Today many are
discovering what could be the showpiece of any
older home; beautiful hardwood floors. How
old are they? Can they be refurbished to their
original appearance is often the thought on many
new homeowner's minds.
Jewels Under That Old
Carpet!
Imagine the look on on the
faces of those that removed the carpet on the
right to find beautiful border work on a floor
that had been covered for years with carpet. Not
only are designs being uncovered (more pictures
below) but older homes offered higher quality
hardwoods such as old growth and quarter sawn
material.
Old growth was harvested
from trees much older than what they mill today,
with many areas now protected from lumbering.
These types of floors show a much tighter grain
pattern due to their age and the number of
growth rings.
Quarter sawn hardwoods,
still available today at much higher prices,
offer a unique appearance as shown in the
example below. Other common types of hardwood
flooring of yesteryear were heart pine also
shown. Notice the tight grain pattern on the old
growth heart pine picture? Then we have our
common red oak many will find in homes less than
50 years old.
 |
 |
 |
|
Older
Quarter Sawn |
Straight
Grain Heart Pine |
Common Red
Oak |
How Do I know What's
Under That Raggedy Looking Carpet?
There's only one way of
finding out...pull the carpet back. To do so
take a pair of pliers, grab a section in a
corner and pull back. Hopefully you will be
dealing with a stretched in type of carpet and
not any glued down types. You may also encounter
holes in the original floor itself that were
used for radiator heating. These can be repaired
with any knowledgeable professional.
How Do I Know If The
Floors Can Be Refinished?
One key in determining how many times the floor
has been refinished would be to look at the wear
layer that is left on the flooring itself. The
wear layer is the area above the tongue and
groove. There have been different thicknesses of
hardwood flooring milled over the years and
their wear layers are different. To check for
the current thickness, one place to look would
be around removable heating register vents.
What To Expect When The Carpet Is Removed?
When wall to wall carpet
became popular in the 60's and 70's, many
hardwood floors were covered up. You may
discover carpet padding that has been attached
with hundreds of staples or adhesive of some
sort. With much older hardwood floors you may
find screws and nails that previous homeowners
used to stop squeaks. Dirt! You may find an
enormous amount of dirt that sifted through the
carpet and padding over the years. Carpet tack
strip will have to be removed.
Don't be surprised to find
pet stains or other similar stains in the
hardwood floor. In many cases these cannot be
removed and replacement becomes necessary.
Replacement from unseen areas such as closets
will insure a perfect aged match. We've also
seen many hardwood floors that were covered with
layers of linoleum that were brought back to
their original beauty.
Some rotten floorboards or
subfloor material may be present, along with
squeaky floors that may require repairing. Once
all the carpet is removed the home will open
up, common sounds will be more pronounced
because the insulating factor of carpet has been
removed.
Another Example Of
Finding That Jewel
The above photos were sent
to us by "catman" who was a regular participant
on our message board, when he found older
parquet and quarter sawn hardwoods in the foyer
of an older home he bought and restored. |
