Antique Reclaimed Wood Flooring

Installing antique wood flooring is a great way to go green with recycled wood. Old growth timber offers character that is unmatched by anything that you can purchase new.

Reclaimed planks are often as wide as 10 inches and as thick as 3/4 of an inch. This wood can be finished on site using our delicate floor finishing system. What remains is the original patina, nail holes and moisture deposits. Decades old, these highlights create the character that define the essence of antique wood floors.

Most antique wood floor planks will have to be nailed down, so they are really appropriate for use over a solid plywood sub floor. Once they are installed, they can be sanded down to level and given a nice smooth finish or simply buffed & coated with a protective finish.

When we use antique lumber it's a must to buy at least 15 percent more square feet than you are planning to put down. While you may spend more at first, your overall cost savings can be fantastic, and you are re-using a very vital resource!

Visit our showroom today for a wide selection on antique reclaimed hardwood flooring

It's Official - We have made the switch to Pro-Coat!!!

You have told us... "We want a floor finish that stands up to our hectic lives!"... & we have listened

It is now official. After much deliberation, Raphael Hardwood Flooring Inc, has tested & compared every name brand urethane finish on the market & made a descision to transfer our endorsment from Glitsa, to the American company Professional Coatings Inc.

I am absolutely blown away with the rich amber tones, viscosity, & wear properties of Pro-Coat H2Oil!

After a 1 year trial period & hundreds of gallons of finish later we have not had a single complaint regarding the incredible Pro-Coat H2Oil Polyurethane!

Pro-Coat has patented & developed the newest, most advanced waterborne technology.

Our favorite at Raphael Hardwood Flooring Inc. continues to be Pro-Coat's latest innovation - H2Oil. This finish totally defyies traditional classifications. It is an amazing blend of polyester, polyurethane, and polycarbonate with castor oil cooked into the backbone of the coating. The result is an extremely durable coating that enhances natural wood tones. Properties include exceptional build, clarity, and outstanding impact, scuff, and chemical resistance. Technically a waterborne polyurethane yet consisting of oil. Opposites really do attract!

Oil & Water have never been so good together!!!

I Can Hardly Wait!

It's just a week away! The Lodi Street fair!!! AGGGH!!!

Mike (op. manager) has been pushing for our company to reach out more into our community. It all began began back on Christmas eve, (forgive me as I reminisce) you may remember our effort to thank our community. We nearly froze as we provided free coffee, hot chocolate, & candy to everyone outside of our local Wal-Mart. Thank you Wal-Mart for allowing us to give back to our home town! But that was just the beginning...

...This May we are continuing our efforts and will mark our first participation in the Lodi Street Fair, or for that matter any fair anywhere. It's all going to be new. We are very excited! Here's what were working on right now.

a little backround...
Over the last 8 years I have been very poor at keeping a photo log of our customers homes featuring the amazing wood floors they invested in. It has been our goal this last week to visit many previous customers (you know who you are) and capture a record of their vision that inspired their home (A great big thank you to all that have participated). So far we've taken dozens of photos of our customers floors and are very excited to show you the results. Keep you eye out for these upcoming pictures at the Street Fair.

Some of my favorites include Lodi's new Dancing Fox Bakery, Wine & Roses, Ironstone Vineyards, & The Gribbell Log Cabin (featuring reclaimed Barn Wood) As soon I'm able I'll try to post these fantastic floors on our website. Also, soon to come will be a new section of the website featuring before & after pictures of the restoration projects that we do so much of. One recent project that were very proud of is the McFarland Living History Ranch in Galt, CA led by Ron Jacobsen of the Galt historical Society.

So keep an eye out at our upcoming Street Fair & Farmers Market and don't forget to tell Mike to keep up the good ideas!

Are you the one from Nepal?

Hello all! I am just now getting aquainted with Google Analytics, an amazing software application that allows me to view the location of each visitor that toured our company website raphaelhardwoodflooring.com I am happy to report a staggering 21 countries represented. Countries such as Nepal & Laos. I can't help but I wonder how in the world they could have ever found our tiny site in this temultous online sea. It is indeed a global economy! So...If your reading this in some icy mountain peak or tropical paradise I expect to hear from you! Drop me a line & let me know how you found us!

Also, Brand new is our online store. We will soon feature over 50 cleaning products & over 100 samples of various hardwood floors we offer. Keep watching. Your about to see a online revolution in purchasing incredible hardwood flooring at amazing prices!!!

To scrape or not to scrape?

Often times customers visit our showroom wondering. Is this new style of hardwood flooring is for me? For those of you who don't live & breathe wood floors, hand scraped hardwood floors are a growing style of flooring that does not have a traditional smooth face. When running your fingers over the surface of the flooring you will feel smooth undulations in the finish. How dramatic the undulations depend on the flooring manufacturer you select & is available in virtually every level between a light pillowed surface & a rustic hand hewn recycled barn timber surface. The main advantage of this type of flooring is not simply style. It allows the owner to not stay awake at nights thinking of the dinner party the following day. Will Aunt Kay will be bearing her heft in those damaged high heels on my new floors? Well, we can't help you with Aunt Kay but we can explain why when selecting a floor for the long term you not only want it to be beatiful in the showroom but to remain beautiful throughout the life of your home.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
I'm glad I don't have to answer that question (although I think it was the chicken) Contrary to popular belief hand scraped floors came first. (before the flat floors your so used to seeing) Long before our brute "The Big Machine" & trusty edger & buffer men rode to work on their bicycles. Thats right, no sanders needed. Attached to their bicycle would be a iron scraper. Upon arrival at the jobsite they would remove the scraper attach their knee pads, get on their hands & knees to start a grueling day spent tirelessly scraping & hand shaving the floor flat. I love listening to my "Uncle Al" (now in his mid 80's) telling me stories of his many years hand scraping floors in this fashion.

The reason I labor this point is to make clear that hand scraped floors are not a new concept we must fear but rather a return to our roots. The look is time inspired. Next time you visit New England make a mental note to carefully examine not only the musuems & taverns but also the homes of our founding fathers. Montecello features hand scraped floors personally designed by Thomas Jefferson himself (after being inspired by his trips to France). In Mount Vernon you can walk on the same old growth Douglas fir that George Washington kneeled on to pray. These hand scraped floors are not antiquated but still serve both as asthetic masterpieces & functional fortresses.

The hand scraped question is not a question of trend but rather of beauty, ambiance, & pragmatism.