Are you stuck between choosing the type of hardwood floor you want? You can go for a smooth floor that provides a sleek and premium look, or you could go for a hand-scraped flooring that makes your house look rugged and antique, but is that the only difference?
Hand-scraped and smooth floors are almost the same, except for their surface texture. Hand-scraped flooring looks like it is hand scrapped, while smooth flooring looks smooth.
According to artemunde, a company that deals in flooring in the United States, smooth floors are returning. The demand for hand-scraped wood floors is stable, says hardwoodfloorsmag.com. These floors may not be as popular as engineered wood or wide planks, but they still have a market share.
Aside from the visual differences, the type of hardwood you select between these two can change the maintenance required for the floor. It can also affect some qualities of the hardwood and possibly add some benefits to the hardwood floor.
Before we get deeper, let’s start with the basics.
What Are Hand-Scraped Hardwood Floors?
A hand-scraped hardwood floor is a wood floor that has been intentionally made to look classic, worn-out, and aged. It gives the house a different environment visually and fits in with different decors. People pick hand-scraped wood floors so their house can be unique and different from the norm.
Did you know that the technique used to make hand-scraped hardwood floors dates way before the invention of mechanical woodworking tools?
One could call it ironic that the hand-scraping method was originally used to make the wood look more even and regular, but now it is used to make the wood more irregular and uneven. These days, the method of hand-scraping is also done by machines instead of hands.
Hand-scraped wooden floors provide you with an aged, worn look that suggests that your floor has real heritage and past. The finish of the hand-scraped floors also suggests that the floor has survived a story to tell. Both these suggestions only add to the charm of owning a hand-scraped wood floor.
Like any hardwood floor, hand-scraped floors get scratches, too, but the hand-scraped surface hides them nicely.
The technique of hand-scraping can be used on solid hardwood, as well as engineered hardwood.
Hand-scraped floors are expensive; that’s why manufacturers use machines to distress and make hand-scraped planks. However, due to the machine usage, the pattern remains the same in every plank. So, be careful you’re buying hand-scraped planks. Though you may think they are hand-scraped, they are actually machine-scraped.
Now that we know the origin of hand-scraped hardwood floors, let’s learn about smooth hardwood floors.
What Are Smooth Hardwood Floors?
As the name suggests, smooth hardwood floors are…smooth. They are refined, beautiful, luster, lively, and visually pleasing. These floors are most sought after since the old times. The hand-scraping technique, in a sense, was made to make the wood smooth and level.
Floors made from smooth woods generally have smooth surfaces. For these floors, birch, maple, and oak are popular woods based on the Janka-hardness scale.
Wood, when lumbered in the forest, is given a grade out of four grades. The four grades being; Prime, Select, Natural, and Rustic. Smooth hardwood floors come under the prime grade. Prime grade is the highest grade for wood flooring since the wood is generally very uniform with very few knots.
A prime-grade wood flooring will have low sap content, lesser color variations, and very few knots. The surface of the wood will be very uniform with looks of pure smoothness.
These floors can be made from solid wood or engineered wood. In addition, they are available in dark or light shades.
We know that the pros and cons of smooth surface wood floors are the same as solid wood floors. The question is whether hand-scraped flooring can offer you more benefits than this? If it can, are the cons going to overpower the pros?
Hand-Scraped Hardwood Flooring Pros and Cons
Hand-scraped flooring offers you a vintage look of heritage, but that is not all it offers. There are several benefits to owning a hand-scraped hardwood floor.
Pros
Aesthetic
Hand-scraped floors add character to any room and create a sense of warmth and a feeling of heritage with an appearance that you will not find anywhere else.
The irregularities of the floor suggest wood culled straight from the forests, delivering you a suitable look for all decor and themes.
Moreover, you can make hand-scraped from any wood species and color. Even though softer woods like maple and oak tend to be easier to scrape, tougher woods like bamboo are becoming popular for scraped flooring.
Anti-Scratch Finish
Hand-scraped wood floors come with a durable anti-scratch finish that is guaranteed to last you two decades. This eliminates the need for refinishing, sanding, re-sealing, or recoating for a minimum of twenty years.
After twenty years have passed, you can opt-in for recoating and screening, but chances are you may not need it.
Cons
Sure, there are benefits to having hand-scraped wood floors, but there are some cons when compared to smooth hardwood floors.
Colors
Once you go for a hand-scraped hardwood floor and sealant that lasts for two decades, you cannot change colors. Understandably, you do not have to do a thing for twenty years to keep your floors looking perfect due to the finish, but when the desire for a color change arises, it would be impossible to sand and paint it without losing the scraping.
We are now aware of both the pros and cons of hand-scraped flooring, and we know that it is expensive, but how expensive?
Cost of Hand-Scraped Hardwood Flooring
- Purchasing a hand-scraped hardwood floor will cost you anywhere between $10 to $25 per square foot depending on the species.
- Domestic species will be less expensive, around $10 to $14 per square foot.
- Hiring a professional to do hand-scraping on an existing floor will cost you $3 to $8 per square foot.
- Installing a new hand-scraped floor will cost you $3 to $5 per square foot, and removal of the old floor will cost you $1 to $4 per square foot.
There’s still more to learn, we have individually learned about hand-scraped hardwood flooring, but we have yet to compare them to smooth hardwood flooring.
The Comparison
Resale Value
Indeed, a hand-scraped hardwood floor or any wood floor for that matter will increase the resale value of your home. Perhaps, a hand-scraped wood floor will have a higher resale value than a smooth hardwood floor, but how many people would be willing to buy a hand-scraped hardwood flooring?
It’s hard to resell a hand-scraped hardwood flooring. The risk with owning a hand-scraped floor is that you may never get your investment back; on the contrary, smooth hardwood floors are easier to sell on the market.
Sure, you have a unique house that has no equal in terms of beauty, uniqueness, and vintage styling; not every homeowner on the market will share the same qualities in their desired new house.
This is one of the most important cons as every homeowner is susceptible to a situation where they might have to sell their house at some point, and when the time comes, there may not be many interested buyers of hand-scraped hardwood flooring.
| Hand-scraped hardwood floor | Smooth hardwood floor |
| ❌Loser | ✅Winner |
Durability
Hand-scraped hardwood floors provide you with extended durability. As the state of the wood is made to look worn-out and aged, any unintentional scratches on the floor will blend in with the intentional irregularities of the floor.
This means that you can have kids, pets, and normal day-to-day wear and tear on your hand-scraped wood floor with no worries; in fact, the wear and tear may even enhance the look of the floor.
Scratches, dirt, and debris can be disguised on a hand-scraped hardwood floor, but that also means that it may be harder to get them out. Sure, you can leave them on the floor as it won’t be noticed, but you still have an obligation to maintain your floors.
On the contrary, smooth wood floors are flat and easier to sweep, dirt and debris will not stick around for a long time. However, it should be noted that hand-scraped wood floors come with an amazing anti-scratch finish that lasts twenty years.
One more considerable benefit of owning a hand-scraped hardwood floor is that you will not have to invest in any rug. You can still purchase rugs to extend the lifespan of your floor, but you need not worry that accidents and damages will ruin your floor.
| Hand-scraped hardwood floor | Smooth hardwood floor |
| ✅Winner | ❌Loser |
Refinishing
While we know that you will most likely not need to refinish your hand-scraped hardwood flooring, you should also be aware that the hand-scraped hardwood flooring cannot be refinished.
Once the time of twenty years has passed, you will be left with the dilemma; sanding will scrape away the irregularities and make the floor smoother. Instead, you can avoid this by going for screening and re-coating, a procedure that can refurbish the old wood without removing it.
Screening and re-coating can be done many times, but there will come a time when you might have to go for a refinish.
| Hand-scraped hardwood floor | Smooth hardwood floor |
| ❌Loser | ✅Winner |
Lifespan
Even with the two-decade anti-scratch finish of the hand-scraped wood floor, the clear victory goes to smooth hardwood floors. There is but one reason; refinishing.
The lifespan of a solid wood floor can reach up to 50 to 70 years, or even 100 years, provided you have them refinished from time to time.
Unfortunately, a hand-scraped wood floor cannot be refinished without the loss of scraping, and once the scraping is off, it will be nothing but a smooth hardwood floor that you paid extra for.
| Hand-scraped hardwood floor | Smooth hardwood floor |
| ❌Loser | ✅Winner |
Maintenance
It is easy to sweep the dirt off smooth hardwood floors, but that does not mean that these floors are low-maintenance than hand-scraped hardwood floors.
One huge benefit of hand-scraped floors is the time you save by not spending time on maintaining them. These floors require basic cleaning from time to time, but you do not have to clean them extensively.
Being able to disguise scratches and other damages on your hand-scraped hardwood flooring while eliminating the cost of refinishing or repairs is a considerable advantage.
Pet hair, dirt, and debris can also hide under the look of the floor, allowing you to sweep less often. Hand-scraped hardwood is easier to clean than carpets.
| Hand-scraped hardwood floor | Smooth hardwood floor |
| ✅Winner | ❌Loser |
Cost
This might be one of the biggest cons of hand-scraped hardwood floors. It can cost you upwards of 20% than a smooth hardwood floor. The manufacturing process of these floors is very time-consuming and costly.
Let’s check a real comparison. The below screenshots are taken from Wayfair.com, a reputed company that sells flooring.
As you can see, every specification is the same except for the surface texture. Hand-scraped flooring is more expensive per square foot than smooth flooring.
There are many different techniques to produce hardwood floors, but since hand-scraped hardwood is unique, it requires a specialized technique. Some companies may even hire artisans to do the work from start to finish, resulting in a higher cost due to the manufacturing chain.
| Hand-scraped hardwood floor | Smooth hardwood floor |
| ❌Loser | ✅Winner |
You May Not Get What You Paid for
When you are shopping for hand-scraped hardwood flooring, you may pay a premium to receive one. However, you cannot be sure your “hand-scraped” hardwood floors are actually hand-scraped and not machine-distressed.
This may be a problem to some, and the workaround would be to buy a solid hardwood floor and scrape it yourself, but that could prove to be a tough and tedious task. If you try to scrape an engineered wood, you may scrape through the veneer.
The only way to differentiate between a hand-scraped and machine-distressed hardwood floor is by the quality of each plank. Hand-scraped wood will have unique scrapes on every plank, whereas machine-distressed wood will follow the same pattern throughout the planks.
| Hand-scraped hardwood floor | Smooth hardwood floor |
| ❌Loser | ✅Winner |
Are Hand-Scraped Hardwood Floors Worth It?
Well, with the comparison above, it is quite easy to understand that the worth of hand-scraped hardwood floors lies entirely on you. If you are the type of person to rock a unique look and break the norm and reap the benefits of low maintenance, extended durability, and unparalleled looks, go for it.
However, smooth surface floors have most of the advantages.
You don’t need hand-scraped hardwood floors, but you want them.
Conclusion
Hand-scraped or smooth, both the flooring are worth it provided you want them. Both the floorings will accomplish what’s to be expected from them. You can pick between a beautiful, sleek, and luster house or a house that is unique, aesthetic, and vintage.
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