A hundred year old house would have had narrow width floors almost without exception where I live. Narrow was more fancy: more refined, more cost in labor etc. There are very large houses here that have the narrow flooring in the "public" rooms and the wider stuff was reserved for the utility areas and lesser bedrooms. (Some of them saved money in some rooms by putting narrow boards around the perimeter and a wider in the middle where it would be covered by a carpet).

All of this is evidence to me that narrower is the "more correct" good flooring for houses of that period. There is a Lot of 19th c housing stock here, much of which gets gut rehabbed (because of necessity really) and to me, one of the things that says "All New" is the wider, prefinished floors.

I have a strong preference for site finished. You do a variation on the history above and do site finished on the main floor and prefinished on the upper floors and go for a good match on the stain color. (there will be fairly obvious differences in the final surface).

I would fight for site finished for certain. This is a restoration and that is what was there so that is what should be restored or replaced. Prefinished will not last another 100 years like the originals did. I actually think your home probably did not have wider planks originally, for it is to young for the wider planks, so if you want to be true to its history stay with the thinner width. But if you like wider and are willing to spend the extra for it, l think that will be an upcharge, than go for it. Good luck.

This post was edited by roarah on Sun, Jan 25, 15 at 11:58

That makes sense, palimpsest. The closets and 3rd floor all have wider fir boards.

Just to clarify, are you saying we should do site finished on the main floor and pre-finished on the top 2 floors?

Do you think we can get away with that if the stairs are going to be sanded and stained on site? I'm worried about matching. We don't have a main floor bathroom, so guests do go up to the second floor making it more of a public space than in many homes (more than I would like).

Ideally the whole house would be site finished, but personally I don't think it would be an unreasonable compromise with the insurance company if they balk at all site finished, to do prefinished upstairs. Insurance companies are primarily in business to make money, not pay out money, so they are going to present you with the lower cost scenarios. My insurance company's painting allowance was no where close to what I customarily paid for painting, for example.

You would have to select the prefinished color that you liked first and try to get the best match on the site finished (which could be tweaked if necessary). I think the stairs would still provide a reasonable transition between the two even if they are site finished (they would be site finished regardless of what the rest of the floor is anyway).

Daisy, I think the insurance company should pay out to make your house whole again. You can decide how to appropriate those funds to save money after the settlement figures are agreed upon, but you should fight for all wood floors which need to be replaced to be replaced at the cost per square foot of what is equal to that which was there prior to the fire, which was site finished hard wood most likely.

Thanks roarah (we must have been x posting). I agree. There are a lot of heated debates about the two, but I just am not swayed by the pre-finished arguments.

So far the insurance company has been very willing to pay to keep the character of the home. I have heard so many horror stories, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. We are just at the beginning of the process so maybe we've just been lucky so far. We also seem to have an amazing adjustor which I'm learning makes a world of difference.

I should probably start another post for this, but I am also debating whether to keep the coffered ceilings. You can see a tiny bit of them in the above picture. They go across the entire ceiling. They are quite spectacular and people often comment on them. However, they are dark and heavy and make the room dark and heavy. I'm not convinced they will look the same redone either and am worried they could end up looking "off" against the original wood work. They would probably cost a fortune to redo, but are on the spec list. Should we trash these and save some money?

I would probably try to keep the coffers. If they are damaged, it could be a reasonable reason to paint them although I would never suggest painting them otherwise.

I agree with Pal, try to keep what is there even if that means painting. So sorry this happen it is so heartbreakig, even when no one is hurt.

Daisy, as far as stain options for floors, if you do get approved for site finished you can decide on the color after some of your other finishes are figured out. So I would wait till you know which way you will be going.

It's weird. I have trouble picturing them painted. A friend suggested I paint them years ago when I first started talking about trying to lighten up the room. I can't seem to wrap my mind around it. We'll probably keep them, just because I tend to side with tradition and character. Even tho I love the look of painted woodwork, it almost makes me cry to contemplate it (but would if it was damaged).

Thanks roarah, I appreciate that a lot. I am slowly getting over the heartbreaking part and heading into, "oh my gosh, we're going to get everything fixed" - even stuff that was broken before the fire.

And while I know it is going to be a ton of work, it will all get done at once with someone else doing the actual labour. We had no money for labour when we bought the house and have spent 15 years with me doing most of the painting, patching, sanding floors, etc. little bits at a time. I do my best, but things are always a bit wonky at the end. It will be kind of nice to have smooth drywall instead of crazily patched plaster.

Also, we had an idiot do our bathroom and kitchen remodel. He hired his cousin to do the tile and he screwed it up badly. Now we can get that all fixed. I was never sure they properly reinforced the bathroom floor for our extremely heavy cast iron tub and was always waiting for it to come crashing through the kitchen ceiling. Now all that will be taken care of. Definitely lots of silver linings.

You have a beautiful attitude and I know you will have a beautiful house again soon!

I'd definitely try to get site-finished floors. I have prefinished, and they're nice, but just not quite the same. And yes, I'd keep the coffers--they're gorgeous!

Glad to hear there are some silver linings to this ordeal. I hope it all turns out better than ever.

We live in a 1902 built home. In that period narrow hardwood was used in 1st and 2nd floors. Most homes of that period used oak for flooring, stained medium to dark. Ours has fairly dark floors. In some cases, oak would would be used in the downstairs where it would be seen by company and cheaper pine would be used upstairs.

The staining of oak in that period must have been a regional thing. I've had old homes in the Twin Cities and Chicago - no stain ever on these floors.

Daisy, the public rooms that guests would have been in are the best wood. Family only rooms - take a step down. Third floor/attic - lower quality yet.

For our homes, that has meant oak, maple, and old growth pine.

I would push for the site finished if that's what you want. Our insurance company that priced out our hardwoods gave us extra for the site finishing if we wanted. We had an allowance and if we wanted more $$ we would just pay the diff.

I agree with pushing for the all site finished if you want it. I am not a fan of mixing the site finished with the pre-finished if it can be avoided, and think you would be compromising somewhere in color, grade, width, or something to get a good match. That being said, if you absolutely must do pre-finished somewhere, I'd do it in upstairs bedrooms rather than where the stairs meet the landing/hallway upstairs.

Good to hear you have some silver linings in all the re-construction. All the best of luck to you as you continue to move forward!

Am also in the middle of a fire restoration. They should pay to replace what you had, with you paying for any upgrades. I did site finished on the 1st floor and prefinished (wire brushed) HW upstairs.

I would not hesitate doing site finished again.

Good luck.

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your experience mdln. Are you getting close to the finish line?

I just came from a meeting with the man who is making the spec list and he agreed to site finished for all floors. We are going to try to save the floors on the 3rd floor as they weren't damaged by fire. Luckily the smoke smell doesn't seem too bad and I'm pretty confident that with refinishing they will be fine. He was really reasonable and seems to be making alt the changes we asked for.

One tiny step closer to our finish line. l