You may recall that the upstairs in the Monday House had a finished floor but no subfloor, which made it rather “springy” underfoot. So the pine flooring was removed and a thick subfloor installed.
In the meantime, downstairs, the old floors were covered in layers of linoleum and tile. These were left in place during construction to protect the floors from damage.
Now it was time to lift out that lino and see what was there.
Ta da !
Houses from 1902 tended to have pine floors in the living area in the expectation that the centre portion of the room would be covered with linoleum sheet flooring. The uncovered perimeter was painted red or dark brown. Initial inspection showed the pine wood plank floor to be in fairly good condition.
But, there were numerous “springy” sections, indicating damaged subfloor below (dry rot will weaken the boards even though they look intact when viewed from the basement looking up).
Bits of the pine flooring were removed to check what’s underneath. In wet areas like the front entry, damage was extensive:
Those wide planks forming the subfloor are wide:
Similarly, in the kitchen had a lot of rotting subfloor. This must have been noticed years before, because it already had a plywood subfloor laid on top of several layers of tile floor on top of linoleum …
So all the pine wood flooring was trashed…
and a new plywood subfloor will be laid on top of the existing board subfloor.
Another unanticipated expense.
Meanwhile, Bill has started unwrapping the baseboards and door trims removed weeks ago at the start of the demolition, and subsequently stored in the attic.
He examines each piece, pulling old nails out through the back of the boards (to reduce damage to the front face of the boards) and scraping off ridges and lips of paint and old wallpaper.
These are then re-bundled by room, and set aside for re-trimming and installation once the new floors are installed later this week.
Upstairs, Courtney has installed the chrome sluter strips that mark the edge of the tile going around the shower and bathtub shown here:
I wish I had the money and skill to be able to do this stuff. We are fortunate that we are only the third owners (each of the first two owners, children got the house after the initial purchaser) and the house is pretty intact, including the wood floors (which do need a polishing and sealing — we do get splinters from time to time). Our house dates to 1929 and is a very very simple bungalow. Nothing really craftsman about it, including sadly the porch. But for the most part it’s awesome from our original seafoam green double sideboard kitchen sink, to a deep tub in the bathroom in matching color and a 1930s Magic Chef oven. Our upstairs is semi-finished, with some flooring but it doesn’t go all the way to the edge. I don’t know about subfloor there, but the floor is solid in terms of walking.
Good luck. Great that you’re committed to sympathetic and empathetic house fixing.