advice on removing 30-100yrs old wide pine flooring AND...

16 years ago

Any advice on removing 30-100yrs old wide pine flooring AND still be able to use them (in another room)?

I did a search but didn't find anything on REMOVING.

1. We currently have 30yrs old wid pine flooring in the kitchen/diningroom that we'd like to remove and put into the masterbedroom (currently has old carpet). They have the square/rectangle flat-head nails. Each plank is about 16+feet long, and about 10inches wide. They have gaps of ~1/8" to 1/2".

What's the probability of us (DIY) being able to remove them successfully to be re-used?

If not DIY, who do I hire to remove them?

2. My kids got diagnosed w/ asthma and we need to replace the old carpet in their room w/ hardwood. I found someone selling 100 yr old wide pine flooring. Is there any health concerns (for my kids) w/ 100yr old flooring?

We'd have to remove it from their house and install them into ours.

Any advice on this? What should I look for? What is the going rate of such flooring?

Can we refinish these floors ourselves or need to hire out?

thanks for your help,

Amanda

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (3)

tetrazzini
16 years ago
Would sanding the wood floors irritate your childrens' asthma? The fine dust you don't see is actually worse for your lungs than the bigger particles you do.

We paid over $8/sf for reclaimed barn wood (pine) about 5 years ago in upstate NY.

I'm not an expert on removing flooring, but what do you have to lose? Remove a few. The first few will be the hardest, then if you're careful, you might be able to get the rest up cleanly. My guess is that you'll have a % of damaged boards, but you might be able to save most. You can then salvage some of the damaged boards by cutting out the bad parts. We removed a T & G wood ceiling once and my husband did his usual UNcareful job. We still managed to salvage a lot of it. And on the floor you'd have more control.

As for health concerns with old wood, I don't know. There might be lead paint traces on it. There was on our old barn wood. Maybe finishing the floor will seal everything in... I don't know.

good luck!
glennsfc
16 years ago
As long as the boards aren't painted, you have little to worry about.

If the boards are tongue in groove design then remove from the tongue side. You can then easily remove any nails you find in the tongue area. You will have to sacrifice one board to get it going. Careful work with pry bars and small molding lifters will be the ticket there.

Floor finishing need not be a heavy dust event. Practice dust control and you'll hardly notice any sanding was done at all.
Related Discussions
would you finish this old pine floor?
Q
Comments (13)
Yeah, just go for it! People pay good money for antique, reclaimed, and/or distressed wood flooring. No "ifs" - It WILL work, if you do a careful sanding and finishing job. If the sample in the photo is any indication, you'll have beautiful honey colored floors and IMHO, removing them does compromise the authenticity of your 150 yr old house. It will look "rustic" in the sense of being old, but not in the sense of being rough or crude or grungy. I just re did my old pine floors on its last legs using Bona Deeptone sealer + Mega poly finish and it exceeded all expectations. Others may suggest using Waterlox or some other easily renewed finish (I would go the latter route if your floors are still reasonably thick - I only went with the poly because mine were sanded down by PO to the tongue and groove and there was still poly on it in places - so I was pretty much stuck with poly) Don't use drum sander, don't get hung up on it looking "new" or unblemished but do sand enough to brighten the wood, take out surface scratches and stains and smooth to a silky smooth feel. The buffer or orbital sander using a higher grit would do it - maybe start with 80 and end with 180-240. If hiring it out, make sure they're in tune with the concept of antique floors and not into extreme sanding to make them look new. Some guys are, but some aren't. They are not making 150 year old old growth flooring anymore and leaving it/preserving it is really the best thing esthetically and in terms of dollars and sense. Law of supply and demand right? Yes soft woods will dent but just a little care is all you need - remove shoes, go over with a dust mop periodically to pick up dirt and abrasive matter. The wear your family puts on it just becomes part of its history - and having an easily renewed finish means you'll just re-do it periodically without it being a big deal.
...See More
Farmhouse Kitchen-- Advice on Flooring?
Q
Comments (31)
plllog-- don't worry about overstepping-- any advice is good advice. I am coming into this only knowing how to rip down wallpaper and paint (which will come in handy), but that is a pretty short list of remodeling skills considering the undertaking at hand! I appreciate the question about the cooktop-- I was considering a down draft (I realize they are not as efficient as a hood, but a hood isn't an option). The floor joists are exposed underneath in the basement, so I am not sure what is technically involved with running the downdraft vent, but I don't think it will be too hard. (I hope.) I also agree with the short wall-- I have been thinking about it, and I agree that it would be a good idea to extend out the wall a couple feet there so that the countertops and cabinets have a logical end point and it is closer to what it originally looked like. I will wait on the trim until I find something that matches. Thank you ajpl and pickles--I am excited to look at the subfloors. This was something I didn't even think was a possiblity. (p.s. I really liked your kitchen, pickles) As for the vinyl tile removal-- I read that if it is done with the floor wet and you pop off the tiles with a tool that has a huge scraper attached to a long handle (not sure what this tool is called), that you can minimize and asbestos in the air-- then double bag and find a suitable landfill. Some people have told me to just install a wood floor over the vinyl tiles, but I don't know what that does to the baseboard trim. I read that the companies that do this charge an arm and a leg because of the repeated- exposure insurance they buy for their employees. Anyone have thoughts on this? Cleo, I have thought a lot about cork, and it one time was going to go with it, but I have read that it is a little fragile (needs to be sealed a lot and often?)and prone to fading. Also, it seemed like every pattern I liked was pretty expensive. Also, alittle OT, but if soapstone is too expensive, does anyone know anything about stained concrete countertops? Thank again, everyone :)
...See More
Make new wood floor look old? Wide plank wood floor.
Q
Comments (22)
We lived in Florida. Wood moves with the seasons, so glue would not allow the movement. Since we laid the floors ourselves in 1997, am working from memory here. We had plywood subfloor down then stacked the flooring in the air conditioned house for several weeks. We face nailed only. I really wanted an antique look and we used cut nails. All those are hammered in by hand. After all the flooring was installed, I mixed two colors of MinWax stains, Puritan Pine and one other ( memory fails me) in a one gallon paint can (new empty cans are sold by paint stores and Lowe’s) so my color would be consistent. No one else can be in the house for over a week while the staining and oiling are being done. Authentic Pine Floors gave me a formula for the finish I mixed in another unused gallon paint can, but I think I would use straight tung oil now. Tung oil must have five or six applications with sufficient drying time between coats. This cannot be rushed. We used tung oil on the cherry floors we laid two years ago in the kitchen of our current house and love it. Our Florida house had carpet upstairs for noise control, so I estimate we had over 2000 square feet of pine floors. My sister used the same material for her house in the Midwest 16 years ago and the floors are still beautiful. My daughter has about 3000 square feet of the same flooring, finished the same way. We all have dogs and active lives. Some people age their floors by dropping chains onto the surface, spreading sharp gravel on the floor and walking around with work boots to scratch the floors, or you can (with extreme caution) roll burning logs onto the hearth area to put a few scorch marks. Then stain and oil the floors. We did none of that at any of our three houses, preferring to let the floors show our history. All wood moves with humidity. It is not much, though. It certainly is not huge gaps.
...See More
Over 200 year old heart pine floors
Q
Comments (45)
The example you provided of the same floor in your neighbor’s place, sanded & finished is definitely still historic and looks good. It’s still the original floor, just a little less rustic/industrial looking (and nicer to your bare feet). The purpose of the building has already changed, it’s not a rice warehouse anymore, after all. You are allowed to make it liveable. You won’t be ruining the history of the place by doing that to the floor.
...See More
huango
Original Author
16 years ago
egganddart49 and glennsfc: thank you very much for your responses. They're very helpful.

Our floors are not tongue-groove; just planks nailed down. So hopefully that would help reduce the amount of damage from the removal.
My concern is that the Masterbedroom is just about the same size as the kitchen/dininroom area that these wood planks are covering. So if I have a lot (or even a little) damage, I'll have some empty parts in the masterbedroom. Well, I'll just try to group the empty spot in the walk-in-closet area, and I'll use another flooring material or something.

Is removing wood floor and reusing them anything like removing kitchen cabinets where it's recommended to number them, so you know which goes where, etc?

I'd appreciate all your tips, etc.
Thank you.

(We decided not to get the 100yr old wood.)

advice on removing 30-100yrs old wide pine flooring AND...

Comments (3)

tetrazzini

glennsfc

Related Discussions

huango
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

advice on removing 30-100yrs old wide pine flooring AND...

Comments (3)

tetrazzini

glennsfc

Related Discussions

huangoOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

huango
Original Author