Curiosity Killed The Cat... And Gave Me Another Project On The House

Getting some work done on the main bedroom (currently using another one until I finish this one), about to do some paint and do a bookshelf, and before I can mess with any of that my curiosity wondered what was underneath this vinyl....

Before I went too far, I did call my buddy that I bought the house from to make sure he didn't put it down himself to cover something up. He didn't, this vinyl is pretty old. 

Looks promising....

3

Not what I had planned to do last night, the curiosity got the better of me, but hey, the vinyl is gone! Check out what's left!

Overall, not bad! The board edges are a little rough, so I think I'm going to need to do a sand and coat. This is the only bad part, but even it might be able to be saved. 

Nice Score!

I've refinished a few strip floors like those that looked much worse and came out looking very nice with only a light sanding and 3 or 4 coats of poly.

If you sand the whole floor, don't cheap out like I did the first time by "saving" money by not renting the small sander for the edges and corners. I assumed my belt sander and DA would be fine. Pain in the &$$! Proper tools for the job are worth every penny!

Good Luck!

Did the same thing and found the same thing in my upstairs many years ago. I refer to it as "Squeak Wood" since in every house I see it you get squeaky areas. I love the period correctness for the house, but really wish it was quieter.

Pete

Nice!

A few years ago, we actually went so far as to grab a load of prefinished oak flooring we'd found on blowout special for the dining room, since it had been a layer of carpet over a layer of rotting carpet, and we didn't care for the brick linoleum which was left after we removed that.

Then when we went to pull it up, we discovered that the brick linoleum was over other linoleum which was over particle board which was over... hardwoods. They had a bit more damage than yours, but still much better than any of the eleventeen layers on top.

Years ago,  I bought an early 50's house with several colors of ugly shag carpet.  Pulled it up and found perfect oak floors - just had to fill some nail holes from the tack strips and blend the finish.

Looks like that corner would be simple to replace with new material when you do the sand and refinish.  Then you wouldn't have to deal with the water staining and rot (?) you have there.

Looks like a real score to me.

I did the same thing, but found huge amounts of termite damage fixed with plywood and covered with laminate and carpet. The project took a little longer, trying to match and patch the 100 year-old red oak boards, but in the end it looks nice and period-correct. Though a bit squeaky, and drafty in the winter.

So, poly or shellac? 

In reply to maschinenbau :

That looks amazing!

Furious_E said:

So, poly or shellac? 

Hahahaha that is the question! Haven't fully decided yet, the other thread (yours?) on refinishing floors provided lots of information for either.

Thanks! I went water-based poly because we wanted a less-shiny finish and the low-odor/quick dry time meant we could move in sooner, but if i were to do it again I would use an oil-based poly for the added durability. You cannot go too shiny with the finish, because they are hardwood floors which means they will always be a little dirty slightly dulling the shine. It already looks like we need another coat. 

Anytime someone complains about millennials, just remind them that it wasn't our generation that put linoleum over hardwood. 

mtn said:

Anytime someone complains about millennials, just remind them that it wasn't our generation that put linoleum over hardwood. 

AWESOME! Also, fake wood paneling up over original plaster walls. Also, painting original real wood paneling. Also, painting real brick walls. Also, also, also... So many sins in the 70s and 80s.

mtn said:

Anytime someone complains about millennials, just remind them that it wasn't our generation that put linoleum over hardwood. 

The house we just got im pulling up the linoleum to find hard wood. 

dculberson said:

mtn said:

Anytime someone complains about millennials, just remind them that it wasn't our generation that put linoleum over hardwood. 

AWESOME! Also, fake wood paneling up over original plaster walls. Also, painting original real wood paneling. Also, painting real brick walls. Also, also, also... So many sins in the 70s and 80s.

Whoa, slow your roll there, millennials are still definitely painting real brick walls (the ones we don't knock down because "open concept"). But completely agreed on the other points. Authentic, vintage, period-correct stuff is super trendy now! Even mid-century modern is making a comeback.

I saw a brown porcelain toilet at my friend's new house, all original 70's interior. Millennials would never buy a brown toilet. 

The condo I bought in 2002 had hardwood hiding under nasty carpet. (It was built in the 60s) My mother was so mad when I showed her the new carpet I had put in.....

While they look nice, cold hard floors that you always have to worry about scratching just aren't my thing. 

AWS - I have a random orbital palm sander that does a nice job at the edges as lon a you pull up the cove base first (that last 1/2" or so will be covered by the moulding.)

Let me know if / when you want to borrow it... pulling the linoleum definitely was worth doing!!

Greg Smith said:

AWS - I have a random orbital palm sander that does a nice job at the edges as lon a you pull up the cove base first (that last 1/2" or so will be covered by the moulding.)

Let me know if / when you want to borrow it... pulling the linoleum definitely was worth doing!!

Definitely going to want to borrow that. 

My next two steps for the room are painting the walls, and building a bookshelf into where one of the windows is. (Well, was, I ripped it out last night.) Then I'll refinish the floor before I build a bed frame and call it done. 

The window in the picture here goes into my "mud room", at one point that was the back of the house, but an addition was added at some point and they just left the window going into the mud room. I took the window out last night and figured out how I'm going to build the bookshelf in its place. Should turn out pretty nicely I think. 

I’m glad it worked out for you. I gambled and lost a few months ago. I peeled up both bedrooms to nice hard wood so I started down the hall to the living room.  About 4 feet into the living room the hardwood was replaced by plywood painted an awful shade of bright pink.