guess it is mostly due to the price advantage over solid wood flooring. If you always like solid and price is not a too big issue for you, stay with solid idea. I like the Chelsea Plank Restoration solid in 3, 4, 5 and 6' width.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chelsea Plank
idrive65
14 years ago
I like the character or the slightly rustic wide plank floors (such as walnut random width) however I always thought I would go with solid wood, as that is what I have now. But all the retailers are telling me solid is pointless as it cannot be refinished if its a rustic look. What does everyone else get?

If by rustic you mean a hand-scraped finish, neither can engineered, so I'm not sure what the retailers mean by that? I have a solid wide board rustic floor, but not a hand-scraped finish. The "rustic" is in the form of knots, wormholes, color variations, etc.
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adh673
Original Author
14 years ago
I dont like handscrapped, I like the distressing more along the lines you mention- worn edges, wormholes, etc. I think the engineered is cheaper so they are saying, why buy solid wood since you can never refinish a floor with "character". I never thought about it up to that point.

What kind of floor do you have as it sounds like what I am looking for.
cloub
12 years ago
@idrive65... would you mind sharing what type of floor you have. I'm looking for rustic, but not handscraped. Thank you!
glennsfc
12 years ago
'Distressed' wood should never need refinishing, unless you beat it to death. Added dings, dents and minor scratching will fit right into the look of the thing. When you think it needs some kind of attention, you prepare it with the chemical cleaning solution made for the purpose and add a coat of a professional quality two-part waterborne polyurethane. Even the aluminum oxide coated products can be refreshed, but you have to do more in the way of preparation to get a topcoat of anything to stick. You use a product system designed for the purpose.

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