Generations: how our oak flooring made its mark
Charles Lowe & Sons has been exclusively producing the Generations range of oak flooring since 1999, when it was introduced to mark the fifth generation Lowe brothers joining the family business. Since then it’s become a name synonymous with quality and has been in high demand with contractors and home owners wanting the finest floors for their properties.
Charles Lowe & Sons is a family business with a long history, always with quality of service and product as a focus.
When Gordon, Daniel and Greg joined the firm near the turn of the Millennium, there was a need to put their mark on the next chapter of the company’s story, to develop a product that would push the brand forward. At the time, their apprenticeships had been focused on traditional carpentry methods for cabinet making, upholstery and polishing. Generations oak floors was the next step.
Generations floors were introduced when the fifth generation of Lowe brothers joined the business.
Generations of experience for perfect floors
Generations oak floorboards came with the pledge they were hand planed, aged and polished in traditional ways inside the workshop. This set the flooring apart from competitors that favoured modern manufacturing techniques.
Directors, Dan an Greg oiling baords in the sunshine.
Special tools are used, combined with ancient knowledge that has passed down through the generations around techniques for the best results. Indeed, Stuart Attenborough, a veteran craftsman who worked for Charles Lowe & Sons for 60 years, personally taught the three young men who now direct the company, all those trade secrets of specialist knowledge that can’t be found in books and can’t be achieved by modern machines.
Tools for traditional skills that make all the difference to the final product.
A favourite oak floor for refurbishments
“We do everything by hand and that extra attention to details shows,” said Director, Greg Lowe. “We use special tools to carefully simulate distressed boards, so the product looks traditional and naturally weathered with wear and tear. In the workshop, we all share this commitment to perfection when finishing each and every board.”
This is why Generations engineered oak floorboards became the leading alternative to reclaimed oak floorboards and is a favourite with stately home refurbishments and extensions.
Since Generations floors have been available, customers have asked them to be fitted in some of the most prestigious properties.
Generations flooring has a smooth, yet textured finish that perfectly replicates that distinct, characterful look and feel of aged oak floors. The craft necessary to engineer this look requires reading the grain and the finish achieved by the craftsmen is something modern manufacturing methods will always fail to accomplish to the same standard.