Hardwood floors come in different designs, colours, and textures. Each hardwood floor comes with a unique set of pros and cons. With these pros and cons in mind, choosing between two hardwood floors can suddenly become a tough decision.
Amid many hardwood floors, two that are presently increasing in popularity are hand scraped, and wire brushed flooring. There’s a close relationship between hand scraped and wire brushed flooring regarding appearance, benefits, and functionalities.
Realistically, if a contractor shows you a sample of hand-scraped flooring and another wire brushed option, you may get confused. Except they have different colours, they’ll look the same.
But, while there are similarities between hand scraped and wire brushed floors, they aren’t the same. Key differences exist between both flooring options and can determine which is ideal for you
This guide will describe both wire brushed and hand-scraped options clearly. After that, we’ll explore the differences between the two options and help you decide on the ideal choice.
What is Hand Scraped Flooring?
A few years ago, the most common types of hardwood floors around were the glossy ones. While the shiny floors may be aesthetically pleasing, they can sometimes be dangerous in a home.
Hand scraped flooring describes wood floor that undergoes a scraping process after its finishing. The scraping process produces a base with a natural and rustic feature. It sits well in any home, regardless of the interior design.
Hand scraped floors may be gaining a wide reputation now, but that doesn’t make it a new concept. The idea of hand-scraping has existed for many years.
If a flooring manufacturer wanted to make a floor back in the day, they had to cut with a saw manually. Today, there are electrical saws that make the job easy. Since the sawing process isn’t automatic, you can’t expect a perfect result. However, when it comes to flooring, you want perfection.
To achieve perfection, floor producers use their hands and various instruments to scrape the imperfect parts of the wood. By doing so, they can at least make the floor have a uniform look. This scraping process has become the go-to for creating hand scraped floor designs.
Pros of Hand Scraped Flooring
Most homeowners want their flooring to at least look beautiful before they start to consider other features. Luckily, both hand scraped, and wire brushed flooring are beautiful.
But it’s not just about aesthetics. Hand scraped flooring comes with benefits like durability and scratch resistance. Here, we’ll take a closer look at these benefits:
Beautiful Appearance
The first feature, but not the most important feature you want for your floor is beauty. For other hardwoods, their beauty relies heavily on the smooth and glossy finish. But for hand scraped hardwood, there’s no smooth finish. Yet, hand scraped floors offer aesthetic appeal thanks to their natural rustic look.
The beauty comes from the specific and detailed hand scraping process the wood undergoes. Some hand scraped wood comes with a 3D scraping design on each plank. This scraping process gives each plank a unique look and a fantastic pattern.
During the hand scraping process, each plank on the floor will have a different look. This makes the design unique and suitable for any interior.
Durability
Like it or not, changing your floor or installing a new one isn’t a cheap investment. You’ll spend a lot of money, and it’s an investment nobody wants to make frequently. Therefore, the ability of a floor to last for a long time is important.
With hand scraped flooring, you don’t have any worries over durability. The choice of wood and the installation process of hand scraped wood make it a strong option.
Understandably, you may worry about the high traffic in your home due to kids and pets. But when you choose wood with an excellent Janka rating, you’re good to go. Your hand scraped floor can last for more than two decades with minimal maintenance.
Scratch resistance
It’s okay to be in love with smooth and clean finishes, but you have to understand the consequences. When a floor has a smooth finish, it’s attractive for the first couple of years. As time goes by, shoes, pets, kids, and other factors will cause scratches on the floor.
When these scratches occur, your smoothly finished floor loses its beauty. The most used parts will look rough and rusty. On the other hand, the seldom-used parts will remain beautiful — giving your flooring an imperfect look.
With hand scraped floors, you already have a unique design where no plank has the same look. When scratches occur, the hand scraped design will hide them.
Easy maintenance
Maintenance is one of the most critical parts of flooring. If your floor requires regular maintenance, you have to find time to do it. If you don’t, you’ll soon need to replace the floor. That’s why you need floors that are easy to maintain.
Fortunately, hand-scraped floors don’t require very complex maintenance. Simply sweep the floor with a broom at intervals, maybe weekly. Every month, use a mop with some soap to clean the floor. Hand-scraped floors do not stress you, unlike some other floors where you need specific soaps and cleaning methods.
Liveable qualities
Apart from beauty, strength, and durability, the liveable property of a floor is very important. Hand-scraped floors are very liveable!
If you have a large family, the floor comes with the required strength to withstand foot traffic. Likewise, the floor surface is rough, so there’s more friction to prevent the old and young from slipping.
Related Article: What is Wire Brushed Flooring?
Cons of Hand Scraped Flooring
While there are advantages, hand scraped floors also have some disadvantages. These disadvantages usually come into play when a debate of hand scraped vs wire brushed floors is ongoing. Some of the disadvantages of hand scraped floors includes;
High cost
Irrespective of the kind of hardwood you choose, changing your hardwood floor isn’t cheap. But hand scraped wood ranks high in terms of cost. Other wood floors with smooth finishes are usually more affordable than hand scraped floors.
You can blame the production process of hand scraped wood for its high prices. Other wood flooring options have a manufacturing process that relies on machines. Therefore, producing these woods is easy and quick — allowing bulk production.
For hand scraped wood, you can only use machines to cut the wood. The hand scraping process needs manpower, and it’s a process you can’t rush. That’s why the prices are high.
Complex installation
There are some hardwood floors you can install by yourself. Even if you have never done any handy job before, a few tutorial videos will get you through. The reverse is the case for handscraped flooring. With hand-scraped wood floors, you always need the intervention of experts.
What is Wire Brushed Flooring?
In this comparison between hand scraped and wire brushed floors, we have to define what wire brushed floors mean. Wire brushed floors are similar to hand-scraped floors in many ways. One of these many ways is the extra finishing step after the manufacturing process.
But this time around, there’s no hand scraping. Instead, the manufacturer will use a brush with hard bristles to brush the surface during the production, leaving the flooring with a rustic look.
The brushing process removes the soft topmost part of the wood. The hardwood below and the grains from the removed wood are left behind, giving the floor a unique look and design.
Many people easily mistake wire brushed hardwood for reclaimed wood while others think it’s hand scraped wood. While there are similarities, wire brushed woods have their own features, pros, functions, and cons.
Pros of Wire Brushed Flooring
The top benefits of installing a wire brushed floor include:
Great appearance
We all know how important it is to have a good floor in the home. But it’s also vital that your chosen floor adds beauty to your home. Most people agree that wire brushed floors have great aesthetics.
This wood type gives your home a natural look thanks to the rustic design that comes from its unique finish. As the brush passes through and removes the top wood, it leaves grains behind. The way the grains sit on this wood is unique because they’re more evident. If you have eyes on a rustic design for your home, wire brushed hardwood floors are a great option.
Scratch Resistance
Generally, the most common wood used for floors in homes is smooth wood. While this type of wood is a good option, you may not like it over time. Whether you stay alone or you live with a large family, there’s no way your smooth flooring wouldn’t scratch.
With a wire brushed floor, you already have a rough surface with distinctive designs. These designs will hide scratches. Even when there’s a big scratch, it’ll seem like a part of the flooring’s original design.
Highly Durable
Durability is an essential factor that should influence your flooring choices. If it’s not durable, you’ll have to change the floor in a few years. The production process of wire brushed floors increases their strength.
During the production of wire brushed wood, the brush removes the softer part of the wood, leaving only its grains and the hardwood below. This makes the wire brushed floor extra strong.
Therefore, if you have a large family or pets, this floor is just right for you. Likewise, if you have large machines in your home, this floor option works perfectly.
Easy to Maintain
We’ll give you one free piece of advice; never pick a wood floor that will require complex maintenance processes. Not only are you stressing yourself, but you will also end up frustrated. Maintenance for your floors should be a routine process, not frequent.
For instance, in the case of wire brushed wood, you don’t need too much maintenance. Simple sweeping and mopping techniques are more than enough to keep it clean and fresh.
Cons of Wire Brushed Flooring
Wire brushed floors are a great option for hardwood flooring. But despite their outstanding qualities, they have some disadvantages. Some of the disadvantages of wire brushed floors include;
Complex Installation Procedures
Except you have hands-on experience installing wire brushed floors, you shouldn’t try to install them yourself. Mostly, it’s best if you call an expert to help with the installation. Of course, it will cost you some money, but it’s the best option.
Cleaning Difficulty
While wire brushed floors resist scratches, they can sometimes be difficult to clean. The top wood exposes the grains, and if dirt gets in between them, you’ll have a harder time cleaning the floor.
High cost
Typically, hardwood flooring isn’t cheap. Flooring your home usually ranks as a considerable investment. But if we compare wire brushed floors with others, the prices are on the high side.
Differences between Hand Scraped Flooring and Wire Brushed Flooring
If you have been reading correctly, you’ll notice many similarities between hand scraped, and wire brushed floors. However, they aren’t the same. Some of the differences are;
Texture
Hand scraped and wire brushed floors both have rough surfaces, but not the same. Hand scraped flooring has its scraped areas in straight lines. On the other hand, Wire brushed floors have a grainy design, with the grains staying in a straight line.
Durability
Both wire brushed, and hand scraped wood floors are durable. But in comparison, wire brushed hardwood floors are more durable than hand scraped options. The reason is simple. The top wood in the wire brushed floor is absent, leaving the user with strong hardwood.
Cost
Most of the time, the production and installation of hand scraped flooring needs multiple hands. The amount of manpower involved is why the cost of hand scraped floors are high when compared to wire brushed flooring. Wire brushed flooring is a cheaper option because brushing is an easier task than scraping. And cheaper labour always means more affordable prices.
Damage Resistance
Both wire brushed, and hand scraped floors do well when it comes to scratch resistance. But wire brushed wood performs better because they have a grain-like design and a hardwood layer.
Related Article: What is the Cost to Refinish Hardwood Floors?
Final Thoughts
The differences between hand scraped, and wire brushed floors are not as many as the similarities. That explains why many people mistake both wood flooring options for the other. While hand-scraped and wire brushed floors are great options, the latter has a slight edge.
If you’re looking to enjoy the best of your flooring, a professional contractor should handle the project from production to installation. Here at LV Flooring, we have experts with experience making and installing wire brushed floors. Check out our online store for different wire brushed flooring options today!
