Brownstoner Reno
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February 1, 2005
Lucky Break: Hallway Floors Look Salvageable
This weekend we pulled up some of the fake wood flooring that had been put down in the hallways/landings when the building was an SRO. Not having any idea what to expect, we were very pleased to find these old wide-plank floors still intact underneath. What's interesting is that the only other place in the house where there's similar wood is in the main rooms of the parlor floor. This suggests that this wood should be fairly high quality. The top three floors, by comparison, are laid with the much narrower (but still beautiful) strips used in parquet floors. (More on that to follow.) Anyway, these floors look salvageable to us, but we'd love to hear input from those who have encountered--and restored--floors in a similar state.
Comments
These will clean up nicely, we had the same thing in our house.
The look you will get appeals to some people and doesn't to others. While they will come clean and with a few coats of poly on top will look polished, they will retain the character of century old floors.
This means there will be the gaps between the boards and the many imperfections that have developed over the years will show. Some people pay top dollar to get reclaimed wood like this, others prefer the finished and sealed look of new floors. Neither is really true to the original look of the house since the floors did not have the antique look when installed new.
To finish them is relatively inexpensive and will allow you to live with them for a while while you decide if you like the look or not.
Posted by: Anonymous at February 1, 2005 12:15 PM
dumb question...whats an SRO?
Posted by: bobo at February 1, 2005 3:40 PM
SRO stands for single room occupancy. It's an official C of O description that basically translates into "Rooming House". When NYC hit the skids in the 70's, a lot of brownstones in poorer nabes were chopped up and rented out room by room. To convert to C of O back, you have to apply for a Certificate of Non Harrassment to prove that none of these former tenants was illegally forced to move. It's a giant pain in the ass. As a result, SRO's are typically cheaper--we'd guess 5-10% cheaper--to buy.
Posted by: Brownstoner at February 1, 2005 4:12 PM
You won't know for sure until you sand the boards - but from the pics they look ok.
We've just completed the renovation of our brownstone - and based on that experience I'd recommend that you delay pulling up any more of the "fake" flooring for as long as possible. The "fake" stuff will actually help to preserve the condition of the yellow pine underneath while workman are dragging equipment around the house and spilling plaster and paint (the more plaster and paint that gets spilled on the pine - the more sanding you'll have to do).
Posted by: Jeff at February 1, 2005 5:07 PM
Keep in mind the asbestos and lead hazzards of refinishing the subfloor. That flooring, the pine tongue and groove was usually the subfloor for the original floor that is no longer there. Floor tiles, which I think I see in the pic were at one time laid in with black cutback that contained asbestos. They look nice though when finished. One trick is to keep the saw dust from the second sanding and mix it with Durham putty. Fill the cracks with rope and the Durham putty/ saw dust mix then sand again.
Posted by: Justin at February 1, 2005 7:31 PM
Yes, this is a pine subfloor. It was never meant to be exposed (it was probably covered with the hardwood parquet strips that you describe on your other floors.) We also had this on our parlor floor for some reason, with finish floors on all of the other floors. We finished ours as well, and it looks great, but someday in the far future will be replacing the hardwood finish floor for better sound insulation, and to match the rest of the house. And ditto to what Jeff and Justin said 1) re: waiting as long as possible to uncover/ refinish and 2) being mindful of asbestos when you do remove the fake stuff. Remove everything with a putty knife and heat, if necessary-- no sanding and/or breakage (the tiles/ sheeting itself also often contained the big A.)
Posted by: Naomi at February 3, 2005 1:18 PM
The parquet floors in my 1898 victorian all had tile tarred to them and on top of that linoleum. I spent months carefully removing the tar using soapy water and a variety of wood scrapers....only to find out later that heavy duty sand paper will take it right off.
Your floors are definitely salvage-able.
Posted by: tspc7628 at February 4, 2005 7:14 PM
We refinished similar floors throughout, and they look fine, altho we hope to replace them with proper subflooring and hardwood within a few years. The sanding was a bear, but ultimately worth it. One room was hopeless (several coats of paint on the floors), so we just gave them a light sand, two coats of new paint and one of polyurethane, and even these look decent. A couple of caveats on these pine plank floors... 1) for those living below, they're noisy, particularly from "footfall" noise. 2) they tend to be soft, even with several coats of polyurethane. Spots that get a lot of traffic from our (large) dog are actually a little dimpled from his nails. I highly recommend pads for the feet of your furniture (dog refuses to wear furniture pads). If you're looking for good equipment, try Miller's Tool Rental & Sales on Coney Island Ave. in Brooklyn. We tried renting equipment from HD and other local rental houses, but the stuff from Miller's was the best. It was well maintained, operated reliably, and a good deal. Make sure to get an edge sander as well as a drum. A hand sander is helpful for corners (don't know if Miller's rents these). Good luck.
Posted by: el_nino at February 9, 2005 2:54 PM
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