wavy look to engineered hard wood floor

11 years ago

The flooring store is showing me engineered wood flooring that has a slight wavy look to it He say that this type of finish help to camoflage any scratches and or dents. I don't know what to think of this look. I have an open floor plan,and the wood floor will cover the downstairs to include the family room, dining room, and living room. Though the dining room and living room are not super formal and fussy, it is not casual. Does type of look, look good in any setting?

Your opinions are very much appreciated. If possible, for those who have this type of floor could you include a photo?

Thanks for your help.

Featured Answer

rwiegand

11 years ago

Whether finished by machine or hand, if you can see wavy unevenness it was a poor job. The notion that a surface produced by someone who doesn't know how to get a smooth, flat surface with a plane or scraper represents "craftsmanship" is absurd. The point of a hand planed/scraped surface is that the grain of the wood is cleanly cut rather than crushed and frayed with sandpaper resulting in improved clarity and depth of the finished appearance. IMO it's overkill for a floor, given that even a small tabletop can take several hours to get right.

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Comments (9)

ksd51
Original Author
11 years ago
For further clarification , the back of the sample board says "hand scraped and shaped" Perhaps that is how the wavy look is described. Either way, I don't know if I like it. What are your opinions? I guess I am just used to a floor that does not have this "wavy" look. Thanks for your help.
idrive65
11 years ago
I'm not a fan of "hand scraped" look flooring unless it's the real deal, i.e. scraped and sanded by hand. The machine made engineered varieties have a regularness of pattern that doesn't appeal to me.

If you don't like the samples, you won't like it when you have it all over your house. :)
scotttyb
11 years ago
Hello, I don't personally have "Handscraped" wood floors in our home at the moment, but hoping to install some soon. I personally love that uneven, wavy look. I associate it was a high end look. I think 4" wide or wider is nice as well. I've never heard anyone mention that having them handscraped helps it hide scratches and such, but I guess it could a little. I don't really think there is any real purpose for it, other than people like the way it looks. I'm currently leaning toward some 5" wide Handscraped Natural Hickory Engineered flooring myself. Hickory is about the hardest domestic wood, which is one of the reasons I'm considering it. Sorry I don't have my own floor to show you, but hopefully will soon.

ScottyB
scotttyb
11 years ago
By the way, the flooring I'm looking at, they actually do the hand scraping by hand. It is a company in Austin, TX called hardwoodbargains.com. Here is what they say on their facebook page:
All of our handscraped floors are truly scraped by hand. Most "handscraped" floors on the market today are done by machine which simply makes the same repetitive pattern on every plank.

ScottyB
glennsfc
11 years ago
The "wavy-look" hand scraped looks intentional and fake to me...I didn't like it from the first time I saw a sample. There are selections in the marketplace that have a distressed-look that I like better.
User
11 years ago
Trendy and you can't ever refinish it or you lose the look. Why pay extra for that?
glennsfc
11 years ago
I think by "wavy-look" is meant waves go with the direction of the board length and not the width, if I understand the poster's description correctly. Regardless, if it doesn't look natural, then I personally don't like it.
littlebug5
11 years ago
I saw some of this installed and it just looked goofy to me. I think "trendy" is the best way to describe it. It's hard to really tell what the intent of this look really is. It didn't look like real wood to me - it looked like something trying to look like wood.