Oak hardwood was and still is taking the lead when it comes to hardwood flooring material. If you ask an interior designer for the best materials to use when installing a new floor in your house, oak, particularly rustic oak, will be on their list of recommendations.
This type of flooring has been used for ages now, considering that it’s of premium quality – not to mention that it gives off a traditional country-style appeal to any room. To find out more about rustic oak flooring, check our guide below.
By the way, if you are looking for a hard floor vacuum and mop recommendation, click here and we also have a guide for how to get dog urine out of woodfloors.
What Is It and What Is It Used For?
As its name implies, rustic oak flooring is installed using rustic oak timbers, which usually have a medium to dark oak color with a natural oiled protective coating. It’s designed particularly to create a rugged, rough, and aged appearance, with splits and knots in the floorboards.
People are becoming more infatuated with the rustic appeal of oak flooring to the point where specialists are employed explicitly to ‘damage’ or create a weathered surface to their hardwood floors. With the darker tones of oak timber, this effect is optimal.
Most rustic oak timbers are supplied with matt finishes to accentuate the old and weathered appeal. However, you can ask for different oils to create a specific color tone. For example, a clear finish will make your wood flooring richer and darker.
The rustic grade oak sports more natural characteristics than other types of oak, including splits and knots. If you want to install new flooring to a room with darker tones and old-world appeal, it’s highly recommended that you consider getting rustic oak flooring.
You can find rustic oak on the market either in solid form or engineered, both of which can be great options and have different grades. However, if you’re specific about how you want your wood to look, you might want to get engineered oak.
For example, you’ll be able to choose how many knots or splits you want in your flooring, what type of finish you can get, as well as the thickness and width of the wood to match your rustic floor requirements.
Pros:
Rustic oak flooring seems to be one of the most popular flooring options. To get a deeper understanding of why that’s the case, take a look at its advantages.
Durability
Rustic oak flooring, or oak flooring in general, is well known to be admirably hard-wearing and resistant to scratches, dents, and knocks. It also has a relatively high density (0.75 g/cm3) and has fungal and insect-resistant properties, so it won’t split, warp, or get infected with pests.
Due to its extreme durability, rustic oak can be resurfaced and refinished up to ten times (sometimes even more). In fact, it can live up to 250+ years if it’s well taken care of.
Versatility
Rustic oak has a wide-ranged color palette, which you can choose from depending on your room’s color schemes. So, you can tailor the rustic wood exactly to your tastes, which is why it’s one of the highly versatile woods out there.
It Looks Better With Age
Oak timber improves with age, so your oak flooring will exhibit this feature as well. Both the color and grain profile of the oak gets richer as time passes by. However, even if you can’t wait for long, you can ask the manufacturer to use the ‘fuming’ process to get this aged look more quickly.
Cons:
Rustic oak flooring is an excellent choice, all things considered. However, you must be aware of its disadvantages before deciding on using it for your floor.
Noise
You might find rustic oak flooring, and hardwood flooring in particular, extremely noisy, especially if you’re living in an apartment complex. You can use rugs and place them over the floor to muffle the sound, but it might still affect the acoustics of your room.
Reaction to Temperature and Humidity
This issue isn’t mainly related to oak itself but rather all types of hardwood flooring. Oak planks, especially solid oak, can react to temperature and humidity, expanding and contracting fractionally with temperature and humidity fluctuations.
While this phenomenon might seem pretty harmless for the average homeowner, it’ll result in small gaps appearing in floorboards, creating creaking sounds from time to time.
Rustic Oak Flooring vs. Prime Oak Flooring
You’ll have both solid and engineered options available for rustic oak, so you’ll get various choices on that account. On the other hand, prime grade oak looks more modern, sleek, and uniform in appearance. It’ll have little to no knots or splits and will be consistent when it comes to colors.
If you want your floors to look sharp, sleek, and with a streamlined finish, prime oak flooring probably will be better than rustic. With prime grade oak, you’ll also have two options available: solid and engineered.
Rustic Oak Flooring vs. Natural Oak Flooring
You might think that rustic and natural oak timbers are the same, but there are actually a couple of differences that might make some people favor rustic oak. While natural oak sports a moderate amount of knots, rustic oak tends to have more knots and splits.
Plus, it’ll have a vast color gradience, although it might not be as varied as the color gradients of rustic oaks. Natural grade oak can be well-suited for relaxed, homey interiors more than rustic oak. However, if your rooms are simply furnished, the darker tones of the rustic oak will work better for you.
Final Thoughts
Rustic oak has an old, weathered charm and will give that exact effect with its large knots and splits if you choose to opt for rustic oak flooring. Whether you choose solid rustic planks or engineered ones, you’ll be able to achieve that appeal.
If you’re considering this type of wood for your hardwood flooring, be sure to get high-quality planks to achieve the best results.