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August 31, 2006
Fixing wood floors
We left the original (pine?) sub-floors as floors in my parlor floor because of their warm color. Unfortunately, the wood is not very strong and, in some parts, needs replacing. This is scary - if my foot goes through the floor, it would end up going through the downstairs ceiling.
Is there any way to fix just a few floorboards? Who would I contact? Any issues I should consider? I am reluctant to put in a new wood floor on top of the floor because I would then have to readjust doors etc.
Comments
Very impressed with the above reply from Tom. Are you a floorer?
There is also an article in the Old House Journal in the last few years about this. Also check out the below links:
http://www.oldhousejournal.com/magazine/2005/jan/wood.shtml
In our house, where my partner's foot did go through the weak boards on two instances, I butressed the weaker boards from below (we removed the ceiling in the basement for other reasons) with scrap wood boards, held up by small wooden blocks nailed to the joists.
In one instance where a piece of the board broke, I placed a block of wood under the gap and screwed it to the intact boards on either side, countersunk the screw heads and filled with putty. Then I placed the broken board on the block and placed a screw through that into the block. The entire arrangement is very stable and since I used the old boards, undetectable.
Posted by: RedHookDIYer at August 31, 2006 4:28 PM
Damn, we carefully ripped up the entire floor, salvaged the best wood, leveled the joists, insulated, put plywood down, then put the original floor back. No wonder it's taking us so long. We were only able to salvage enough flooring for 1+ room though, not the entire house.
Posted by: Yente at August 31, 2006 5:00 PM
I have salvage from a few past projects. Give me a call and I'd be happy to take a look.
Brewse - 646-284-0304
Summit Surfaces
Posted by: Brewse at August 31, 2006 10:08 PM
Rats! This is the original poster & I can't seem to find the impressive response from Tom that RedHookDYIer mentioned! But thanks for your feedback. Sounds like a pretty bang-up DYI job.
Posted by: Anonymous at September 1, 2006 9:20 AM
Yes I am wondering where my post went as well??? How odd!
Ok let me see if I can remember what i said and no I am not a flooring person but a DIYer.
What you can do is cut out the section of pine flooring that is rotted from the middle of the beam on either side of the subflooring. The original subfloor you have is 1 inch thick true and you will not find a replacement with the same dimension. You may want to use 5/4 pine at the same width that is actually an inch and an eighth. You would have to mill it down to an inch. Unfortunately today's pine is not like the "old growth" pine you have with its nice grain and strength. Pine today is very soft. The flooring you take out is tongue and groove so you will have to square up the edges when you add the replacement piece. You may want to use Oak or Maple instead of pine as it is a much harder wood and will somewhat match the pine (even today's pine will not match). If this seems to intricate, you may consider covering your floor with a new 3/8 hardwood floor (parquet or otherwise). If you cover it with a new floor then you can replace your sections of subfloor with 3/4 and 1/4 plywood.
Whew... hope that helps
Posted by: tom at September 1, 2006 1:37 PM
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