When considering a new wood floor for your home or place of business, the endless choices of wood flooring is perplexing and overwhelming. With colors, stains, finishes and styles only a small part of the selection process, selecting a wood floor involves conducting hours of research to formulate conclusions based on the information gathered.
Often overlooked and perhaps the most beautiful of all wood floor materials is antique wood, reclaimed wood from ancient dilapidated, decaying buildings that have withstood time in all-weather conditions. From domestic to exotic hardwoods, the selection of antique woods reclaimed from generations of long ago provides endless beauty and charm that has taken over 500 years to produce. With antique plank flooring rated as the finest of all wood flooring materials today, the patina of antique woods, reclaimed and re-introduced, provides warmth with a rich glow that no other product can duplicate or imitate ipe wood flooring.
Structures constructed over 100 years or more were built with the finest woods available during this time era, woods that cannot be purchased at any home improvement or lumber liquidator outlet anywhere for any price. Of such woods, American Chestnut was primarily used and readily available in yesteryears for durability of which has since become “extinct.” Removed from existence by blight, American Chestnut has been preserved and restored by the reclamation process, used in present wood flooring installations, with impeccable charm and character that was a large part of history surrounding the beginning of an era destined to change and improve as time rapidly advanced.
The majority of the hardwood flooring used today is engineered wood, comprised of multiple layers of substrate plywood with a finishing veneer (thin) layer of wood pre-selected in many colors and styles complimenting the finished product. Reclaimed wood has been introduced into the laminate flooring industry providing a small piece of history combined with modern technology of today. Although somewhat more expensive than regular laminated engineered wood flooring, reclaimed engineered wood flooring has received positive reviews from individuals that have purchased and installed this “span of history” flooring with complete satisfaction and overall strong recommendations.
Environmentally friendly woods reclaimed and used in the production of antique flooring once destined for permanent elimination, saves the environment with reusable, salvageable materials that often was left to decay or placed in already over-flowing landfills. With no trees cut or affected in the reclaiming process, the eco-friendly patina of antique wood floors speaks of times past, times of uncertainty with rebellion and lawlessness, as a nation struggled to advance into the next century.
As expected, antique flooring is considerably more expensive than other available flooring materials. Depending on the rarity of the wood, antique flooring prices range from $4.00 per square foot for cabin-grade pine, to over $30.00 per square foot for antique Chestnut, the most expensive of all antique reclaimed woods. Other selections of antique woods suitable for hardwood flooring include:
– Antique Heart Pine… $4.00-$22.00 per square foot
– Antique Oak… $8.00-$17.00 per square foot
– Antique Maple… $8.00-$13.00 per square foot
– Douglas Fir… $7.00-$20.00 per square foot
– Tropical Hardwoods (varied).. $9.00-$19.00 per square foot
Whereas prices for antique flooring material changes periodically, home or business owners considering the installation of antique flooring material should be cognizant of all current price trends, including availability, before proceeding with planning stages of any personal or business development or improvement.
With many grades and cuts of antique flooring material available, each grade or cut may inflate the overall cost of the antique wood flooring material by hundreds and in some cases by thousands of dollars. Individuals considering installation of antique wood floors should be aware of such existing conditions which may play a large role in final decisions.
As time passes, advanced technology of today will become antiquated, obsolete and eventually forgotten. Education of the younger generation and those generations yet to come will perhaps reflect on times of their times of yore, with high anticipations and hopes of reclaiming the past.