Kitchen floor hell
I am in the process of having all the old pine floors in my Bed-Stuy brownstone sanded and polyurethaned. I decided to also do the kitchen, while I was at it. It was old pine planks, covered with 1/4″ plywood, and then glued down vinyl tiles. I ripped up all the plywood and tiles (no…
I am in the process of having all the old pine floors in my Bed-Stuy brownstone sanded and polyurethaned. I decided to also do the kitchen, while I was at it. It was old pine planks, covered with 1/4″ plywood, and then glued down vinyl tiles.
I ripped up all the plywood and tiles (no small job!) only to discover a lot of (old) termite damage, as well as other holes in the floor needing repair. The floor guy (Buono) is quoting me $500 to do the repairs, but is strongly urging me to think about replacing it with a tongue and groove oak floor. He wants to charge me $1200 for this. And I think he still wants to finish it as well? (I’m not sure about this last part – his foreman gave me the info.)
In any event, If I go ahead with the new floor, he plans to lay the floor down on top of the damgaed floor.
So – Questions:
Should I just repair the damaged floor replacing planks as needed? I have the feeling this will not look so great.
Should I have the new floor laid installed? If so – is it better to buy unfinished or finished wood? What is a good one to get, if I don’t like his oak tongue and groove material. And – price per square foot – ball park?
I’m thinking that this may be an invitation to go in a totally different direction altogether, and do ceramic tiles on the floor. If so – should I rip out the old pine floor and put down a plywood subfloor? or just put the subflloor on top of the damgaed planks? What is it likely to cost me to put in a tile floor – assuming decent materials, but not overly fancy/expensive?
Thanks!
If you don’t have time or $ now, just replace as needed and do it later. I would never put a new floor over the old one and it makes me wonder about your contractor. It’s just covering up a problem. Rip it up, (your floor may have to be leveled anyway), check out those joists and put plywood down before any new wood and ESPECIALLY before tile flooring.
I think I still would pull up some of the old pine subfloor and look at the beams. If you see termite mud tubes I would be concern. Take an ice pick and see how firm the beams are. It’s not all that easy to tell that you have active termites when they are not swarming. The last brownstone I worked on had termite problems that were concentrated in a few spots on the 2nd floor. They ate away part of an old finished floor and some of the molding from the inside out. I was surprised when I touched an area of the molding by the floor to see that the paint was all that was left! It looked fine to the naked eye but It was like an eggshell with nothing but air inside.
Anyway, I think if it were my floor and I was putting down new oak I would remove the old pine subfloor and put down a new plywood subfloor.If you don’t, you will be adding maybe an inch to the height of your floor throwing off the look of the baseboards & perhaps forcing you to shave down your doors, You already did a great deal of work removing the old finished floor. Taking out the subfloor shouldn’t be a big deal.
People often lay new floors on top of old. Whether or not that is good is certainly debatable. The plus side of it is that your new floor is going to be really solid, especially if you lay your boards perpendicular to the old ones.
The downside is that will more than likely throw off the balance and look of your baseboard trim, if any, your saddles and thresholds and maybe even your doors, depending on how your house is constructed. You are also laying good materials over bad, which to me is like putting clean clothes on a dirty body.
My kitchen currently has a new plywood floor covering the pine plank subfloor, which is severely damaged under the sink and where previous owners had the refrigerator. The person I bought the house from put the plywood down. I personally hate it, and want to either replace the entire floor with new wood, or pour a new concrete floor over a new plywood subfloor. Unfortunately, I can’t afford to do either right now, so I’m going to settle for painting the plywood for now. They did an ok job with the ply, but had I been around, they would have been much more careful around the edges, and where the radiator is. There are 1″ gaps near the saddles, and dirt and dust are impossible to get out. I’m going to have to put little shims or something in the gaps before I paint.
If your floor is unsalvagable, or if that really isn’t practical, I’d go for new subfloor with new wood or tile.
Original poster, here. Thanks for your comments. I believe the termite damage is mostly in the floor boards. When I had the engineer’s inspection, he came up with some minor evidence of termites – the owner had the place treated for $800 – and then, last week, when I pulled up the plywood and vinyl tiles covering the old pine that had the damage, I had the termite man come out again to look at the damge, both from the kitchen level, and in the cellar. So I think I’m covered.
If I go with the new unfinished oak – is it wise to just lay it down over the old pine planks? I’m concerned I’m losing a bit of height in the room, as well as wondering if this is good building practice? Thanks, again.
I totally agree with Rick, for what it’s worth.
Your contractor (and you, so you know what it looks like) should also check the beams and joists to make sure they are not termite ridden as well. It will do you little good to put any kind of new floor on a bad foundation. He may have to replace some joists, sister some beams, or even replace parts of both if the termites have riddled the wood with tunnels. You should be able to check this from the cellar.
Are we talking about a great deal of termite damage? If so, you better make sure they’re gone. If you feel the floor will not look good patched, I say go with unfinshed oak. If you go with tile I would remove the old subfloor and put a new one down. The last thing you want with a tile floor is movement because the tiles will crack if you have any bounce to your floor.