Totally Floored
I started pulling up the old floor today and it is fighting me every inch of the way. I’m going to be able to use all of the other 1895 floors in the house but the kitchen was just too far gone. This was the room that took the brunt of the apartment cut-up 80 or 90 years ago. About 15 square feet of the finish floor is completely missing and there are about a dozen holes from water and waste pipes.
I had already pulled up the layers of linoleum and vinyl and what I was left with was pretty much beat to hell. So many nails. At some point an over zealous floor installer with a pneumatic nail gun went hog wild with the nails. In some places they were laid every 2 inches in every direction. To make matters worse, back in the 20s about a third of the kitchen became a bathroom. The nails rusted and will not come out.
The one surprising thing is that I will actually be able to salvage some of the wood. No doubt a testament to old-growth redwood. All floors in the house are 1X6 T&G redwood flooring. I’m hoping I can salvage enough to repair a few damaged boards in the dining room and butler’s pantry. For now it all comes up and goes in to the garage on top of all the other salvage wood. Just keep piling it up.
2 comments:
What floor are you planning on putting down? We have fir floor under 3 layers of lino and vinyl in the kitchen. Hopefully it was covered before it was damaged, we'd like to repair it. Otherwise we'll go with a real lino floor. Durable and easy to clean.
Linoleum was my first choice. That would be appropriate, and as you say it is durable and easy to clean. Cost was one factor I didn't go with it. The other was that I just really like wood floors. Everyone tells me I'm making a mistake, but I think I've pretty much built a career on doing things that I was advised not to do. So I'm putting down an old-growth fir floor. I found a guy that makes 1X6 T&G fir flooring out of salvaged 3X12 fir joists. I should get it in the next couple of weeks.
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