Engineering Wood Floor - Painted White & Hand Scraped

[jfred]

My wife and I have been looking all over the place for the type of wood flooring we want for our living room, but can not find it anywhere. We are looking for the following:
- Finish - Hand Scraped / Painted White
- Size - Wide (5" +)
- Construction - We will be installing this in our living room which is on elevated concrete slab, so we will need an Engineered Wood Floor
- Species - We are open on ideas for species, whichever will provide the best look for the items requested (white - hand scraped) and best price.
- Square Feet - between 300 to 350 SF

All of the companies we contacted said this would be a special order, and the prices were very high.

Does anyone know of a manufacturer that has this as a 'standard' product in order provide better pricing?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance for your input.

 

[Ken]

I would push you towards Anderson Hardwood. I believe they have a knarled hickory that comes in whitewash. I also think Mullican had a whitewashed scraped oak. I could be blowing smoke though. Good luck!

 

[FloorMaven]

We are looking for the following:
- Finish - Hand Scraped / Painted White

Do you want a painted floor or a whitewashed floor?

 

[jfred]

Ken - I believe I saw those, but there were not white enough.

FloorMaven - I am open to either, but would prefer painted. We are looking for a very solid white.

 

[Ernesto]

Why not buy some unfinished cabin grade oak and then hand scrape it yourself, roll on some watered down paint, wipe it down, finish.

 

[jfred]

Ernesto - I guess I could, I am just hoping to find a product made by professionals in order to get a better finished product.

 

[Ernesto]

Ernesto - I guess I could, I am just hoping to find a product made by professionals in order to get a better finished product.

jfred, just seems to me that your going to be wasting money by buying a nice or higher grade of flooring than you need just to be covered up with paint. Theres an aussie who frequents the floormasters forum who came up with the idea of utilizing watered down paint to use instead of stain. It gives you a more opaque look that I think your looking for and I doubt any prefinished manufacturer makes for obvious reasons.

 

[FloorMaven]

I recently did a color mock-up for a decorator/client who was considering refinishing to white. They didn't care for the opaque look either. They wanted a solid white with a distressed look but in the end they found the cost of the custom work prohibitive.

I guess the style is popular in Scandinavia so maybe look in that direction for product...I would imagine something will export out of there in the years to come.

 

[Ken]

The only solid white floor ive seen was on a bamboo but it wasnt handscraped and you could still see the grain through the white. What about that company UrbanFloor. I see there ads alot in the hardwood floors magazine. Ive never installed their products but it might be worth looking into. They have alot of higher end looking finshes. Good Luck!

 

[jfred]

I think I may have found what we are looking for: Provenza - Richmond Collection - Color: Savannah. Available in 6" wide planks and handscraped.

http://www.provenzafloors.com/products/FloorSelector.aspx?id=1271&gallery=true&lightness=Light

I sent them a request for a sample. Any thoughts on this manufacturer? Now I'll need to find a dealer...

 

[Don Monfils]

That is a 3/4" solid

 

[FloorMaven]

I sent them a request for a sample. Any thoughts on this manufacturer? Now I'll need to find a dealer...

I installed Provenza rubber wood. Nice product...expensive...$10 sf.

 

[Ken]

Ive got a dealer about 45 minutes from me in ocean city. Looks cool. I think this is as close as youre going to find.

 

[jfred]

Don - you're right!... I've been staring at this screen too long and didn't even realize it. Thanks for your help.... back to the search.

 

[Ernesto]

I think I may have found what we are looking for: Provenza - Richmond Collection - Color: Savannah. Available in 6" wide planks and handscraped.

http://www.provenzafloors.com/products/FloorSelector.aspx?id=1271&gallery=true&lightness=Light

I sent them a request for a sample. Any thoughts on this manufacturer? Now I'll need to find a dealer...

Yea, your gonna have to do a 3/4 plywood underlayment for that one. Says staple only. Course if you were brave and had an absolutely flat slab, straps, some SikaBond T-21 and the milling was perfect with no bannana boards you could be good to go.

 

[jfred]

Alright, I found our products and I plan on submitting the order for the wood floors, but I have a few final questions (I really appreciate all your input)...

- The main flooring in the living room will be Virginia Vintage- Coastal Art Collection - 'Sand Dollar'. It is 5" by 1/2" engineered wood floor - http://www.andersonfloors.com/flooring.aspx?collection=2

- We're also installing 3/4" terra cotta tile at the fireplace hearth and in the foyer area, Tabarka Arabesco large tile... similar to this:
http://pinterest.com/pin/264586546829928036/

This will all be installed on an elevated concrete slab. (the first floor over the basement is a concrete floor).

Questions:
1. Any negative thoughts towards the 1/2" engineered floored, compared to something thicker?

2. What all subfloorings need to be installed underneath the wood floor in order to provide a solid, quiet, installation and be level with the 3/4" terra cotta tiles? Anything special need done to prep the slab?

3. Any tips for how I tie these two floorings together?

Any other advice is also greatly appreciated. Thanks again for all your help.

 

[Ernesto]

Wow, thats an old style terra cotta style tile. I like it. Basically you've got to do some research and talk with your contractor/s to make certain these two floors line up evenly as possible. If I were there I could tell you, but being there is different than online.

 

[FloorMaven]

I have a project at the end of the month where I'm butting up 3/8" hardwood to 3/4" Saltillo on all sides. I'm using 1/4" birch underlayment glued to the concrete substrate. I'm gonna round off the Saltillo edge slightly and use a styrofoam backer rod and grout caulk.

 

[Ernesto]

I have a project at the end of the month where I'm butting up 3/8" hardwood to 3/4" Saltillo on all sides. I'm using 1/4" birch underlayment glued to the concrete substrate. I'm gonna round off the Saltillo edge slightly and use a styrofoam backer rod and grout caulk.

Wouldn't rounding off the satillio tile create a "bright" look to it if it has a nice patina on it? Or do you have a back-up plan for that?

 

[FloorMaven]

Wouldn't rounding off the satillio tile create a "bright" look to it if it has a nice patina on it? Or do you have a back-up plan for that?

The thought occurred to me but I'm just gonna soften the edge of some of the higher tiles (7/8"). Figured it wasn't anything I couldn't make look good on the fly.