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Thread: Am I crazy for not caring about keeping my hardwood flooring?

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    Am I crazy for not caring about keeping my hardwood flooring?

    I realize that it sounds blasphemous, but we are going to be doing a pretty major remodel/refresh of our 1927 house within the next year, and while I have loved the character of this house -- part of it having to do with the hardwood floors, built-in bookshelves, etc., the fact is I'm not really opposed to changing my floors vs. repairing them. A friend of mine just re-did one bedroom with a hardwood floor & it cost $4,000! There are only about two people who work on hardwood floors in my city, and I'd want to use the same person she did. Our floors are in rough shape. I had been estimating about $10,000 for the floors, but then I'd still have to deal with my bathroom tile and kitchen floor. I really think that besides the bathroom, I'd like the same flooring throughout the downstairs.

    I know we're supposed to treasure historic homes and do right by them, but the fact is that someone came along in the 1970's and made several poor design choices that we have yet to undue but that already messed with the integrity of the historic home. So am I awful for wanting to modernize it? Houses in my neighborhood are mostly older, but plenty have modern interiors. I wouldn't want "modern," but I'd strive for an "updated classic," with an eye toward what would make sense even 100 years from now.

    Thoughts? Things I should consider? Thanks!

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    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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    What are you thinking of replacing it with?

    My previous home was a very historic Craftsman cottage, and the previous owners had chosen to put nice carpet down over some hardwood floors that needed work, and that was a decent solution - they had carpet, and putting the carpeting down preserved the floors fairly well until I came along and wanted to refinish them and lose the carpet.

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    Definitely not carpet. Probably tile, although our guesthouse has polished & stained concrete floor that is decently common around these parts & is super easy to care for & probably wouldn't ever feel off-trend like I worry about with, say, wood tile. The other very common flooring here in the desert Southwest is saltillo tile, but I'm not a fan.

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    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    To your point, I usually hate to see the character of old homes replaced with the latest HGTV trend. That said, I think tasteful changes can be made. I don't have any specific suggestions, but maybe researching colors and patterns of different types of tiles that might have been used earlier in the 20th century. Linoleum is an interesting choice--it's so "old school" but has made a modern resurgence.

    When you say the floors are in bad shape, are the boards in disrepair, or are they simply dirty/stained? Could you do the refinish? DH and I have sanded down and finished our floors. It's work, but it's not rocket science.

    I really like the magazine Old House Journal--maybe you could get some ideas online from their website: https://www.oldhouseonline.com
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    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    Depending on the condition of the wood Catherine is right that you can do it yourself. We did just that. No matter what you choose you will probably spend the same amount of money. We put laminate pergo that’s waterproof in our kitchen and bathrooms. We picked a similar color to our hardwood and it looks fine. I don’t like tile as the grout is hard to clean, it’s cold and if you drop something it’s toast.

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    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    Whatever you do, don't rip the old floors up unless they're completely unredeemable.

    A friend's realtor used to call historic houses mucked up to emulate modern standards "remuddled."

    I love the idea of linoleum--we used to have that at the beach, eons ago--and the new patterns are wonderful.

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    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    I think it is a big mistake to do something that damages those floors further. I don’t know what you’re planning on putting on top of them. I don’t know what kind of work they need. people tend to overestimate what they really need.


    On the other hand, we had bits and pieces of 150-year-old pine floors in our Victorian house they were not salvageable. Truly they were not salvageable. I wish the rooming house people had thrown carpet or linoleum over them but they didn’t. Pine is a softwood and is easily damaged.


    Our weekend house in Hermann Missouri built in 1941 has very nice hardwood oak floor in the living room. I am pumped about it! . It needs stripped and refinished but everything is in structurally sound shape. We do not know what the hallway looks like because it’s covered with flooring from the 70s but I am hoping it is that same hardwood. Bedrooms have soft pine floors and those are workable, I plan to preserve them.

    Please I am begging you do not pull up those wood floors only to put down something like the horrific gray hardwood’s going everywhere.


    That said, I looked at a condo I’m thinking about buying in a 1920’s building. Someone renovated it from top to bottom. They pulled out the hardwood floors and put in new hardwood. But they made a good choice, they chose historically appropriate Oak. The boards were a little wider than original. I think it’s weird that they pulled up the old floor only to put in something that is very similar.

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    Ooh, linoleum/Marmoleum is a good idea! JaneV2.0, I know exactly what your realtor friend means by remuddled & I don't want that. Our house already feels remuddled to me (although friends love its character) because of the aforementioned addition (back room addition and upstairs added). I'm going to be trying to undo that remuddled feeling, but really reclaiming the "historic-ness" of the house isn't realistic because of the upstairs, both interior and exterior (roofline & windows). We're in an historic neighborhood but aren't eligible for property tax breaks because it's already been altered by the second story addition. Catherine, thanks for the link to This Old House! I will check it out. When I say old, besides just being worn down there are several spots that need repair, where a board is loose/damaged.

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    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    We took wood out of our closets to fix the bad boards. We didn't care if we had wood in there. Some of ours was stained also but most came out. People comment on how nice they are. The hallway had a huge hole where the floor was missing in about a 5 foot length area. You can't tell now where it was patched. I think having the closet wood was key. Thankfully ours is a hard wood.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Teacher Terry View Post
    We took wood out of our closets to fix the bad boards. We didn't care if we had wood in there. Some of ours was stained also but most came out. People comment on how nice they are. The hallway had a huge hole where the floor was missing in about a 5 foot length area. You can't tell now where it was patched. I think having the closet wood was key. Thankfully ours is a hard wood.
    That's a good idea! I'm sensing I should try to work with what I've got and *maybe* do the floors ourselves. That would save so much money! My husband keeps saying he needs a new hobby, so maybe this can be it! Thanks, all.

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