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Pulling up a floor. Sheet goods on top of 1/4 underlayment. Under that is 3/4 strip red oak. It looks like an older linoleum or VCT tile floor had been direct adhered to the oak but was removed.
What’s the liklihood of the red oak being restored? Sand? Scrape? Do I just have to do the whole thing to see what comes up in order to know?
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Replies
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Hi D.
No, the oak should sand out quiet well, but it will require a large drum sander and edger.
The drum sander, if not used properly can leave severe gouges. You may want to get a couple of quotes first from floor finishers.
Good Luck
Gabe
*One thing you might want to check before you get too excited is how much wood you have left above the tongue. If the floor has been sanded too many time in the past, you might not have enough wood above the nails to sand. - just a thought - yb
*To add to Gabe's comment: More than quotes from floor finishers you want to get references. There are a lot of things that can go wrong quickly while running a large sander.To add to YB thoughts: Someone covered that wood up for a reason. Hopefully because linoleum was trendy at the time. But it might have been because of water damage or because it had already been sanded down to the limit.I've pulled linoleum off of oak flooring that took some oak up with it. Try a test area before commiting yourself.
*Dscott,
Joseph FuscoView Image
*Thanks for the input guys.It's mom's house. Originally DR had been oak (I remember dad doing Fabulon on it when I was about 5) and K had been linoleum over 3/4 or 5/8 ply over T&G subloor. In the 50's dad knocked down the wall between the two and I think VCT went over both rooms. The '73 remodel pulled the VCT and put down a 1/4" underlayment with Armstrong Cushiontone on top in both rooms. (Remember the '70's? Popular floor, went with the avacado appliances).So, pulling it all up and getting to the oak in the DR and the subfloor in K is easy. The question is how do I really know the DR oak will come up well before I go ahead and put down new (hopefully) matching oak in K. I'd hate to put the new stuff down, piecing in the transition between new and old, and then find there are water marks or glue down stains that won't come out of the old portion.I spose the old could be pre-sanded, then decide. If it's OK, install the new portion then sand it, hoping there's not too much thickness difference to be taken out at transition. (By the way there appears to be ample thickness above tongue in the old floor). Preference is to have a pro do the sanding and finishing. I'm open to installing the new oak myself or having the pro do that too. But this could turn into a lot of inefficient coming and going and mom making decisions in between. Craftsmen around here are so busy they may not be too interested in a small job of that sort, so I need to be prepared for doing it myself.Any more suggestions.
*Dscott,
Joseph FuscoView Image
*Thanks Joe. Yes, I think I'll run several strips or a plank 90 degrees to the run of the two rooms at the transition. (Some of it will be covered by room dividing built-ins anyway.) I've done that before and still have the router bits I set up to cut grooves in all the butts so I can slip-tongue it all together. A subtle color difference won't be a problem. And that way I don't need to deal with staggering in all those strips across the width of the room.That narrows it down to making sure there are no objectionable stains in the old floor.
*Warning! Animal urine stains run deep! (must be those open tubes in red oak Adrian was talking about.) - yb
*Project Phase 2.Sheet goods and underlayment are up. Floor underneath is suprisingly good shape. 2.25" strip as anticipate but white oak rather than red. No stains and suprisingly little adhesive. That 1955 Fabulon finish is suprisingly slick.Today's question: the floor is full of nail holes from the undrelayment having been fastened. The floor will be natural or light stained. I guess I could go around and overdrill the thousand or so nail holes with a 3/8 forstner bit and cut white oak plugs to be sanded flush (I'm tired already). A little concerned that wood filler won't go beyond surface deep or remain firmly adhered in those small nail holes. (As an aside remember when Plastic Wood (TM) was solvent base with those crushed or disolved fibres it it? That stuff would adhere to anything. Today's more environmentally friendly version seems a poor substitute. Anybody have a similar observation?) Anyway, any suggestions?
*D, there still are solvent based wood fillers out there. Don't trust the can for a color match... get three "likely suspects" and try a swipe and varnish. Use the closest regardless of the color name. Try: http://www.nofma.org/buyersguide.htm for a listing of oak flooring manufacturers. You may need a "SEL & BTR" grade to match the older flooring.
*Thanks George. Picked up the Select white oak strips yesterday after checking the color of a sample. I'll install a 6" white oak plank as a transition between the new and old fields of strips (have it left from another project).I just also saw some solvent based filler. I'll take your suggestion and try a few different ones.
*Here's the follow up. New floor down in white oak. Color will not be exact but close. All transitions handled to make a clean break.Tried four different solvent based wood fillers. None were a good color match. The old section was full of nail holes from the underlayment of the sheet goods that were removed. They would have looked pretty sad in a contrasting color. Most likely will be natural or very light stain. Wound up cutting 1/4" plugs from white oak scraps and over drilling each nail hole with a 1/4" forstner bit, gluing in the plugs and sanding flush. (Yes this was DIY not a job for hire!)Final sanding and finishing to be done after rest of project, but anticipating a good final appearance.
*How many of those little plugs would you say you did?
*Something in the range of 360. Including cutting the plugs, drilling the holes, installing the plugs and sanding them flush it probably added 3-4 hrs. to the job. Would have killed the profit in a fixed price for hire but this was DIY. Certainly less additional time and material than ripping out an otherwise good floor and reinstalling new oak. And the biggest consideration, that many holes would have looked awful if there was a color contrast with wood filler. I got a couple that were close with one potential top coat but 'popped' out with another, so there was too much chance of bad look to risk it.