Will distressed floors snag our socks?

Q: I am in the process of choosing a new unfinished floor. My question is, if I choose a floor that is distressed with saw cut swirls in it will the wood eventually become rough and catch your socks?

I’m talking 20-25 years down the road. Or if the finish is redone periodically would this solve my question? Our oak floors in the kitchen are smooth and will be refinished when we do the other. They show no signs of sock snagging. Your thoughts on how this flooring would stand up over time?

A: Is this ‘distressed floor with saw swirls’ just a cheap, low grade, mill run sort of floor or is it manufactured to appear distressed? If it is the former, I think you would want to have the wood thoroughly sanded to remove these imperfections. It would seem logical that if the floor has rough areas it would tend to snag your feet.

Follow-up: Thanks for the response. The wood is unfinished sawtooth 3 3/4” white oak. It will have some knots.

A: So you are buying this for the look, if I understand you correctly. If you want to keep this look forever I wouldn’t finish it with a polyurethane. You need to use an oil product where additional applications don’t require sanding, but the finish co-adheres. Waterlox or tung oil. Something like that. As to snagging socks, you would have to be the judge of this. You have the pieces of wood with you and can touch and examine them.

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