Installing Hickory Hardwood: Considering Hand-Scraped Flooring

LauraDecember 16, 2020

Its attractive appearance of reddish heartwood and cream-colored sapwood captures your eye and grabs your attention. Yet, beneath that beautiful appearance, hickory hardwood is durable – one of the most durable domestic species, in fact. With a Janka scale rating of 1820, hickory offers excellent density, but its strength can be a detriment. Why? Coupled with closed, rough grain, hickory hardwood is difficult to machine, sand, and finish. For adding this product, what options do you have?
Prefinished is extremely practical across all species. When it comes to adding a full floor of hardwood, the planks just need to be added without finishing. In a day, you can place all of your furniture back into the space. On the other hand, prefinished products, hickory and other species, come with a limited set of stains, and if you have a particular look in mind, the existing options may not reflect your vision. Additionally, adding a stain or finish tends to make newer flooring blend in better with existing materials.
Unfinished with an alternative approach. If you have a specific look in mind, you’re willing to go through the rigors and unconventional techniques to installing hickory. What does this entail? For sanding, go with a belt sander. As you sand with the grain of the wood, change from an 80-grit belt to 120-grit for smoothing out the surface and 220-grit for any finishing touches.
For staining, the pores must be opened or closed. In its natural state, hickory produces a blotchy patina. A wood conditioner fully closes off the grain, after which a stain can be added on top, while water-popping opens it, making the wood more receptive.
Hand-scraped flooring. A textured surface of natural character marks and manual distressing makes hand-scraped flooring the perfect choice for a rustic look. Added to this, the texture camouflages any blotching resulting from an applied finish. This way, hand-scraped hickory flooring allows you to add the distinct red and white look and include a stain of your choosing.
Yet, keep in mind that not all hand-scraped flooring is identical. Products tend to be divided between classic and rustic hardwoods. Classic is considerably smoother, with texture carved into the surface. Rustic, as the name implies, is characterized by knots, mineral streaks, and graining. Beyond these two basic classifications, hand-scraped hardwood is distressed through a combination of scraping, aging, or a darker stain. Floors, after an unfinished hardwood is added, can even be custom distressed before a finish is applied.…

Renovation Costs

Home Renovation For Low Budgets

LauraDecember 16, 2020

If you are thinking of home renovation but are concerned about the budget, then do not worry. As now you can have all the luxuries you want while remodeling your house even within a limited budget. Whether you are thinking about renovating your kitchen, basement, and bathroom or are thinking about an addition, here are some things that you can use. These will not only help you save money but will also give that luxurious look to your house.
Affordable Luxuries for Kitchen, Bathrooms or Basement
Granite Countertops – Instead of using solid pieces of natural stone, use countertops in pieces. These are as good as the solid pieces. They not only look attractive but also last longer than solid pieces. They add elegance and style to the kitchen. You can use countertops of granite, soapstone and marble.
Making it more affordable – Granite stones are cut into smaller pieces and cost half the price of the solid stones. After cutting them into several square pieces, they can be applied to the walls and floors like ceramic tiles with the grout. Even if they get damaged, the individual squares can be replaced instead of the whole floor. You can also consider the option of adding a granite overlay on the top of your current countertop.
Stone Tile Backsplash – Whether you have a countertop made from granite or marble, the natural stone is expensive. And when you have a natural stone countertop, you will also want to give it a finishing of stone tile backsplash as it helps in providing that extra protection to the walls. However, this will be expensive.
Making it affordable – Instead of adding these backsplash horizontally, you can turn these tiles sideways like in the shape of a diamond. This will not only help you in saving money but will also give a unique look to the walls.
Custom cabinets – There are unending options for finishing, trims and configuration of the cabinets which are specifically designed to suit your kitchen. And these can also be customized to fit into your kitchen perfectly.
Making it affordable- If you want to save money yet still want the look of a customized cabinet, getting it semi-customized will cost you much less. Simple changes like change in height, width and depth can lend a more finished look to your kitchen.
Wood Flooring – It is definitely a good option and the house looks absolutely gorgeous with it, but may prove to be very expensive.
Making it more affordable- Instead of going for wood flooring, consider getting it laminated. Use pergo which is not that expensive. They are available in a variety of grain patterns. And the average eye will not be able to differentiate between true wood flooring and lamination.
Ornate crown moldings- This is definitely an awesome way of making an ordinary room more interesting. But these will definitely be much higher in cost.
Making it more affordable- Using smaller moldings instead of large ones will cost …