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1890s 1940s 1990s bath update

11 years ago

First Pic ... the bath the way we bought it: 1990s pinkish-beige plush carpet.

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Comments (8)

lazy_gardens
Original Author
11 years ago
Removing toilet and carpet revealed some badly damaged oak T&G flooring from the 1890s. The area in the corner was like crumbling charcoal.

The toilet had been placed OVER the carpet and carpet tack strips, shimmed in the back, and the height difference made up with at least 3 stacked wax rings.

The wider flooring is the 1890s T&G pine over the original (date unknown) T&G pine on joists ... we think that when the oak flooring was installed in the mid 1890s they partitioned off a few feet of the front bedroom for a toilet and sink to be shared by the two bedrooms.

Then, 1940-ish they moved the partition to make room for a bath tub and did a bad job of patching where the base plate for the earlier partition was.

Fortunately, under the damaged oak the original pine was in good condition ... several layers of old dark brown asphalt-based paint (probably stolen from the mines) saved it.
lazy_gardens
Original Author
11 years ago
Much cursing, prying, chiseling, and 3 metal-cutting blades for my multi-tool later .... I had the wrecked old oak out and replaced it with new T&G oak stained in several different colors for that "instant age" look. This was waterproofed on the bottom before I laid it.

Old pine sanded clean and stained to match the oak. Amazingly, the board height matched perfectly!

This is before any of the Waterlox coats.

Next steps ... replace baseboard and a bit of molding near tub and have the plumber replace the toilet.

NOTE: For small areas, any old nail gun will do, you don't need a floor nailer. It was a bit tedious, but I could tip the gun and shoot 2" nails through the tongue.
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My grandparents were all born in the 1880s and my last grandmother died when I was 12. She'd been in a nursing home for some time by that point so I was very young when I was visiting their homes. Both of my grandfather's passed before I was born. My maternal grandmother lived in an old duplex on Toledo, Ohio's south side--right near the big Haughton Elevator plant where my grandfather worked. Very industrial and I remember the neighborhood being very gray--dark, charcoal gray. There were railroad tracks that basically ran behind the house. During the depression, the homeless men who were traveling as hitchers on the train would stop and my grandmother would feed them--whatever she had--which wasn't much. Mom said that it was a daily occurrence. And there was a bar called The Showboat just a few doors down. Some time during my young adulthood, it morphed into a drag club. I never went there, but it was VERY important to my grandpa. LOL That grandmother had a small, dank kitchen with a freestanding gas (heating) stove, lino countertops with the banded edge, and (I think) green painted cabinets--and not many. It just felt dirty and old to me--much like that neighborhood. My uncle lived in that duplex apartment for more than 60 years. He had cerebral palsy and lived at home and never married. What I remember most about that house was the smell of his cologne, believe it or not. By the time he moved in the early 80s, the apartment had fallen into horrendous disrepair. My paternal grandmother was a charcter--my last remaining grandparent. Some time between 1915 and 1920, they sold their large farm in Tontogany, Ohio and moved to the "big city" of Bowling Green. Their house was a traditional 2 story, white, with a big front porch and two catalpa trees out front. I spent hours playing with the seed pods--"Indian cigars" as she called them. Her kitchen wasn't big, but it wasn't small. There was a wall of cabinetry that faced the country road to the east with a sink and symmetrical white painted cabinets. Certainly no dishwasher. LOL The floors were a speckled lino--all kinds of colors but basically white and the cabinets had black rubber toekicks. There was a typical 1930s wallpaper, red, blue, yellow with forks and spoons motif on all of the walls above white (?) ceramic tile. I want to say that it was banded in black tile, but...I don't know...maybe... There was a breakfast alcove with a wooden table and 4 chairs--always covered with a vinyl tablecloth. I remember a lot of red and white checks...LOL The stove and refrigerator stood by themselves on 2 walls, and there was a door in the back corner that led out onto a breezeway with a dirt floor that housed the old wringer washer and beadboard cabinets full of home canned goods. I grew up eating her quince jelly and peanut butter sandwiches. We had her jelly YEARS after she passed away. I can STILL taste it. And lebkuchen. Always lebkuchen. And on your birthday, she would sit down at the big upright piano in the living room and belt out the most raucous "Happy Birthday" you ever heard. She'd been a piano player in the silent movie houses and was quite good--sitting there in her flowered shirtwaist and gingham apron with her white-white hair pulled into a tight bun.... My mom always told me that I reminded her of that grandmother.... I like that.
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powermuffin
11 years ago
Nice job! It is looking very nice. Please post pics when finished.
Diane
antiquesilver
11 years ago
Great stain matching - no easy feat between pine & oak!
palimpsest
11 years ago
Very nice.
enduring
11 years ago
Very nice, now what are you going to do with the rest of the room? Looking forward to more info.
lazy_gardens
Original Author
11 years ago
Antiquesiluver - I used some tricks for the staining and floor laying.

I didn't really stain the pine. After the dirt and paint was removed, and the old crusty varnish scraped off, it was the color you see on most of the board area. It got a scuff sanding and a light "whoosh" of stain to even out the color. (like a henna rinse for a redhead, not a dye job on a blonde)

You can minimize "grabbing" on pine by wiping it with mineral spirits and then the stain while it's still wet.

1 - Ignore color names, and run stain tests on the new flooring, comparing with the old floor by laying the samples on the old stuff and seeing what blends. Sand and stain just like you will for the real floor.

Doesn't have to match, just blend shades and have the same undertones. For oak, it's shades of golden and reddish brown.

2 - Pick three colors that are close to a match with the existing boards. Match the darkest, medium and lightest shades. For this floor, it's Minwax Golden Mahogany, Light Cherry, and Birch.

3 - Sand and stain the individual boards before installation. About 20% darkest, 20% lightest, the rest the middle shade. This mimics the natural variability on an old floor, where different boards have reacted differently to light.

I shoved several pieces together and sanded and stained them as a group, then took them apart for install.

I had to plane down the strip of new oak next to the pine because it was a teensy bit higher than the pine, just enough to be annoying. The trick is to plane a taper into the top of the new board so the height change is spread across the new board, edge to edge. It's a ramp, but on a tiny scale.

The trick with the toilet stack's hole is to have a long strip running across the front and back of the hole: lay the boards so you have no seams within a foot or so of the hole. Those boards start at the tub and end well past the door opening.

===============
Enduring ...

Clean it and RENT IT! We have a roommate arriving Friday, a grad student. All the student is looking for is clean and functional.

The vanity (to the right in the pics, under the window opposite the tub) is one of those oak things with molded plastic sink/top, which we might paint or do the cheap gel-stain trick on later this year. It's in great condition, but butt-ugly and not as functional as we'd like.

Long term plan is - because this is a bathroom that needs storage and counter space - to build a wall-to-wall single-sink vanity under the window with shelves and shallow drawers.

The overall house is, despite the adobe walls, a very plain Craftsman bungalow, so we're sticking to that woodworking style with NM trimmings and colors.

New Mexico Territorial Style ... I've always liked it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_architecture

Here is a link that might be useful: [New Mexico Territorial Style[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/new-mexico-territorial-style-phbr0lbl-bl~l_43230)
enduring
11 years ago
Thanks for the info. The Houzz link was helpful.

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