Help with hardwood flooring, please!

12 years ago

That farmhouse with smaller rooms and only 8 ft ceiling again! I'm having a hard time with the floors downstairs, and I'm normally a decisive person (truly!). I did find exactly what I want in Andersen Virginia handscraped, but it is out of my price range, as we need about 800 sq feet worth. Here's the criteria. Anyone can think of a brand/finish that might work?
Hardwood (not engineered)
Not too dark, not too light. I am drawn to colors that are warm and evoke terms like "caramel" or "amaretto" or "cognac".
It doesn't have to be hand scraped, but dislike the super high sheen too. It is an old farmhouse after all.
It can't be completely dull/matte, either. Somerset Country for example, I love, but it was way too dull in person.
Any thoughts? I did not think I would have such a hard time with this :(

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Comments (8)

bronwynsmom
12 years ago
Is there a reason that you don't want to do it the old fashioned way, and have flooring installed and finished in place? You could choose the species and the plank width, and control the color and level of sheen.

You might also be able to find old flooring. Nothing would be more in keeping with your farmhouse than planks with some mileage on them.
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madteaparty33
Original Author
12 years ago
you know, that's a good question. The main reason is that my husband would like to install, and secondly I'd like to avoid the fumes (have small kids). I wonder how cost compares...
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You need to do a little more archeological digging still. You need to know the whole construction of the floor before you can decide how best to install something new. I'd take up that plywood piece in the kitchen and see what's under it. It's higher than the surrounding floor, so needs to go. You should also be able to see from there what subfloor is under the original kitchen hardwood. It's too bad the space under your entryway is finished, but I'd still do some exploring from below to see what's under there, and to figure out the fix to stop it from squeaking. Is it drywall below or a drop ceiling? I know it probably seems like a pain to tear out drywall, but if you cut out a clean patch, like 2' x the width of the joists, it'll be relatively simple to repair. Just make sure to cut it down the center of the joists so that there's room to screw the patch piece to it later. Cut the hole under the area that squeaks the most, if you can. Have someone walk on and watch the floor from below to see what's moving. It might be as simple as pounding in a couple shims from below, or face-nailing a loose board from above. You want to find out what's underneath the hardwood. It might be laid directly on the floor joists, or there might be 10" wide boards that the hardwood is nailed to. Another thought is to take out a board in the hallway, since that's not original and you want to replace it. See what the subfloor is there. I am a bit puzzled at why, when you've stripped the kitchen down to the original hardwood, it's still higher than the hallway floor. Is your current surface perhaps not the original kitchen hardwood? Peeling back the plywood area will help determine that. BTW, I haven't heard of that stop squeaking product you linked to, so can't offer any personal opinion. And don't pour self-leveling compound over top of hardwood. It needs to go over plywood.
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Choosing the right flooring type isn't enough for your living condition. You will have to consider the types of cut: flat sawn, rift and quarter sawn, quarter sawn or live sawn. Quarter sawn and rift & quarter sawn will be best choices, because expansion and contraction is along the thickness of the wood. You will need climate control all year round. 70 degrees at 40 % relative humidity is where you want to be throughout the year. The use of a humidifier/dehumidifier will be needed year round. Although, engineered flooring is more stable than solid. Using the wrong wood specie in your living condition can run the risk of de-laminating with engineered wood. If, the top veneer is more or less stable than it's core and backing. You will experience de-laminating in extreme humidity swings. Take in account of what the engineered flooring is constructed of: mdf or plywood. The width of the flooring will account for how much expansion and contracting also. 2 1/4" strips are the most stable. As you go wider, expect to see more wider seasonal gaps. Proper acclimating is critical, should be performed with a moisture meter. For 2 1/4" strip flooring , sub-floor and flooring moisture should be within 4%. For all other widths 2% moisture differentiation is allowed or should not be exceeded. Don't forget proper expansion gaps, which is the thickness of your flooring, example: 3/4" thick = 3/4" gap. Sub-floor type and condition will affect the performance of wood floors. All this needs to be considered for the proper and successful performance of your wood floors.
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Laying the new floor in the same direction as the old floor is not the normal way to go about this. In the building industry, it is more common to see layers that are staggered or "bricked". In other words if layer #1 is laid in a North-South direction, then layer #2 (the top layer) is laid perpendicular to it in an East-West presentation. If you want to run the new flooring in the same direction as the old, you will want to use some underlayment (plywood) over top of the old floor so that you can maintain the "staggered" or "bricked" layering system. That is one way to maintain the North-South presentation. Please work with hardwood flooring professionals who have some experience renovating these old gems. They will have seen what worked....and what didn't. Their experience will be invaluable on a project like yours.
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Site finished (unfinished) or prefinished? Was the flooring acclimated to the home? Moisture readings taken? HVAC running for a considerable amount of time before install? How long ago was it installed? Were the gaps there immediately? How many gaps? How large of gaps? Pictures? Is this your house as your profile states you are a Design-Build firm?
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nini804
12 years ago
Our hw was sanded and finished in place. We have 5" boards, with a matte finish. Our custom stain is 75% Jacobean, 25% walnut. To me, it is a nice medium brown and very low sheen. I really love our floors. I think you would be happy with this old fashioned method.
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cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
12 years ago
Sorry I can't help. I would always go with refinishing the floors in place. You could choose the wood you like (I am partial to white oak with a clear satin finish that would give you the color and sheen you seem to prefer and which I have in my home, but I also love old pine floors). If your husband is handy, I would still go that route. How small are your children? Any chance you could take a vacation to Grandma's for a week once DH is at the point of putting on the finish?
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madteaparty33
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks all. Will research this. Nini and Cyn, any pictures of your floors by any chance? They both sound lovely.
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madteaparty33
Original Author
12 years ago
I happened to stop by at a store today and check out this European wax/oil thing, Rubio Monocoat--I belive this may end up what we do, on unfinished white oak.
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Debbie Laird
12 years ago
We put down Great Lakes hand scraped oak. We purchased it through Menard's when it was on sale, but it is also available online. I'm so glad we splurged (for us) and got what we wanted. I love it!

Here is a link that might be useful: Great Lakes Flooring

This post was edited by lodalady on Tue, Jan 22, 13 at 6:23
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tracie.erin
12 years ago
I have refinished the hardwoods on-site in one area of the house, but the main living area did not have any to refinish, so we put handscraped prefinished from Lumber Liquidators down. Hands down, prefinished was the way to go. My DH was able to do it himself and we didn't have to move all furniture out of the rooms because we could just move it around as needed, didn't have to deal with the mess and fumes, etc.

To make it even better the handscraped look is varied and distressed enough to mask the little scratches that WILL accumulate no matter what you do. The refinished hardwoods, which are in the bedroom so don't even see as much action, look like h*ll already and it's been less than 3 years. I have two 80lb dogs though and got a matte finish on those so you will probably not see that happen quite so quickly as I did :)

I'm linking LL for you, hopefully it is in your budget. Good luck!

edit: I have no affiliate with LL, BTW!

Here is a link that might be useful: Lumber Liquidators Handscraped flooring

This post was edited by tracie.erin on Tue, Jan 22, 13 at 11:31
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Help with hardwood flooring, please!

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bronwynsmom

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Help with hardwood flooring, please!

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bronwynsmom

madteaparty33Original Author

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nini804

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