Distressed oak flooring is a type of new hardwood floor which is purposely modified or engineered to look worn, old, and rustic. The only difference is the distressed oak flooring won’t have the huge splits and textured grain that a truly old oak floor would have. It basically gives you the best of both worlds because you get the appearance of a distressed oak floor but without any of the setbacks.
You can choose between engineered and solid distressed oak flooring. All distressed oak flooring has boards with different sized knots in them. These boards may have small holes and cracks, along with some colour differences. When the boards are put through the distressing process, their natural grains become darker. The brushed surface texture of the boards makes them look even older.
The three finishes available for distressed oak flooring are light, medium, and heavy. Lightly distressed oak flooring has had very little distressing done to the boards. The edges are where most of the distressing can be seen. The boards have a small tint of colour, but they don’t look nearly as old as the other two finishes.
Medium distressed oak flooring has a moderate level of darkness on the boards and up to the edges. You can still see some of the natural oak colour, but it is merged with a darker distressing colour to resemble an older age. People who look at medium distressed oak flooring might think it is about 10 to 50 years old.
Heavy distressed oak flooring is a finish which makes the boards look hundreds of years old. The colour is almost entirely dark, so make sure you really want the old oak appearance if you go with the heavy distressed finish. If you’re restoring an old home that was built before 1930, then heavily distressed oak flooring might be appropriate. But if you’re merely replacing the flooring in a newer house, then light or medium distressed oak flooring would be fine.
If you had to make a safe choice, then go with the medium distressed oak flooring because it gives you a mixture of colours. You still get to see some of your real flooring colour while incorporating the distressed finishing colour onto it as well. Visitors might get a real sense of family by seeing flooring like this.
Lightly distressed flooring is hardly distressed at all. These lighter coloured boards look like they’re no more than 1-year old. This might be a good thing if you’re trying to restore your home and want to make its flooring look new. It is something to consider at least.