We've hit a potential glitch in our reno plan of our newly purchased prewar apartment. Here's the issue: The floors are all the original, early 1900's white oak variety, the type with thin veneers. Gorgeous borders in every room which we love. Problem is there is a lot of wear, including missing or broken inlays and exposed nail-heads, presumably from years of sanding. We'd hoped to restore these.... [more]
We've hit a potential glitch in our reno plan of our newly purchased prewar apartment.
Here's the issue: The floors are all the original, early 1900's white oak variety, the type with thin veneers. Gorgeous borders in every room which we love. Problem is there is a lot of wear, including missing or broken inlays and exposed nail-heads, presumably from years of sanding. We'd hoped to restore these.
We had a floor guy take a look and he says there's just nothing that can be done to repair the floor properly (apparently the repaired areas would look crappy and also would be likely to just break off again). His recommendation is to just leave it as-is.
Now we wonder whether we should just rip it out and lay down a new hardwood floor. I'd really love any input from those who've done such a thing--cost (I'd say it's roughly 1500 sq ft of wood floor), aesthetics (we really want to keep the prewar look) and any ideas would be extremely helpful!
Again, I'm loath to trash the old floor and start new, but don't like the idea of people potentially tripping over broken areas or babies (or adults!) scraping their feet on exposed nail-heads.
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Response by front_porch
over 14 years ago
Posts: 5316
Member since: Mar 2008
this is a 30_yrs question .. I'll try to find him for you.
ali r.
DG Neary Realty
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Response by villageowner
over 14 years ago
Posts: 43
Member since: Oct 2010
Honestly, if a floor guy says you can leave the floor, then you can leave the floor. They are notorious for telling people to rip out perfectly fine floors for small problems. There is a tool you can use to hit the nailheads back in.
A new floor can be beautiful, but don't even think about trying to do complex inlays--they will look tacky and cost a fortune. A high quality hardwood floor will cost at least $20 a foot--probably significantly more including materials and labor.
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Response by nyc10023
over 14 years ago
Posts: 7614
Member since: Nov 2008
Bramstar: I deeply, deeply, deeply regret ripping up the repairable but imperfect original parquet floors with inlays. There is one room with the original floor left (best shape of lot, but has a long gouge) and I love it. Nothing comes close to matching the striation and depth in color of the old floors. I don't find the exposed nailheads to be an issue.
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Response by bramstar
over 14 years ago
Posts: 1909
Member since: May 2008
Thanks ali and village for your replies. Village--I agree that trying to replicate border inlays can look wrong and also be very expensive--both major concerns. And yes, the floor guy said if it were his place he'd leave the floor along. It's quite a conundrum, though, because we really don't want pieces splintering away hither and thither. Obviously, we'll have carpet covering a goodly portion per the co-op's bylaws, but the borders themselves will not be covered.
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Response by bramstar
over 14 years ago
Posts: 1909
Member since: May 2008
alone, not along ^^^
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Response by bramstar
over 14 years ago
Posts: 1909
Member since: May 2008
thanks, nyc--I feel the same--I hate the idea of ripping them out. It was definitely NOT something we went into the deal planning to do. Our hope was (and still is) to be able to restore the damaged areas.
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Response by NWT
over 14 years ago
Posts: 6643
Member since: Sep 2008
Live with it awhile. With old floors you get lots of slack for imperfection, whereas beat-up postwar parquet just looks beat-up.
The nails are from somebody trying to fix a squeak. There's a pen-shaped metal punch you can hammer them further down with, then fill the little hole.
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Response by needsadvice
over 14 years ago
Posts: 607
Member since: Jul 2010
If you want to actually repair the inlay, it's not that big a deal for a woodworker. For a guy that just slaps down slabs of flooring, yes, it's daunting. For a guy that does marquetry or inlay, it's probably nothing.
I had the same fear for my original brownstone wood floors. The floors were circa 1900's as well and had damage under two radiators which I had removed. I ended up using Inti Interior Finish & Wood Floors after an extensive search. They were the only floor company that actually walked me through a job site where they were doing a similar job. This helped significantly in my decision to get the work done. I uploaded a picture of the floor (it's parquet) after they sanded and a glimpse of the floor after. I was also told the planks were too thin to sand by other floor guys...my guess is they did not want to do the work as it's not easy and requires extreme care. Here is the link:
In case you want to contact Inti Interior Finish & Wood Floors - you can contact at www.intirenovation.com or you can call my direct contact (Carlos) at 646-281-2659.
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this is a 30_yrs question .. I'll try to find him for you.
ali r.
DG Neary Realty
Honestly, if a floor guy says you can leave the floor, then you can leave the floor. They are notorious for telling people to rip out perfectly fine floors for small problems. There is a tool you can use to hit the nailheads back in.
A new floor can be beautiful, but don't even think about trying to do complex inlays--they will look tacky and cost a fortune. A high quality hardwood floor will cost at least $20 a foot--probably significantly more including materials and labor.
Bramstar: I deeply, deeply, deeply regret ripping up the repairable but imperfect original parquet floors with inlays. There is one room with the original floor left (best shape of lot, but has a long gouge) and I love it. Nothing comes close to matching the striation and depth in color of the old floors. I don't find the exposed nailheads to be an issue.
Thanks ali and village for your replies. Village--I agree that trying to replicate border inlays can look wrong and also be very expensive--both major concerns. And yes, the floor guy said if it were his place he'd leave the floor along. It's quite a conundrum, though, because we really don't want pieces splintering away hither and thither. Obviously, we'll have carpet covering a goodly portion per the co-op's bylaws, but the borders themselves will not be covered.
alone, not along ^^^
thanks, nyc--I feel the same--I hate the idea of ripping them out. It was definitely NOT something we went into the deal planning to do. Our hope was (and still is) to be able to restore the damaged areas.
Live with it awhile. With old floors you get lots of slack for imperfection, whereas beat-up postwar parquet just looks beat-up.
The nails are from somebody trying to fix a squeak. There's a pen-shaped metal punch you can hammer them further down with, then fill the little hole.
If you want to actually repair the inlay, it's not that big a deal for a woodworker. For a guy that just slaps down slabs of flooring, yes, it's daunting. For a guy that does marquetry or inlay, it's probably nothing.
Here's a bunch on this list: http://www.thumbtack.com/ny/new-york/cabinet-makers/
I had the same fear for my original brownstone wood floors. The floors were circa 1900's as well and had damage under two radiators which I had removed. I ended up using Inti Interior Finish & Wood Floors after an extensive search. They were the only floor company that actually walked me through a job site where they were doing a similar job. This helped significantly in my decision to get the work done. I uploaded a picture of the floor (it's parquet) after they sanded and a glimpse of the floor after. I was also told the planks were too thin to sand by other floor guys...my guess is they did not want to do the work as it's not easy and requires extreme care. Here is the link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/114504076200629820897/BrownstoneGardenApartmentWoodFloorCirca1900S?authkey=Gv1sRgCMjV69_78dzT8gE&feat=directlink
In case you want to contact Inti Interior Finish & Wood Floors - you can contact at www.intirenovation.com or you can call my direct contact (Carlos) at 646-281-2659.
Adam K.