Hardwood floor choices in 1940 home

4 years ago

We have added a two story 16' addition to the back of our 1940's home. The front of the house has thin oak flooring throughout. Should I match the flooring in the addition or put new engineered wide plank flooring throughout the first floor. Carpet upstairs. There are so many issues. If we keep the existing flooring and try to match it we'd probably have to go with a darker color because there may be pet damage on the floor once they rip up the carpet. If we do engineered hardwood it would go on top of the existing floor and the builder would have to add more floor base to get the addition up to the right level to be even with the new floors. The new addition has kitchen in it so if we match it to the original floors will all kinds of stains show up? Is having the downstairs wood and the upstairs carpet a bad idea? If we do that the current hardwood floors upstairs that are also carpeted would all need re-carpeted.

Comment (1)

SJ McCarthy
4 years ago
This is dependent on how THICK the existing hardwood is. A floor from the 1940s *might be at the end of its natural life. The average life-span 3/4" hardwood is 60-80 years of service. That puts your hardwoods towards the end of their natural lifespan.

BUT...they are sitting under carpet! Oh goodie! That means it is entirely possible they have 20-40 more years left! And if they do, it is a TOTAL score! Refinishing EXISTING hardwood is the CHEAPEST and the most ENVIRONMENTALLY friendly way to 'floor' your home. A well educated floor refinisher will charge (roughly) $5/sf to sand/refinish an existing hardwood. Even a low-priced laminate is hard to have installed for $5/sf. So keep that in mind.

The easiest way you can do your own check is to find a floor vent and measure the THICKNESS of the wood ABOVE the tongue. It can take as little as 2 minutes to find your answer.

To achieve a full sand/refinish you need a MINIMUM of 3mm of wood above the tongue. If you measure more then you have MORE life in those floors!!!

Let's play the 'what if' game. What if you have life left on those hardwoods. I would personally match the hardwoods and continue them into the addition. The wood will probably be an inexpensive 2" strip hardwood. The ONLY thing you need to do is match the species. Do NOT let the flooring people assume anything. Different areas of N. America received different species of hardwood because mills were local and they used to supply the local builders.

Now, remember that it is SUPER hard to match floor heights from one space to another when dealing with an addition. Your choice for flooring MUST be made BEFORE the addition has begun - or at least by the time they throw down the subfloor. The builder needs to know what HEIGHT the subfloor needs to be to acheive the floor you want.

As for the upstairs, you can do whatever you wish. Two different flooring choices on two different levels is completely acceptable.
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I will make one suggestion. Get your own certified flooring installer and don't use big box subs. You really have no recourse with them (the subs) if they mess it up. We used a Lowe's sub-contractor to install a new electric water heater and he dumped water all over the basement floor when he attempted to drain an old water heater that had sediment into a basement floor drain (BAD IDEA). Of course, the floor drain quickly clogged. In midstream, he then quickly moved to the sump pump well and water was everywhere. He borrowed our towels to clean it up and forgot to return them. I was not home at the time and my wife was busy with our son and it all happened very quickly (high speed is due to low rate paid by the big box store). The only thing Lowe's apologized for and returned was our towels. We were left with drying out the laundry room with fans and a dehumidifier. Never again.
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Your post resonates with me! We are replacing all the hardwood in our new build due to a water leak and the choices are overwhelming. I am soon-to-be 9 grandkids behind you. Mine are 4, 3, 2, 2 and newborn. Lots of activities, trucks, balls, little dirty feet and so much more. We chose to go back with oak for a variety of reasons. Most importantly, hardness and that it is enduring for years. I am unfamiliar with Mahogany, but wonder if it has red tones. We are going back to white oak and I want no red undertones. We have cherry wood on the lower cabinets in the kitchen and they have so much red and it gets more pronounced with exposure to eastern/southern sun. Congratulations on the new grandbabies! We tell our kids they are why we had them!
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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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Hardwood floor choices in 1940 home

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SJ McCarthy

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