Guide to luxury handscraped vinyl plank flooring

When you begin exploring your flooring options you’ll catch yourself looking down everywhere you go. If you happen to step into an upscale, trendy restaurant or the lobby of a lavish spa you may find a unique wood that has a rich yet lived in look. The flooring that’s drawing you in is handscraped plank wood.

It’s gorgeous and expensive looking because, well, typically it is. Real handscraped hardwood flooring is in high demand with property owners that want to capture vintage American architectural elements. It was used in some of the country’s earliest buildings when hand-milled lumber was all that was available, and in the last few years it’s been revived.

Today’s technology is bringing the old world craftsmanship of handscraped floors to modern day homes and businesses through the use of laminate and engineered materials.

Hundreds of years ago handscraped floors were made using hand-held tools like chisels and hammers. Scraping was done to level out the planks, but also to give the flooring a distinct appearance. Today a number of techniques are used to achieve this same effect including: scooping, denting, splitting and sanding. The degree to which this is done varies so customers can choose boards will slight or significant texturing.

Like other vinyl floors, handscraped vinyl plank floors have multiple layers. The fiberglass layer is on the bottom, and the core layer in the middle is vinyl. Next a top layer is added. This is where the design elements are incorporated, and the possibilities are endless. The look of virtually every type of wood flooring can be replicated in a printing process known as rotogravure. Finally a thin “wear” layer is added to provide a protective coating that makes the flooring even more durable.

Original handscraped hardwood floors tend to be expensive because there’s the cost of the process in addition to the materials. It’s a slow process that takes a highly skilled artisan to get right. Vinyl flooring manufacturers are making handscraped plank floors available to a much larger market for a much lower price per square foot. The materials come already texturized and are easy to install, which helps to keep the cost per square foot low.

The texture of handscraped vinyl plank flooring is both visible and tangible to the touch. Its softly molded ridges give it a very organic feel just like the first handscraped floors. Texture is a subtle yet significant design element that can have a huge impact, which is why professional designers are so keen on incorporating textured features. Customers can opt for very slight texture or go bold for a lived-in look that suggests the floors are reclaimed.

The floors of a home are going to be the first place that wear and tear starts to show. One of the biggest benefits of handscraped floors is its ability to hide imperfections. The texture once again comes into play here. Mild scratches or dents from everyday life will be camouflaged by the texturing of the floor.

Vinyl wood flooring has made it possible to add the look and feel of hardwood flooring in places where the real deal can’t go. Basements that are below ground level, for example, are one place that hardwood floors can’t be installed. However, handscraped vinyl plank flooring is perfectly fine to install there.

Right now 5” handscraped plank flooring is on sale for just $2.99 a square foot during the Fall Special at the CRT Flooring Concepts Austin showroom! Get in early for the best selection and personal assistance from one of our design consultants.