Reclaimed wood flooring is a sought after and increasingly popular flooring option. That said, it isn’t an option which falls within everyone’s budget. Reclaimed wood flooring has a look about it that reinforces that it has stood the test of time and has a story to tell. It is for these heritage reasons, as well as the obvious ecological reasons that reclaimed flooring is so sought after. But if you can’t afford reclaimed flooring or can’t find what you’re looking for in the reclaimed marketplace what option is left?
One real alternative to reclaimed wood flooring is distressed and tumbled wood flooring. Distressing methods are now so effective, that most of us struggle to tell the difference between a distressed floor and a reclaimed one. It is for this reason that distressed new wood flooring is a great choice if your budget won’t stretch to reclaimed hardwood flooring.
The technique used to distress new wooden floors essentially involves damaging the floor to make it look like it has suffered many years of wear and tear. As a process, distressing can be carried out either by hand or by machine. Typically, chissels, knives, hammers and other sharp or damaging objects are used to create the distressed effect which is so sought after today.
An alternative to hand distressing is for floors to be tumbled. A tumbled floor has a very similar looking finish to a distressed floor but the process is quite different. Tumbling takes place in giant drums where planks are placed with damaging objects to distress the wood. The advantage of tumbling is that it’s less labour intensive than hand distressing and it also results in the edges of the boards becoming distressed as well as the surfaces which means that the floor takes on a more overall distressed appearance.
Once the boards or the floor surface has been damaged and made to look old, they are then coloured to take on the look of a genuine old floor. Distressing is a technique which is used across the board when it comes to clothing and interiors. Commonly seen in the jeans industry, distressed leather goods are now also proving very popular, because of the vintage look the process gives. In interior design a distressed wooden floor will add charm to both traditional and modern settings and can even be the ideal rescue package to save a badly damaged floor from needing to be replaced.