I like the idea of hand scraped floors and love how they look in pictures. Unfortunately where I live, the ones I have seen up close have a plastic sheen to them that I don't care for. I guess the finish has to be extra thick to fill in the scrapes.

If the floors are contrary to the style of your home, you run the risk of the avocado appliance syndrome. We talk about this a lot on the decorating forum. If you're doing the style of the moment and using it out of context, it is going to date much more quickly. Think 90's Tuscan in a New England cape.

This post was edited by deee on Mon, Jun 17, 13 at 13:22

Part of the appeal of wood flooring is its timelessness. I don't think the hand scraped product floors that are so popular now fall into that category. In fact I think they will date and like deee said above, could become like avocado appliances. Not only that but they can be difficult with things like end tables and such that can get wobbly.

Not for me.

I won't repeat all of what I said over in the flooring forum (I think they're horrid), but think also what happens when you go to refinish the floor.

Maybe it depends on the look you are going for, the type of house it will be in?

The hardware store here in town has what appears to be hand-scraped flooring, although I suspect that it is authentically old and beat up. I doubt that it has ever been cleaned or refinished. The entire store is old (I think about 100 years old), so the ancient floor adds to the character of the place. Perhaps hand-scraped flooring is a trend, but if it's one that actually works with the character of your house, why not go for it?

Thousands of Chinese will eventually become unemployed.

Anytime you have the dollar and dime builders buying it for their spec houses, the trend is over. Anytime the original expensive authentic product has a $3 Chinese knockoff, the trend is over. Any time you realize that such a "unique" product isn't so unique and is in millions and millions of home, the trend is over.

Be a rebel. Put in 2 1/2" domestic oak. :)

If it some kind of salvaged flooring that is handscraped, that's one thing, but I am not really a fan of most newly manufactured "handscraped" solid or engineered flooring.

Even the solid wood version has a somewhat "artificial" look, in my opinion. And in a new build that looks new overall and is not trying to look historic, I think it is a very specific and trendy look. I would probably go for something more ordinary for longevity and if you want to do something trendy do this with something that can easily be changed if you tire of it later.

That ship has already sailed. If you want in on the cusp of a trend, go light, smooth, and narrow. Like a maple gym floor. Dark, rough, and wide is in all of the discount builder's stores. Once that happens, it's declasse.

Of course, if you prefer to not chase a trend at all, put in a plain jane oak that's not too dark or too light.

I'm not a fan of the Chinese or machine made "handscraped" flooring and don't like shiny either. DD2 has Anderson's Hickory Forge flooring (Ringing Anvil stain/color) and it is gorgeous. Since it's truly done by hand, there is not machine look. Each board is different. She installed it about 4 years ago, has 4 dogs, 2 cats and an almost 2yo. Not a scratch.

It is made in a program Anderson has with a South Carolina prison system. IOW, inmates work and get paid. Part of the money they earn goes toward their restitution. Here is an article about this: ARTICLE

It's not inexpensive, so not used by Dollar Store home builders (or whatever it was the previous poster called them).

Here is a link that might be useful: GW Thread with Picutres - DD2 and others

I cannot comment on trend, nor do I care about the trend; however, I can comment on my experience.

My floors are hand-scraped, and I would do hand-scraped again. I didn't want to worry about my dogs scratching the floor, dropping things, etc. Even if we have created scratches, I can't tell. By contrast, I have a family member with regular wood flooring that shows every single mar. I don't go out of my way to notice, but they complain about it every chance they get. (I realize this is a n=1 study. I'm sure there are harder woods that don't show as much abuse, right?)

RE: cleaning... they are easier to clean that my tiles w/ grout. There really isn't anywhere for dirt to get stuck.... perhaps there is other flooring with more nooks and crannies, but it is a nonissue here.

What I wouldn't do a second time is a floor as dark as what we got (and mine are probably "medium dark" like the OP is considering. The medium floors we wanted were out of stock at the last minute, so we had to scramble. oops) While I don't mind cleaning regularly for the sake of my dust allergies, I don't really like seeing shoe prints immediately.... I would try my best to match any future floors to the color of our local dirt to avoid that.

We have maple handscraped floors in our current home and had it in our last house as well. We love them, they look great, dents and the odd scratch blend in. In our newest build we most likely will be putting in a brushed oak floor with no sheen. Just trying to decide if we will go darker or lighter.

We've chosen 3/4" thk x 4" wide solid white oak, site finished, for our impending build.
We sure hope that's okay with the trendsetters; we'd hate to be shunned or something.

lol FmrQuahog...

I can really see the advantage of hand scraped flooring b/c it hides scratches, etc. so easily.

If it's a trend that will soon be outdated, so? If it isn't a horrible trend like the avocado appliance trend - is it? - then why does it matter? It isn't usually economically feasible to replace things in your house just b/c they become outdated. Why not just buy/use what you like and screw the "important" information from the designers (no offense to the designers in our midst).

well stated, gladys! :-)

The machine-patterned imitation "scraped" that costs more than a smooth floor, certainly not! If it's to maintain the historical integrity of a home and scraped with skilled hands, I can see it.

Myself, I'd rather do a really nice strip oak, and add the savings to the best rug and furniture that are sitting on top.

We have the handscraped and we got it because DH likes it. I didn't HAVE to have it and there was a part of me that did not like the "trendy" aspect. But there is nothing ugly about our floors :) You can't please everyone, so just please yourself.