Hand Bangin

I need some help and am looking for the pros to help me since I am a roofer and not a floor pro.

I am going to have hard woods installed in the 1st floor of my home approx 2100sf....I have had two different contractors out to provide me with estimates and both have quoted a different floor:

1) Mannington Hand Scraped
2) 5" Hand Scraped Woodmark

I do not know one from the other....can you guys please help? I am not looking to cut any corners and want it done correctly. On top of that i have two young boys and two dogs that are inside occasionally. (Is this durable flooring)

Thanks a bunch!!

dt

jaros bros.

The finish on a wood floor is going to be the most important protection. The wear layer on the hand scraped hardwood floors is so thin that you will at most get one refinishing out of it if you are lucky. But, the hand scraped flooring is all the rage right now. Why not go with a solid hardwood so that you can refinish or an engineered with a 3/16 wear layer on it? Depends on your tastes when it comes right down to it. I have not heard of Woodmark flooring. I did a google on it and the only thing that comes up is a vinyl flooring. Maybe it's a cheap Chinese knockoff, I don't know but research it. Maybe someone else has heard of Woodmark. At least the Mannington is a reputable company.

__________________
Josh Jaros www.jarosbros.com Remodeling in The Woodlands, Texas

mrwoodman

Handscraped wood flooring seems to be the style now like bleached floors were 10 years ago. Then as time pasted, you now see no pre-finished bleached floors available. I agree with jaros bros when he mentioned the top layer "finish" is important.
Let me add a few downsides to this:

• If you have animals and high traffic, the high edges of the wood will wear out the fastest and the dog will also get it's traction from that.
• When time to refinish, this may cost more because the finishers will have to sand all the high edges off to get to the lower wood. This may leave you with a flat smooth look. I'm sure there are other way to do this, but you may be digging deeper into you pocket.
• Also, stay away from dark colors. Dark colors seen to show the wear and tear much sooner. Natural colored wood in any species would be the best choice for long term maintenance.

If you proceed with the handscraped look, try to stay with the solid 3/4" thick material. You don't want to run across a refinishing problem with an engineered product.

Hope this helps, RT

ian@prosource

Everybody talks about re-finishing many years down the line, however after more than 25 years in the trade i can count on one hand the amount of times people have tried/done this.

I am not sure on the woodmark range, mannington is a good brand name, but compaired to other manufactures that we sell, mannington accounts for a very small %, not my first choice when people ask for wood flooring.

You say the contractors gave you estimates on two differant floors, did they chose/tender the floors or did you ask for them yourself.

A little bias here, but pop into your local ProSource store, they will have a very large range of wood flooring to choose from, often much more than most retailers and will give you advise on all the products and explain the pro's & con's of each one.

www.prosourcefloors.com

__________________
ian@prosurceab.ca
www.prosourcefloors.ca
11204-178st Edmonton Alberta Canada T5S 1P2
The views expressed are personal and should not be taken as offical ProSource floorcoverings policy

woodfloorpro

You can't realisticly refinish a hand scraped floor. Possibly if the scraping is very minor. You could sand all day with 36 grit paper and not get all the scraping out and the only way to insure adhesion is to sand to raw wood. Your best bet is to keep in mind that recoating is crucial so you don't have to sand. The new floor abrader was designed for that purpose but before that we had to physically abrade all low spots by hand. I don't know about the rest of the guys but I walk away from refinishing hand scraped flooring. So no matter what product you buy you must stay on top of the recoating. Hope this helps. Mike

Floordude

There are a couple of ways to refinish handscraped.

Tykote system

Clark sanders FA-8.

Your not going to bare wood with either

__________________
**Education is the key to success. Learn more, earn more.**
http://www.AustinFloorguy.com

Rkeister

You can screen and recoat these floors plenty of times. To do a full sand and refinish would defeat the purpose of purchasing the handscraped in the first place. Too many people purchasing a prefinished floor worry about sandings. Chances are you will never refinish them anyway, on that side of the business most people will just rip it up and put a new one in. (you will never get a better finish than the factory finish) If you are worried about sand and refinish then you should look into unfinished wood solid or engineered. You will end up with a cleaner look. Mannington makes some really awesome handscraped floors, another brand to consider is Anderson, Their floors are actually hand scraped by people not machines. I've watched them manufacture them and they are truly works of art.

woodfloorpro

True. Basic and Clarke have done a very good job designing these recoating methods.

Floordude

What your going to start seeing in Handscraped is finish wear on the high peaks, where foot traffic scuffs the edge. Natural clear coat it is not so bad to see, but some of these darker stained floors are going to become in real need of service, as they are finding out quickly in commercial applications.

Get out your stain pen and pray it matches!!!

__________________
**Education is the key to success. Learn more, earn more.**
http://www.AustinFloorguy.com

swequin

WOW! There seems to be a lot of misinformation on this post. I had a homeowner look into your specific comments here on this thread and tell me that they now don't want a hand scraped floor because it can't be refinished.
That's CRAP! Please Research before you spew misinformation.

The TyKote system is the only true dust free recoating process. TyKote produces zero dust. Refinishing a floor with TyKote does not require the use of heavy equipment; trailer mounted vacuum systems or intensive labor. Just follow the cleaning steps, apply the bonding agent and the finish. It takes only ½ day to complete a refinish job which will leave homeowners amazed and traditional sand and finish labors envious.
TyKote can be used on hand scraped flooring as well as most finishes including factory finishes, aluminum oxide, engineered wood floors and other urethane finished floors. Go to basic coatings dot com tykote to see more.

JK Floors

Of the ten posts in here, only one said the floor couldn't be re-finished. Your homeowner and you should consider learning how to read before you come in with your first post and pronounce it is filled with CRAP! Please read and comprehend before you spew misinformation.

I haven't re-finished a floor in years. But I have learned quite a bit from this thread.

Welcome to CT.

PrecisionFloors

Nice first post.

__________________
Precision Flooring
Hampton, VA (757) 256-0848
Tile, Hardwood, Laminate, and Resilients
Installation, Sales & Repair - "We do it right the FIRST time"

Cdat

Wow, I'll have to check on what you just posted but it sounds like complete bull crap to me. I'd like to see your product.

__________________
"Nothing is too good for you guys...and that's exactly what you're gonna get..."
"'Status quo,' as you know, is Latin for 'the mess we're in...'"

Cdat

Quote:

The current floor finish must not be worn to the point that the color of the floor is not uniform. If this is the case, or if the previous finish has completely worn away to expose bare wood, the floor should be refinished suing a standard sand and finish process.

This from your own operating book. Tell me how hand scrapped floors will be anything but unevenly worn?

__________________
"Nothing is too good for you guys...and that's exactly what you're gonna get..."
"'Status quo,' as you know, is Latin for 'the mess we're in...'"

hf05

Questions guys.... just stripped my 100 yr old maple hdwd hall ,stained it ,whats recommended sealer/varnish for high traffic area. would like it glossy! thanks

swequin

Nice, I feel so welcome to post here. Three of the ten posts on this thread are negative toward Hand Scraped Hardwood. My homeowner sees this and oh, guess what...."ummm I think I'm going with tile".
Thanks a lot *&^%$#@! eff ewe brickhead

NWBuilder

Swequin,

I have lived in my home for six years with tile, looks the same as the day I moved in. Tell me how many hardwood floors you could say that about? It all depends on what look you want or how important the performance of your floor is. It is plain to see that to your "almost" customer wear and tear is most important. This forum only helped them make a decision that is best for them, be happy for them they will now have a product that they are confidient in all because of this forum.

Cdat

That's what happens when you show up and ask for someone to validate your unproven claims. Next time post an introduction and oh, don't try and sell your customer what you want them to want.

__________________
"Nothing is too good for you guys...and that's exactly what you're gonna get..."
"'Status quo,' as you know, is Latin for 'the mess we're in...'"

PrecisionFloors

That would've been great with me. Of course I don't lose a customer when they want a different surface

__________________
Precision Flooring
Hampton, VA (757) 256-0848
Tile, Hardwood, Laminate, and Resilients
Installation, Sales & Repair - "We do it right the FIRST time"

the big 12 inch

Three out of ten!!!...thats pretty good for here!