Just got a floor

[renor27]

A friend was tearing up the oak floor in their 1930s cottage and said I could have all the wood. A lot of it is broken but think there will be enough to redo the floor in my 250 sq foot cottage. Will go with an Art Deco pattern dark on the out side light inside the pattern.
Any ideas for patterns will be looking @ all my Art deco books and maybe even as far back as Maybeck for ideas.
Has any one ever recycled a floor any tips for me.
Planning to clean the floor then stain it this winter and when I have a break from school next summer ( 2008 ) the do the job.
Thanks for any info
David

 

[MrNewportCustom]

Heck of a way to get a floor!

1/2X2 or 1/2X1-1/2? Those were the two most common sizes back then. Either way, I don't envy the job you have ahead of you, what with removing staples and such. How many times has it been sanded and refinished? Can you post a pic or two of a piece from a couple angles?


Lee
___________________

I've warehoused and worked the order desk for a hardwood wholesaler for almost nine years now.

 

[renor27]

board size

it is 2 1/2 wide x 1/2 thick
Has been sanded a few times
Plan is to take it down ( by hand ) to bare wood the stain some a very dark color and some very light then seal it with the stuff they use on gym floors. have two dogs they do not wipe their feet. Used that stuff on a ski lodge hardwood floor years ago ( 20 ) an even with the cold and water from ski boots still going strong and the floor is ok.
The cottage is all of 175 sq feet so is not that big and got all the nails out as I took it up.
just going to be a fun project and will my place look great when its done.
David

 

[Viviene]

renor27,

I'd love to know the name of the product you're going to use to seal the floor. We have all wood floors in our home.

The previous owners had paquet floor tiles out in the shed and DH and I stripped them apart and got unfinished oak flooring in strips to do the living room floor. Then we stained it and polyurethaned it. It's due to be stripped and re-done. We have lots of pets and two children so the sealant you speak of sounds wonderful.

 

[renor27]

sealing floors

i know it as gym floor got it @ a real paint store NOT @ home depto
Ask your local high school about what they use on their gym floors and where they get it
Funny story about the product
20 years ago I worked for a lodge in the Sierra that was owned by the Sierra Club they had pushed to get the product band in California epa thing but could still buy it in Nevada. So my boss told me take the company truck came down from the high Sierra go to Reno Nv ( sin city, run by red necks and ranchers with guns in their trucks very unPC ) and buy the gym floor for the lodge. So guess an example of do as I say not as I do.
Like I said after 20 years still holding up
David

 

[MrNewportCustom]

That is an old size, renor. We don't even carry that one (unless we have some stored away in one of the deep, dark corners of the warehouse), and we've been in business since '46, and have five branches in three states.

Let me clarify that a sealer is not a finish, it's a treatment before finishing. You can use any sealer you want (choose a quality one, please), but it's the finish that makes it stand up to everyday living.

Bona Kemi makes a gym floor finish. I'm trying to remember what it's called - Ah yes! It's Bona Sport!

Sanding it by hand may leave it looking uneven when finished, because even with a drum or belt sander on a floor that's down, it's never a completely even sanding job; some areas get it more than others, and since you won't know which piece adjoined which (and exactly where), you'll have what is known as "overwood" (when one edge is higher than the one next to it) in places. So, you might want to get a wood flooring scraper and scrape away the edges that are high, thus leaving the edges even more uneven, but looking distressed. That'll make your floor look even more vintage.


Lee

 

[$ally]

Oh my, I hope you post photos. One of my childhood friends back home just did something similar in her vintage home, so I'll direct her to this thread. She's not very internet-chat-ity though.