:They can't come up from below (dining room ceiling) cause there's about 6-8" of concrete that the pipes are imbedded in as well as the joists. " Find somone that knows how to preserve things and knows how to work in old houses. There is often no reason to break up an old thick bed tile floor, even with pipes embedded. You put in new pipes between the mortar bed and the ceiling, and just cut off the old pipes where they are exposed and abandon them in place. You may need more than just a plumber to determine how to strengthen any joists he needs to cut though.

The nailing pattern typically uses two lines of nails down the length of the joist about 1/4 of the width in from the top and bottom (larger members might go for 1/3). Each alternate nail in each row is then staggered up about 1 inch to avoid creating to close a line (causes 'zipper' failure along the row of nails). The separation is about the joist height, with nails then added about the middle of the joist vertically and horizontally between the other nails. It does take a pretty significant number of nails to make the members act as one, more than a straight loading calculation requires. The likely lack of any grading on the old wood can be an issue for some AHJs, while others are willing to assume a low grade and go from there. You are likely to find full dimension wood (often right off the sawmill blade), and possibly larger sections than are commonly used now. You may even find wood that still has round features left from the tree.

if u don't want to go the book route, how about a savings bond?? u pay $25 and in 15-20 (i forget which) years its worth $50., i know its doesn't sound like a lot but we did that for our kids since birth. for my oldest it paid half of her college bill in junior year. had the whole family on board and everyone did it when they were too little realize they really didn't "get" anything.. everyone always got them a little something to go with it, so when they we knew they should get presents, they had something to open.. the amounts go as high as $500 i think. did it for every occasion, it really adds up!!! $500 bond, $1,000 in allotted time plus interest if u hold onto them past the mature date....

Engineered is hardwood applied to a good quality plywood. I liive on Cape and engineered is the only way for you to go (in the wood family). I copied this from the Spruce blog; Engineered wood is better than solid hardwood at dealing with moisture. Its plywood base is dimensionally stable, meaning that it warps and flexes less easily upon contact with moisture than solid wood. Fibers in plywood run in cross-wise layers, a far more stable structure than solid wood's parallel fibers. We owned an 1820 half Cape. It came with original wide plank pine floors which were in tough shape. My builder flipped them over and had them refinished. Gorgeous! Next house, same neighborhood, 200 yds from the water. This house was new build and I chose Homerwood engineered hickory in Saddle (refinished, no mess, and no guessing about the color). Gorgeous! 100 yr old cottage sounds so old to someone young, but 1919 is pretty flexible for design, unless you are talking about a distinct/authetic design vintage home. Choose what you like, but that close to the water…go engineered. It won’t cup and you can wet (wrung out) mop it when needed. Use Bona. Our present home, not Historic and came with a pool, I used wood look white porcelain. Gorgeous. Love Newport..my daughter is Navy…Thames for food and shopping, yeah!