Our reclaimed flooring
DH & I laid the reclaimed flooring we've been making for the last several weeks in our kitchen this weekend.
For some background, in 2010, we purchased a smallish home (circa 1838) in a small town. It was in very poor condition, and likely headed for demolition. We spent the next 5 years gutting the plaster, wiring, plumbing and interior wall layout. Then we re-installed all the infrastructure and new room layout. In the process of all this work, we saved as much of the old lumber as possible. It is a mix of pine, douglas fir and poplar. Once the home was liveable, we sold our home and moved into this "almost finished" home. We've been walking on OSB floors in the kitchen, front entry and mudroom. There are new white oak floors in the upstairs, living room and dining room. We decided the best use for all the saved lumber was to making it into flooring for the kitchen, so it has all the nails removed, planed to a common thickness and a groove on both sides and both ends of every piece. Below are pictures of the end result.
The piece of plywood showing in the 1st photo is where the dishwasher will be later. The whole floor is face nailed with old fashioned cut nails. Next week, I'll begin the process of applying the tung oil, which will darken it considerably.
Hope I didn't bore you folks to death, but I'm proud of the accomplishment.
Lisa
Comments (25)
ldstarr
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Reclaimed wood floors-opinions and experiences
Comments (17)Cautionary note: much reclaimed wood flooring is manufactured by individual mills that are not part of any particular flooring association and thus may not produce the flooring in accordance to accepted standards. 1) make sure your installer is familiar with reclaimed wood flooring 2) make sure to take moisture content readings BEFORE you pay for the product and that it falls within standards provided to you by your installer 3) make sure to take moisture content readings at your house before installation, and compare the readings to other floors in your house. Had I done this, and purchased the $150 Delmhorst J-LITE pin LED meter 2 months ago instead of this week, I would have saved myself several thousand $....See MoreReclaimed flooring to match with wide pine and oak
Comments (3)I wouldn't add a third wood. It will be a "just missed on matching" choppy look and lessen the continuity between the rooms even more so than adding a completely different material. If you can't do the whole downstairs at once in the same flooring, then I'd suggest going with a porcelain tile that mimics brick or slate. And do underfloor heating with it. Daltile Hyannisport Daltile Fransciscan Slate in Terrain Marrone If that would be too hard of a surface for you, then consider something like Forbo linoleum in a vintage look checker pattern....See MoreReclaimed 11"wide pine floors- help with color!
Comments (3)Thank you for the comment, @Sombreuil We have roughly 1600sqft of the floorboards, almost all of which are in good shape (we can see the underside of the floor above since we're down to the studs.) The homeowners of yesteryear actually put down newspaper when they covered the subflooring with layers and layers of linoleum, so they were largely protected in many places. We are hiring a company to pull a denail them- we are not planning on doing this ourselves! The flooring in the kitchen photo above is not really the target color- the cabinets, however, are the color we're hoping for in our kitchen. We are not really looking for a gray undertone, but certainly not a very yellow one. More so something with a bit more richness and a bit darker, which is why I was looking for suggestions from the fine folks here......See MoreFinish for rustic reclaimed floor
Comments (1)Bumping and hoping one of the pros will weigh in, or someone at least with some experience with the Dura Seal will share their thoughts on it. I can't seem to find much on the net about it....See Moresheilajoyce_gw
6 years agoldstarr
6 years ago
lily316