What is the difference between antique and
‘Antiqued’ – The age a floor should reach before is called an antique is always been my first question, but this point is about the fact that Antiqued Heart Pine is not old at all, even by the marketing terms they use; if you know how to speak flooring. Antiqued is a finish style not an age description.
Reclaimed – Once more unless you do some research or have an honest flooring company, you might not understand the original definition. Repurposed, reclaimed means repurposed such as a beam being repurposed into flooring. It does not mean flooring turned into flooring, big difference scarcity, quality, and (should be) price.
Salvaged - Is simply old flooring taken up and sold in variety of thickness and state of salvage. For example, along with the holes check for the nails too. Many times, the board looks 5’ but with the ends butchered much of the board will not sustain any new finish or install. 30% waste is safe in this market. Know your source, see the materials, and understand the provenance.
Provenance- From Webster’s Dictionary; origin or area of origin. In the flooring industry, it is the equivalent of “sex sells”. For example, Kentucky Horse Barn, Cotton Gins and Whiskey Barrel Reclaimed sounds better than Chicken House or random barns thrown together. Right?
Distressing wood floors
Nails in a bag and a baseball bat are one of my favorite methods, but it is just one of many ways to antique a pine floor. The nails create small indentions in the wood including circles from the nail head, spirals from the threads, and sharp pockets from the pointed ends. Beating up the wood is just the start of our process, and not mandatory but if you want to add age, it certainly does the trick.
Paint and Sand Off
Aged wood is all about layers. Think about real old wood—it's been painted, damaged, and sun-faded over time. The more methods you combine, the more authentic your aged wood will look! Paint it, then sand it off! If you use salvaged wood, it might have paint already. If not, slap a quick coat of paint on and then sand it off with rough sandpaper to make it look old and worn.