Anyone else like the look of worn / roughed up timber floorboards?

I notice a lot of people obsess over scratches and keeping them glossy. To me they look even better as time goes by. Obviously I'm not taking about a floor that is all rotten and in need of repair, I'm referring to a floor that looks "lived in". I'm wondering if I'm alone on this?

 

I like timber flooring. We just bought a place with pretty aged kauri timber flooring and I just like the flaws it has. It has characters, same for lining boards used on walls. I guess it also depends on your target renters.

 

I prefer the shiny, new look. Otherwsie too lived in floorboards can make the place look tired and take away from the other modern features imo.

 

High gloss floors look bad pretty quick as the scratches stand out heaps. The best way to go IMO is with a matte finish. Scratches won't stand out as much, and gloss is apparently going out of fashion

 

yeah that's a pain in the $ss....

 

I love a rustic timber floor. It's true it looks best with a matte finish, or even better, tung oil. I'd only ever tung oil a floor in my ppor though.

 

Distressed wood is the name of the look. Available from all good flooring distributors.

 

I've seen a rental with fresh polished floorboards, let a tenant with a dog in there as long as they didn't let the dog inside. Of course, they let the dog inside, scratched the floors up.

 

True. The tung oil doesn't stand up to tenants - or dogs. Main problem is that it needs to be recoated which is fine if it's your own place but a drag with/for the tenant.
Even if going out of style, I swear by a good polyurethane job. Semi-gloss, I spose. Or gloss. On an old weathered floor it looks great.

 

This was a pic after my floors were freshly sanded and polished. I went with a water based satin finish which no doubt is not as durable as the poly but imo looks amazing.

Ufortunately the pine is ridiculously soft and I flipped it after my dog put the first scratches in it basically the first day we moved in.. Now it has marks and scratches all over the place which are hardly noticeable to the average eye.

Long story short it really doesn't bother me anymore. A home is supposed to be lived in. It's a bit like people using those car bras and protecting their car for the next person to enjoy..

 

I like an old timber floor, but it depends on the setting. It's a bit hard to see, but this is the floor in my Airbnb pad at home. It is weathered hardwood - been down 120 years. There are bits that have been patched over the years. It's finished in tung oil and hasn't been touched for 15 years. I have to patch a bit where a stair went through it and I need to find some similarly old, dark and distressed flooring. It's proving difficult. I don't like shiny timber at all - always looks plastic to me.
Scott

 

I personally like both. In new properties it looks out of place to have a "character" floor and in old properties it looks out of place to have a perfect shiny scratch less floor. We recently moved into our 1880s terrace which had a new perfect Blackbutt floor put in by previous owner. I wish they had left the rustic thick board kauri pine floor there.

vtt

 

@Depreciator

Really dig your styling.

 

Worn looks good. I've just come back from my Geelong IP. I was going to do the floor boards and when I pulled the carpet up they had been previously done I would say over 20 years ago. No shine but really suits the house so I left the way it was.

 

Gee, that's a good result - pulling up carpet and finding an already sanded floor.

 

I'm a very stylish bloke, Hanison. Except in the way I dress. And the car I drive. Definitely my haircut .Probably my taste in music...... just about everything according to my kids.

 

It's Cool.

I'm currently doing full reno of my ppor in industrial style.
polished concrete bench tops, polished exposed aggregate floors, lots of stainless steel and timber, exposed roof trusses, exposed brick, high bay lighting, trapeze lighting, etc, etc.

Creating spaces that are raw and have some soul.

 

We'll be wanting to see photos of that.

 

I'm a fan of tung oil (although I have poly at home).

A quick mop with Gemini and its done.

 

Lol wasn't all good. When I got to the last 3 metres of the hallway it was chip board and some of that was rotten due to the shower had been leaking. So that part of the hall I put floating boards (was the cheapest option) and I did some cheap tiles for the bathroom because also the floor was rotten. It was a lot of hard work as they had super glued vinyl to the original floor board in the bathroom and the last 3 metre strip of hallway. Not to mention all the bloody staples and nail in the floor.