How much will it cost to restore our old floor?
August 30, 2020 1:09 PM Subscribe
We suspect there is a beautiful old floor beneath a less beautiful new floor. How much will it cost to restore?
We just purchased a beautiful old farmhouse. On the attic level there are these amazing floors that are from the original home. We strongly suspect those floors are hiding on the other two floors but to restore them would mean tearing up some floors that were installed later (presumably to look more “modern” and restoring the original floors to look nice. So I’m curious about what something like that would cost, especially since there are some unanswered questions like:
* are the walls original, and do they extend past this new flooring, or are we going to have to somehow extend those?
* can the molding on the walls be reused, or would we have to replace those too?
* cab floor that exists under newly installed floor even better restored? Or has it been damaged beyond the ability to do that?
* we want this done correctly and not stupidly and are willing to pay a premium for that to happen.
I’m just looking for a ballpark for a room that’s like... 20’x20’. Thanks in advance.
We just purchased a beautiful old farmhouse. On the attic level there are these amazing floors that are from the original home. We strongly suspect those floors are hiding on the other two floors but to restore them would mean tearing up some floors that were installed later (presumably to look more “modern” and restoring the original floors to look nice. So I’m curious about what something like that would cost, especially since there are some unanswered questions like:
* are the walls original, and do they extend past this new flooring, or are we going to have to somehow extend those?
* can the molding on the walls be reused, or would we have to replace those too?
* cab floor that exists under newly installed floor even better restored? Or has it been damaged beyond the ability to do that?
* we want this done correctly and not stupidly and are willing to pay a premium for that to happen.
I’m just looking for a ballpark for a room that’s like... 20’x20’. Thanks in advance.
I have a beautiful old farmhouse with a similar situation. The original pine floorboards in the kitchen were still under there, but the high traffic areas were extremely worn - just in front of the doorway a board had worn from 2 inches thick down to about 1/2 inch. The pattern of where people had walked for 100+ years was extremely obvious, although at least the low traffic areas were in good shape. There was no way to fix the bad areas without replacing boards. The previous owners told me it was unsalvageable.
I had a very skilled contractor working for weeks removing sections of individual boards that were damaged, painstakingly cutting reclaimed pine boards of a similar age, and fitting them in with the tongue and groove of the other boards. I'd say he replaced 1/4 of the floor in total. Then I had the whole thing sanded (very heavily) and finished. The result is gorgeous, unique, and should last a long time.
I don't have an exact figure as it was part of a larger project but for the floor alone I would ballpark $10-15k (CAD, not USD) for a kitchen pretty close to 20x20.
Of course, depending on what is actually under your floor my situation might be totally different from yours. There's a risk that you could pull up the new floor and find something unexpected.
posted by allegedly at 2:32 PM on August 30, 2020
I had a very skilled contractor working for weeks removing sections of individual boards that were damaged, painstakingly cutting reclaimed pine boards of a similar age, and fitting them in with the tongue and groove of the other boards. I'd say he replaced 1/4 of the floor in total. Then I had the whole thing sanded (very heavily) and finished. The result is gorgeous, unique, and should last a long time.
I don't have an exact figure as it was part of a larger project but for the floor alone I would ballpark $10-15k (CAD, not USD) for a kitchen pretty close to 20x20.
Of course, depending on what is actually under your floor my situation might be totally different from yours. There's a risk that you could pull up the new floor and find something unexpected.
posted by allegedly at 2:32 PM on August 30, 2020
I agree, there's no way to know what, and in what condition, the possible floors underneath may be like to hypothesize any sort of estimate. Maybe price what it would cost to have new hardwood put into a room of that size, and assume that's what you'd be doing if what you find underneath is garbage. Plus demo and disposal costs. This is all relative to where you live so estimates from other parts of the country may vary wildly.
It would be very odd to build walls on top of "new" flooring, they need to be anchored to the structure of the house. If I found something like that I would be very concerned about the integrity of any "newer" construction. The best thing to do is have some professionals come out now to look things over and talk to you about possibilities. They'll be considering which walls are load bearing, the quality of existing construction, your local market, &c &c. Maybe also scour the internet for some home restoration blogs just to get an idea what you can find when you start pulling apart old houses. I like Daniel Kantner/Manhattan Nest, though Daniel hasn't been in Manhattan in a while. Here's a couple examples:Thinking About Flooring, Gutting the Cottage.
posted by oneirodynia at 2:33 PM on August 30, 2020
It would be very odd to build walls on top of "new" flooring, they need to be anchored to the structure of the house. If I found something like that I would be very concerned about the integrity of any "newer" construction. The best thing to do is have some professionals come out now to look things over and talk to you about possibilities. They'll be considering which walls are load bearing, the quality of existing construction, your local market, &c &c. Maybe also scour the internet for some home restoration blogs just to get an idea what you can find when you start pulling apart old houses. I like Daniel Kantner/Manhattan Nest, though Daniel hasn't been in Manhattan in a while. Here's a couple examples:Thinking About Flooring, Gutting the Cottage.
posted by oneirodynia at 2:33 PM on August 30, 2020
You definitely want to find out what's down there. If you don't have in-floor heat registers, consider going into a closet (assuming there are any) and removing the new flooring in a corner. Depending on how the flooring was laid, you could also peek up through the ceiling of the basement or the first floor at the underside of the second floor. In really old houses, flooring was sometimes directly laid on the joists, without a sub-floor. But caution is needed, as while the underside will reveal some clues (species, board width), you won't be able to tell how much "meat" is left on the top surface.
As allegedly notes, often genuinely old floors may be worn beyond salvaging. Oak and other hardwoods fair better than pine or fir in this regards. And you only really get two, maybe three sandings/refinishings out of any original softwood floor. If the wear was especially bad, the previous folks may have used a leveling compound (essentially cement) on the existing floor, which would probably make refinishing troublesome.
There may be gold down there, but you really need to find somewhere to take a peek. Remember that if you do your peek in a closet or at a register, those are low-traffic areas.
The walls will not be resting on the new floor. They will have pulled the baseboards up and refastened them at the new height, if there was a new height. Note, though, if they did that and shortened the trim around the doors, that will be another thing to put right.
posted by maxwelton at 3:21 PM on August 30, 2020
As allegedly notes, often genuinely old floors may be worn beyond salvaging. Oak and other hardwoods fair better than pine or fir in this regards. And you only really get two, maybe three sandings/refinishings out of any original softwood floor. If the wear was especially bad, the previous folks may have used a leveling compound (essentially cement) on the existing floor, which would probably make refinishing troublesome.
There may be gold down there, but you really need to find somewhere to take a peek. Remember that if you do your peek in a closet or at a register, those are low-traffic areas.
The walls will not be resting on the new floor. They will have pulled the baseboards up and refastened them at the new height, if there was a new height. Note, though, if they did that and shortened the trim around the doors, that will be another thing to put right.
posted by maxwelton at 3:21 PM on August 30, 2020
Since it’s a recent purchase, can you contact the sellers and ask? Even if you take a peek in a closet or similarly hidden area, you may find serious damage of the original floor once you pull up (and destroy) the new floor. The sellers may be able to tell you what’s underneath and may even have photos.
posted by quince at 3:35 PM on August 30, 2020
posted by quince at 3:35 PM on August 30, 2020
What are the new "modern" floors you are thinking about removing? That makes a difference.
Nails, glue, underlayment, leveling compound?
posted by JackFlash at 3:41 PM on August 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
Nails, glue, underlayment, leveling compound?
posted by JackFlash at 3:41 PM on August 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
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If you have in-floor heating registers, you can pull one out and look at a cross section of your floor. It would help to have a picture of that and a picture of the new floor (if it's a floating floor, that should be easy to remove; if not...)
With care, wood baseboard molding can be removed and replaced. MDF molding will be destroyed when removed. Baseboard molding will conceal a wall gap left by lowering the floor level, but lowing your molding might leave a paint gap on the walls. This can be fixed, but will add to your cost. Alternatively, you could switch to taller baseboard molding.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 1:37 PM on August 30, 2020 [4 favorites]