Can my kitchen floors be salvaged?

10 years ago

Sorry to pester once again with the saga of restoring our 100 yo hardwood floors, but we're at the final decision point of whether these kitchen floors are redeemable.

I've stripped off 2 layers of vinyl + adhesive, sanded till I'm blue in the face with 4 different sanders, from drum to hand orbital, and tried bleaching out the water stains with oxalic acid. With all of the above, I was unable to get out the black stains, water marks, or uneven (splotchy) color.

Here's what it looks like after a coat of Bona Sealer:

There will be cabinets down the 2 sides, so I'm only concerned about the 5' down the center, but it's still splotchy.

And here's a shot of where the fridge will go (upper right corner in photo):

Here's the doorway between the kitchen and dining room. Lots of residual rust spots and holes from the nails in the carpet tack strips and transition piece:

As a contrast, here's a bedroom with sealer and one coat of fresh Bona Traffic poly.

So what think you? It seems my options are:
1. Go ahead and poly it.
2. Put a darker stain on it to cover up/even out the ugly.
3. Paint it.
4. Cover it with sheet vinyl.

Opinions?

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Comments (6)

gregmills_gw
10 years ago
You wont like this but if you decide to stain it you will have to rip off the sealer.

Staining black is the closest thing that will hide the stains. Wont get rid of them but any dark color will help delay noticing them.

Its an old floor that was mistreated you can only do so much. For everything the floor went thru it looks pretty good.
User
10 years ago
If it was mine I would probably be okay with doing some type of diagonal grid with squares glazed darker brown, maybe with a 6" to 12" border separated from the field by a dark 1" strip.
Or it could be painted a plain color. Or after painting it a plain color a pattern could be painted on with complementary color paint. Google painted wood floors and you'll probably get some ideas.
Here's one that looks sharp and would cover lots of flaws:
http://yourhomeonlybetter.com/painting-wood-floors/
OTOH, it's now nice and smooth to install sheet vinyl over.
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Our family is big with recycling and I think salvaged wood is a good idea. Unfortunately, the price of salvaged wood can often times be more than new wood. Why? It is a lot of labor to remove nailed floorboards in demolition. Also, domestic (USA) hardwood timber/lumber prices are depressed due to the very weak housing and remodeling markets and the flood of cheap wood and associated wood products from overseas. You mention the rustic look, and you really need to define that to see if new wood can meet your objectives. Does rustic to you mean knots or mineral streaks or dents or worm holes or color variations, etc. You might not know it from a trip to a Big Box flooring department, but wood flooring does come in grades other than select. There is also #1 common, #2 common, #3 common, wormy, and other specialty grades and cuts. Each lower grade has features that many would call more rustic and certain features are more common in certain species/grade combinations like mineral in #1 and #2 common red oak. Glancing at current listed prices for USA sourced hardwood flooring on the internet for direct sale to consumer or installer, I see new #1 common unfinished hickory strip at $1.89/sf, new unfinished 2nd grade hard maple 4" wide at $2.39/sf, and new unfinished #1 common black walnut strip at $2.69/sf. Also, I have recently seen new pre-finished select grade red oak strip at $2.50/sf on sale at the local big box store. Clearly, new solid hardwood flooring is very price competitive with almost any flooring product and lasts way longer than the more disposable products like carpet or sheet vinyl. A flooring professional could more clearly answer this question, but uneven mastic on the bottom on boards sounds like a big problem from the beginning as it may interfere with getting tight nailing between subfloor and floorboard. Also, what finishes have been used on these old boards over time? There can be some serious compatibility problems with old wax finishes and newer finishes. Whatever is on there will greatly influence what it may cost to refinish. Finally, the finish will also influence the look as much or more than the wood. Have a flooring professional show you samples of various finishes on the wood you end up choosing. Best of luck with the flooring project.
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A better method to stripping the paint, rather than chemicals, is the Silent Paint Remover, just as view2mtn said. I've been using one to strip all the paint from my 1919 house, and it works like a dream, especially if the paint is older. It doesn't allow the lead paint to be released ( I still wear a mask) and the strippings can be put into the garbage for disposal. Just make sure you wear a long sleeve shirt, as I've gotten a few burns from it! It is an infrared machine, and doesn't burn wood, yet releases the grip that old paint has and, in my case I just peeled the paint right off, with minimal need to scrape. A few years ago, when I bought my machine, you could rent them from their site. Good Luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Silent Paint Remover
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I'm going to dissent on whether this is subfloor. Subfloor boards here are generally laid on the diagonal. If they weren't, I would think the end joints would each fall on a joist. That means joints would line up across the room at regular intervals (often 16" apart). I can see joints in the bedroom picture that don't line up. As long as there's enough wood above the tongue and groove these floor should be able to be refinished. I'd caution against filling the cracks. Quite often they're the result of seasonal changes, but more likely were caused by a catastrophic event (or events). This means the floor is likely to be loose. Loose floors will move when walked on and the filler will work it's way out. If you walk on the floor with bare feet (and are weighty enough) and can't feel movement, you can risk having them filled during the sanding process. If the floor does move, the filler usually comes out of the traffic areas first making them look bad compared to adjacent areas where the filler is intact.
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Debbie Downer
10 years ago
Some things Ive been contemplating as Im going thru same process w my old fir with same old black blotches and water stains:

Red or rust (or any color) paint applied to floor (sanded or rubbed off strategically so it looks reminiscent of worn floor and so grain is still visible The general finishes gel stains / milk paints/ glazes look like they could achieve same effect or maybe nicer but haven't yet experimented with them. Would need clear top coat over.

Dark gray or charcoal colored stain - poly over.

If you were to stain or color the wood, I like that the diagonal wood pattern would continue into the kitchen, which is pretty unusual (at least around here - never seen that before).

OTOH - people who are buying a modest but well-renovated house would probably expect and be happy with vinyl - some might worry that they would have to baby a wood floor and f reak out if anything spills.
raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
10 years ago
Did you try waterpopping it before you applied the stain?

I had water stains that mostly sanded out -- my floor was not nearly as bad as yours, but the initial attempt at staining was very blotchy too. Re-sanded (used a pro this time) and they did the waterpopping, then stained. Looks very good now!

How badly do you want to have a wood floor there?
Does a cost/benefit analysis justify pouring more work into it? If not, then vinyl really is just fine!
glennsfc
10 years ago
Good advice from JFCWood for painting the beast. Your floor actually does not look as bad as you think it does. You get cabinets, new wall surfaces and all the rest in the space and the floor will not look bad, unless what you are aiming for in interior design is new and pristine.

As it is now, think of your floor as a possible canvas on which to add paint as a design element. If you've already bought the Traffic, no problem, paint the floor with an acrylic paint and then coat with Traffic when dry.
weedyacres
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. After much consideration, we decided to go with vinyl. I was sorely tempted to try a dark stain or paint, but practicality won out. We've got to move in next weekend, and another couple weeks of mess trying a few more things just isn't as important as the other stuff the house needs. Like a kitchen. :-)

So we ordered some gray tile-looking vinyl and that'll have to do. Oh well, we gave the salvage a good effort.

Can my kitchen floors be salvaged?

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gregmills_gw

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Can my kitchen floors be salvaged?

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gregmills_gw

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