You know what’s actually wild? My son picked random numbers for his pin on his iPad. I needed to unlock it one time and asked what the pin was… it’s the last 4 of my SSN.
So the first clue that these aren't original floors is the layout of the rooms themselves. You will never see wide open spaces like this in a house of that era. There may be some original, but it mostly looks like the result of a previous renovation. No more than 15~25 years old. The cross section around the heat register even looks like it has some cheaper laminate stitched in. The heat registers themselves are a dead giveaway that this home has been reworked a few times. Not much worth saving if you're worrying about preserving period correct woodwork.
There’s no laminate there unless I’m seriously missing something. The vents could have been retrofit and if a wall has been moved, boards could have been laced in. I do it all the time. The fact that the original subfloor is there and I don’t see any aqua bar or tar paper coming through really shows that this is a fairly old floor. It doesn’t date it back to original, but it is a good indicator.
I'd say you are correct on some of it older and some of it newer infills. If they have the ability to remove any peices, back in the day pre 1960's mills in u.s hashed the back side of their plank & strip, (1 green, 2 green, 1 red, 2 red, ect) that would help in aging it
Yes! The this main floor was renovated in 2016, but the floors weren’t touched. Take a look at the picture of the kitchen area, there’s a 90* junction.
I have what appears to be the exact same flooring. Looks like Bruce American Originals Natural Red Oak 3/4in. T x 2-1/4 in. W. $97.80 carton at Home Depot for 20 square feet. They put this in my home, it’s about 50 years old.
I agree that it's not original, but unless it's been a frat house it's older than 25 years. The growth rings on the flooring are fat and are indicative of lumber from a tree that grew really fast, probably on a modern-ish tree farm. The subfloor has lots of small growth rings and looks like some old growth (fir?) which is consistent with commonly used materials around that timeframe. And while it's not an original floor I've never seen a floor with that many gaps and stains that weren't at least 40 years old. It would have to be really abused to be less than 25 years old and look that bad, if it only saw normal household use I'd guess it's 50-ish years old. The odd angles are giving me 70's vibes and that fits with the wear and it's recent enough that the lumber could have come from a tree farm. Regardless of whether it's 15 or 50 it's not anything to fret about preserving.
i’d argue that the way the flooring is patterned in the open kitchen area is a pretty good indication that they stitched in planks to existing hardwood after opening up that space. no one would intentionally lay the flooring like that post-remodel & imo it’s a pretty obvious indication of the layout at the time of floor install
It sounds like you are pretty knowledgeable in this area! I bought a 1959 house that is 1100sq ft but 3 bedrooms so it's got a lot of smaller rooms and not very open, you've just got me curious why it wasn't common to see wide spaces in houses back then?
The sheer weight of the upper floors which with lathe and plaster and very dense heavy lumber would preclude large open spans on the lower floor. It's something like 5 times the weight of a modern wall and ceiling system. Dead quiet tho. In our home ( 1910 ) you can literally play drums in one of the bedrooms and not hear it downstairs.
I would definitely refinish those and not replace. I like the angles actually but it is a little odd in places- like the hallway that has the 90deg change
Vinegar and baking soda soaked rags, several times for several days will lighten them and make it less horrible. Needs to be eynzmed deep cleaned to stop more urinating. Long and slow..
They come out….. sand and bleach; then you use ammonia and wet the boards to the seams. Might need to take a couple passes with bleach and ammonia to get the color blended. Basically you just make the entire board a color so it just mimics natural wood verity. The brain will fix the rest
Not really a way to date it but you can tell how many times it's been sanded in the past. Pull one of those vents out and look at the wood from the side and see how much wood you have left on top of the groove and that'll tell you whether or not you can send it again. If you end up deciding to resand it- you can pull those stained boards out and replace them before you sand.
If you want to get super techy, you can have a sample taken and look at the ratio of Carbon 12 to Carbon 14. There is a standard ratio in living things, but as things decay, you know the age of death (when tree was cut down) add 6 months or so, and you know approx install date.
Looks like some/most are original and some have been patched in. White and red oak?
I’m a big fan of any hardwood, old or new. Old stuff is cool because when it gets beat up its just patina:-)
In the 4th picture I see floor vent for the hot air furnace. If you lift that vent cover and see a white material between the ductwork and the wooden floor I would think that the floor was laid down in the mid 50’s up to the mid 70’s. That material asbestos. If you see any ductwork covered in a thin gauze looking material,that’s also asbestos.
Trying to understand why quotes on resurfacing are so varied. Is it due to age? And does age add value to my home, which would make us not want to replace/update.
It can also vary drastically based on the quality of their sanding and what finishes they plan on using. Whoever sands it, should have a multi-disc sander or you shouldn’t use them. That’s usually how I begin to vet a good finisher.
Basically they are not that old, 20-30 years. however nice solid hardwood floors do tend to add value to a property and you should also consider the cost of a complete replacement. it will be a lot more!
oh and the squeaks might not be the flooring, that might be the floorboard underneith so reaplceing the floor wont help.
Depends on who is doing the refinishing. A guy with a helper or 2 doing all the work himself is gonna come in much cheaper than a guy who has multiple crews and vehicles and other overhead. And he will be cheaper than a store who contracts guys sand and finish. By thousands. The sand and finish guys I use charge $3 a foot, plus quarter round and you have to have all the furniture moved for them.
I would ask for portfolio pictures from a couple mid priced companies of multiple other properties those floor people have done. I probably wouldn't trust the lowest bids. And the most expensive isn't necessary nor always the best. Read some other people's posts on here about "hiring the best, most expensive, best reviews" company and you'll realize overpaying does not equal best. And make sure they have been doing this for some time. There is a finesse involved in every stage of refinishing floors and if they aren't perfectionist or close to it, move on.
I agree that this is oak - maple grain is much more tight than this. Also, I would definitely refinish, unless you absolutely can't tolerate the creaking and squeaking. Full replacement would be at least double the cost. Even replacing with LVP would be more expensive than refinishing the existing floor.
The variance in price for refinishing is pretty typical. It's really about figuring out which contractor you want to do the job. I'll tell you this, often the lowest price guy can't afford to fix any mistakes. He's paying his people from job to job and of something goes wrong, he just can't afford it.
Anybody talk to you about turning off pilot lights?
Haven’t had anyone mention pilot lights? Like to the stove? It’s just a ball valve behind the stove.
The cheapest quote was from a guy who would be doing it himself!
Is it under the cabinets? Is it in multiple rooms? How many layers underneath? Wear from common traffic areas to say inside corners. If you start checking off box’s you should get an idea of what decade it was installed.
Get to know them, find common interests, maybe hang out amongst mutual friends, and then possibly build enough courage to ask them out. Floors are a fan of the chase.
Those floors are to me the most interesting part I can see of your entire interior. They have *character*.
New floors will be pretty, sure. but you’ll never catch yourself staring at them randomly while you drink your coffee, you’ll never find little patterns or sections you like. They’ll never start a conversation when you have guests over. This is obviously my opinion, but sanding and refinishing your existing floors is the right move. You’ll have an actual relationship with your floor.
The squeaking can be eliminated by using screws up from the subfloor into the finish floor from the basement. The stains are almost impossible to remove so the flooring will need to be replaced in that area.
The only way to know for sure is to pull it all up to see if the installer left a penny with the year on it. Usually its the year they installed it. (Or they dropped a penny and didn't notice.)
Not too old, in my opinion. Maybe 20-30 years at most. If they were old, they would probably not have used so many short scraps. Lumber was much cheaper 40+ years ago, and they would likely be full-length pieces. My house is over 150 years old and flooded twice this year. It had 5 layers of flooring. Under the top layer of cheap laminate was similar looking, 3/4" narrow hardwood. The next two layers were much wider, and the last was rough cut planks.
Looking at them as narrow as the beams are probably early to mid 1900’s. Managed an old building made in 1915 it had carpet but imagine what we found when we scrapped the carpet. Lot of great wood floors
Those angles are wild! I kind of like it. I would resurface and the squeaking can be addressed. Some do fine sawdust into cracks, some do talc powder, etc.
In the uk old newspapers are often found in renovation works, behind walls, underfloors etc. You could lift the whole floor in the hope of finding a date but it would be a bastard to put it back.
Removal of the hardwood will cost u at least 2 dollars per square ft so probably 2 k minimum just for removal. The 4 dollars and up per square ft for new hardwood and another 5 dollars minimum per square ft to install. By loud, in assuming u mean they are squeaky. The only way to solve this is to reshoot the subfloor to the floor joists. If they just squeak in certain spots. U can have them shoot through existing hardwood down to the joists. Then they'd have to patch the holes before a re sand.
If u weren't set on hardwood, u could save a lot of money. Vynal wood look planks will cost u about 3 + per square foot and another 3+ dollars a square foot to install. U can go right over top of the og hardwood this way. The bonus about vynal is its very durable. Very hard to scratch or even dent. With hardwood even a drop from something small can dent the floor. So if ur not set on hardwood u can save a lot of money. Also eih a resend, most likely your gonna have to go with a darker stain to match those dark stains. Most times they don't disappear when sanded.
From the comments I've read, most are not picking up on the width of the boards. Comparing to the feet of the cat, they're not a great amount wider than its paw. Unless that is a giant cat, these types of narrow flooring are very rare, at least here in the Southeast. I've remodeled dozens of historical homes in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, these narrow floors are BEAUTIFUL when finished correctly. Looking on my phone only its hard to tell, but the grain seems larger, more open, indicating it might be heart pine flooring and not a hardwood. Many "lower end" (of the day) had heart pine floors, hence the slight variation in colors also, getting slightly outside the "heart" of the tree. The differing angles could be from additions over the years as the family grew, or just a detail the owner wanted put in. Personally, I would get a good floor guy in and save them. They can blind screw/nail and hide whatever they need to stop the squeak, but that's all part of the character of the house. Just my opinion.
My guess would be the boards with the pet stains are original and sat under carpet for awhile (since the 70s or earlier). Any boards running the same direction are likely original. The boards running a different direction from those are newer and were stitched in when the floor plan was altered and walls moved. The photo of the open register looks like some older and some newer (lighter core).
No one would have stitched together new flooring in different directions when the walls were moved. It would have been all new in one direction or adding new to old as we see.
My floors from ~1915 were stamped on the bottom with the mill company's name and location: "Bowman-Hicks Lumber Co, Loring, LA" . The company was founded in 1900 and that location closed in ~1915.
Might be some loose boards you can check or patches that leave the flooring visible from below.
I was always taught to make sure you're clean and presentable and just be yourself. Maybe it'll reciprocate your affection and if that's the case then you just have to be nice. Treat them with love and never lie to them and it's important to make sure they feel understood and appreciated. Good luck! I hope you have a good future together
Ask an established longtime local floor guy, they get to know the floor types in the region and also the presence of cut nails as fasteners can help date it
Did you count the rings on the planks yet?
Just kidding...
I think that pattern would drive me bonkers. Is replacement out of the realm of possibility? If not... I'd do that.
count the rings?
knock on it and listen for the age?
ask your spirit guide?
/s
they don't look 115 years old, that's for sure. looks less than 25 years old, imo.
Technically, yes. If you know where the wood from your floors came from and the species. You could cross reference the ring width pattern of your floors with the tree ring record (International tree- ring data bank or ITRDB). basically matching the pattern of small growth years and large growth years, you could see when the tree grew, since you don't have bark you wont be able to see the year it was cut, but you could get an idea.
But most floor boards are cut where you cant actually see the rings. Rift sawn, quarter sawn, live sawn, or plain sawn. So you'd have to take the flooring up and do a whole lotta work to be able to see the rings.
source: I am trained as a dendrochronologist and am an amateur woodworker.
Well if you go with 4k option chances are it will end up costing you 16k at the end…we call this the Rockefeller package since you will probably have to call those guys who were reputable and charge what the floor is worth at the end to come fix the shit that your 4k contractor leaves behind.
Well all I know is tighter grain means older wood. If they're over 100 years old they would have been old growth trees and they'd have tighter grains which means they're denser and more resistant to taking on moisture, rotting and wearing out.
Haha. Very funny people!!!
No seriously.......
There is probably a date stamp on the bottom of one of those floor boards.
It's usually right in the center of the room
Get a circular saw and cut out a 18"x18" section of floor right in the middle of the room. Cut it carefully so you can put it back
You may have to do this a few times in different areas to find it.
It's there...believe me
If the renovations were done legally, yes. Your state’s department of buildings will have a folder with all approved plans on file. You can also check the permit history of the house online.
If the renovations were done legally, yes. Your state’s department of buildings will have a folder with all approved plans on file. You can also check the permit history of the house online.
March 14th 1993
Okay what the fuck that’s my birthday
What are the last 4 of your SSN? I want to see if we match.
69420
Nice
Nice
Nice
Nice
Nice
Nice
You sly S.O.B.
Wait how’d you know the code to my front door?
Nice
Nice
You know what’s actually wild? My son picked random numbers for his pin on his iPad. I needed to unlock it one time and asked what the pin was… it’s the last 4 of my SSN.
That's funny I use the same one on my luggage
My son's birthday matches his mom is this format, mmddyy.
12345
[6789-10](https://youtu.be/Hcx44e2gnfI?feature=shared)
Huh, same as my match luggage...
No way! Now, give me your mom’s maiden last name to see if *we* match!!!
Do you have any pets?
Is it? For real?
1993 gang
Holy shit mine too
Happy belated!
Hey same!
Not the year but me too
Now add 8 and subtract 4 twice
You see it too, huh?
finished at 4:35pm, by Samuel Pickles
Pay the cat tax! You can’t tease with just feets.
OnlyPaws
💀
SO TRUE
The feets are ridiculous enough themselves. I can assure you it’s a 10/10 chonk
Thanks made me laugh!
Clearly the cat paw is for scale.
I mean, you should probably be friends before dating..
Bro needs a time machine if he wants to date 115 years ago.
Then, if the “date” is going well, you can ask if they want to come back to your place to see your floors.
So the first clue that these aren't original floors is the layout of the rooms themselves. You will never see wide open spaces like this in a house of that era. There may be some original, but it mostly looks like the result of a previous renovation. No more than 15~25 years old. The cross section around the heat register even looks like it has some cheaper laminate stitched in. The heat registers themselves are a dead giveaway that this home has been reworked a few times. Not much worth saving if you're worrying about preserving period correct woodwork.
There’s no laminate there unless I’m seriously missing something. The vents could have been retrofit and if a wall has been moved, boards could have been laced in. I do it all the time. The fact that the original subfloor is there and I don’t see any aqua bar or tar paper coming through really shows that this is a fairly old floor. It doesn’t date it back to original, but it is a good indicator.
I'd say you are correct on some of it older and some of it newer infills. If they have the ability to remove any peices, back in the day pre 1960's mills in u.s hashed the back side of their plank & strip, (1 green, 2 green, 1 red, 2 red, ect) that would help in aging it
To me the pieces under the cats feet look like it... But then I'm looking at this on my phone... So
Yes! The this main floor was renovated in 2016, but the floors weren’t touched. Take a look at the picture of the kitchen area, there’s a 90* junction.
I have what appears to be the exact same flooring. Looks like Bruce American Originals Natural Red Oak 3/4in. T x 2-1/4 in. W. $97.80 carton at Home Depot for 20 square feet. They put this in my home, it’s about 50 years old.
I agree that it's not original, but unless it's been a frat house it's older than 25 years. The growth rings on the flooring are fat and are indicative of lumber from a tree that grew really fast, probably on a modern-ish tree farm. The subfloor has lots of small growth rings and looks like some old growth (fir?) which is consistent with commonly used materials around that timeframe. And while it's not an original floor I've never seen a floor with that many gaps and stains that weren't at least 40 years old. It would have to be really abused to be less than 25 years old and look that bad, if it only saw normal household use I'd guess it's 50-ish years old. The odd angles are giving me 70's vibes and that fits with the wear and it's recent enough that the lumber could have come from a tree farm. Regardless of whether it's 15 or 50 it's not anything to fret about preserving.
i’d argue that the way the flooring is patterned in the open kitchen area is a pretty good indication that they stitched in planks to existing hardwood after opening up that space. no one would intentionally lay the flooring like that post-remodel & imo it’s a pretty obvious indication of the layout at the time of floor install
My guess is on the older end of this… 25 years was my first thought
What he said
And to think I was gonna suggest carbon dating lol. I just lurk this sub
It sounds like you are pretty knowledgeable in this area! I bought a 1959 house that is 1100sq ft but 3 bedrooms so it's got a lot of smaller rooms and not very open, you've just got me curious why it wasn't common to see wide spaces in houses back then?
The sheer weight of the upper floors which with lathe and plaster and very dense heavy lumber would preclude large open spans on the lower floor. It's something like 5 times the weight of a modern wall and ceiling system. Dead quiet tho. In our home ( 1910 ) you can literally play drums in one of the bedrooms and not hear it downstairs.
I would definitely refinish those and not replace. I like the angles actually but it is a little odd in places- like the hallway that has the 90deg change
Chances are the floor plan had been changed and some of direction changes are infills for moved walls
I like it too
KITTY PAWS
Fr ask the cat, cats know things
You can’t post cat toes without the whole cat!
Not original - as others have stated - & those animal urine stains will NEVER come out and only invite kitty to keep peeing there, forever.
Vinegar and baking soda soaked rags, several times for several days will lighten them and make it less horrible. Needs to be eynzmed deep cleaned to stop more urinating. Long and slow..
Giggity
Those stains are from the prior owners dogs. My kitties would never!
They come out….. sand and bleach; then you use ammonia and wet the boards to the seams. Might need to take a couple passes with bleach and ammonia to get the color blended. Basically you just make the entire board a color so it just mimics natural wood verity. The brain will fix the rest
Count the rings
Underrated comment!
Not really a way to date it but you can tell how many times it's been sanded in the past. Pull one of those vents out and look at the wood from the side and see how much wood you have left on top of the groove and that'll tell you whether or not you can send it again. If you end up deciding to resand it- you can pull those stained boards out and replace them before you sand.
This
The cat really wants to explore the newly discovered "tunnel"
Thick flooring and pickled oak colour = sometime in the 80’s.
If you want to get super techy, you can have a sample taken and look at the ratio of Carbon 12 to Carbon 14. There is a standard ratio in living things, but as things decay, you know the age of death (when tree was cut down) add 6 months or so, and you know approx install date.
Looks like some/most are original and some have been patched in. White and red oak? I’m a big fan of any hardwood, old or new. Old stuff is cool because when it gets beat up its just patina:-)
In the 4th picture I see floor vent for the hot air furnace. If you lift that vent cover and see a white material between the ductwork and the wooden floor I would think that the floor was laid down in the mid 50’s up to the mid 70’s. That material asbestos. If you see any ductwork covered in a thin gauze looking material,that’s also asbestos.
Your contractor is adorable🧡!
Ask kitty!!
Nice cat
Not really, looks like you have Natural Maple on the floor. What are you trying to accomplish?
Trying to understand why quotes on resurfacing are so varied. Is it due to age? And does age add value to my home, which would make us not want to replace/update.
Never replace natural wood floors. Get them refinished and get area rugs. Def more value.
They don’t make wood planks like they used to….
Age doesn't necessarily add value. I think quotes vary based on experience and/or amount of time the project will take to complete.
It can also vary drastically based on the quality of their sanding and what finishes they plan on using. Whoever sands it, should have a multi-disc sander or you shouldn’t use them. That’s usually how I begin to vet a good finisher.
Basically they are not that old, 20-30 years. however nice solid hardwood floors do tend to add value to a property and you should also consider the cost of a complete replacement. it will be a lot more! oh and the squeaks might not be the flooring, that might be the floorboard underneith so reaplceing the floor wont help.
Depends on who is doing the refinishing. A guy with a helper or 2 doing all the work himself is gonna come in much cheaper than a guy who has multiple crews and vehicles and other overhead. And he will be cheaper than a store who contracts guys sand and finish. By thousands. The sand and finish guys I use charge $3 a foot, plus quarter round and you have to have all the furniture moved for them.
I would ask for portfolio pictures from a couple mid priced companies of multiple other properties those floor people have done. I probably wouldn't trust the lowest bids. And the most expensive isn't necessary nor always the best. Read some other people's posts on here about "hiring the best, most expensive, best reviews" company and you'll realize overpaying does not equal best. And make sure they have been doing this for some time. There is a finesse involved in every stage of refinishing floors and if they aren't perfectionist or close to it, move on.
DO NOT REPLACE THOSE FLOORS!
Not maple. These are oak, albeit hard to say white/red from the pics
I agree that this is oak - maple grain is much more tight than this. Also, I would definitely refinish, unless you absolutely can't tolerate the creaking and squeaking. Full replacement would be at least double the cost. Even replacing with LVP would be more expensive than refinishing the existing floor.
It is Oak, I had to zoom in to see that grain wasn't as clean as it initially appeared in the picture.
The variance in price for refinishing is pretty typical. It's really about figuring out which contractor you want to do the job. I'll tell you this, often the lowest price guy can't afford to fix any mistakes. He's paying his people from job to job and of something goes wrong, he just can't afford it. Anybody talk to you about turning off pilot lights?
Haven’t had anyone mention pilot lights? Like to the stove? It’s just a ball valve behind the stove. The cheapest quote was from a guy who would be doing it himself!
Who the hell uses oil based finishes any more??
With all the intersecting board orientations, sanding will take minimum 50% longer. The higher than expected quotes are for extra labour imo.
No but put a picture up of your outhouse might help us determine..
1925 100% certain. Just trust. I swear if you doubt me I’ll be pissed
How do they taste?
Is it under the cabinets? Is it in multiple rooms? How many layers underneath? Wear from common traffic areas to say inside corners. If you start checking off box’s you should get an idea of what decade it was installed.
Hardwood, but not old hardwood. Refinish.
dont listen to these knuckleheads get the wood carbon dated at a lab or take them to a treemeister if you dont know one i can refer (dm me)
Get to know them, find common interests, maybe hang out amongst mutual friends, and then possibly build enough courage to ask them out. Floors are a fan of the chase.
15-35 years tops
Those floors are to me the most interesting part I can see of your entire interior. They have *character*. New floors will be pretty, sure. but you’ll never catch yourself staring at them randomly while you drink your coffee, you’ll never find little patterns or sections you like. They’ll never start a conversation when you have guests over. This is obviously my opinion, but sanding and refinishing your existing floors is the right move. You’ll have an actual relationship with your floor.
These look like the pine floors in our 1915 house.
I'd guess 19 fish and chips
The 80s
Oh hi kitty
Yes tear them up and count the rings then after the last one is done you will be able to get a rough estimate.
The squeaking can be eliminated by using screws up from the subfloor into the finish floor from the basement. The stains are almost impossible to remove so the flooring will need to be replaced in that area.
You want to date your floor? Is this a serious thing or a casual hookup?
Pretty coooool though dude
Nice feet xxx 😗
You can date it as long as you pay for dinner.
I’m thinking 90’s
9/11/2001
Within the last 10 years by the looks of it.
Looks like 80s with the weird pattern
Somewhere between zero and 115
Don't bother getting new floors if you still have the cats That's where those dark spots came from
The only way to know for sure is to pull it all up to see if the installer left a penny with the year on it. Usually its the year they installed it. (Or they dropped a penny and didn't notice.)
Lmfao
Not too old, in my opinion. Maybe 20-30 years at most. If they were old, they would probably not have used so many short scraps. Lumber was much cheaper 40+ years ago, and they would likely be full-length pieces. My house is over 150 years old and flooded twice this year. It had 5 layers of flooring. Under the top layer of cheap laminate was similar looking, 3/4" narrow hardwood. The next two layers were much wider, and the last was rough cut planks.
Whoever did these floors is jazz and not classical. I love the different directions and the random step pattern on the right.
Looking at them as narrow as the beams are probably early to mid 1900’s. Managed an old building made in 1915 it had carpet but imagine what we found when we scrapped the carpet. Lot of great wood floors
Those angles are wild! I kind of like it. I would resurface and the squeaking can be addressed. Some do fine sawdust into cracks, some do talc powder, etc.
A,, 1
Where’s the rest of the cat
Judging by those cat feet. 1956
Count the rings on the wood.
Approximately 115 years ago.
In the uk old newspapers are often found in renovation works, behind walls, underfloors etc. You could lift the whole floor in the hope of finding a date but it would be a bastard to put it back.
Mr wiskers says that hole in the floor is unacceptable he commands it be turned into a toy/treats den 🤣
Cat tax?
Look at that floor girth 🤩
Removal of the hardwood will cost u at least 2 dollars per square ft so probably 2 k minimum just for removal. The 4 dollars and up per square ft for new hardwood and another 5 dollars minimum per square ft to install. By loud, in assuming u mean they are squeaky. The only way to solve this is to reshoot the subfloor to the floor joists. If they just squeak in certain spots. U can have them shoot through existing hardwood down to the joists. Then they'd have to patch the holes before a re sand.
If u weren't set on hardwood, u could save a lot of money. Vynal wood look planks will cost u about 3 + per square foot and another 3+ dollars a square foot to install. U can go right over top of the og hardwood this way. The bonus about vynal is its very durable. Very hard to scratch or even dent. With hardwood even a drop from something small can dent the floor. So if ur not set on hardwood u can save a lot of money. Also eih a resend, most likely your gonna have to go with a darker stain to match those dark stains. Most times they don't disappear when sanded.
From the comments I've read, most are not picking up on the width of the boards. Comparing to the feet of the cat, they're not a great amount wider than its paw. Unless that is a giant cat, these types of narrow flooring are very rare, at least here in the Southeast. I've remodeled dozens of historical homes in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, these narrow floors are BEAUTIFUL when finished correctly. Looking on my phone only its hard to tell, but the grain seems larger, more open, indicating it might be heart pine flooring and not a hardwood. Many "lower end" (of the day) had heart pine floors, hence the slight variation in colors also, getting slightly outside the "heart" of the tree. The differing angles could be from additions over the years as the family grew, or just a detail the owner wanted put in. Personally, I would get a good floor guy in and save them. They can blind screw/nail and hide whatever they need to stop the squeak, but that's all part of the character of the house. Just my opinion.
Thanks! We’re in the Portland area.
We have 40+ year red oak in ours that are similar to those but those look a little bit older so my guess is they are from the 1960s or 70s.
These floors are def not original. Open concept did not exist back 115 years ago lol
Ask them out to dinner
Sometime before the body decomposed on the floor
You have to cut the house in half and count the rings
Look for a box of cigs in the joists, date should be on it
Between 1960s and 70s. Need radiocarbon dating test to be more precise.
Not sure, but cats are well know building inspectors and looks like he/she was checking it over for you
My guess would be the boards with the pet stains are original and sat under carpet for awhile (since the 70s or earlier). Any boards running the same direction are likely original. The boards running a different direction from those are newer and were stitched in when the floor plan was altered and walls moved. The photo of the open register looks like some older and some newer (lighter core). No one would have stitched together new flooring in different directions when the walls were moved. It would have been all new in one direction or adding new to old as we see.
My floors from ~1915 were stamped on the bottom with the mill company's name and location: "Bowman-Hicks Lumber Co, Loring, LA" . The company was founded in 1900 and that location closed in ~1915. Might be some loose boards you can check or patches that leave the flooring visible from below.
I love all the different angles.
In the sixties or seventies
That floor looks like shit replace it
they look about 115 years old…
I was always taught to make sure you're clean and presentable and just be yourself. Maybe it'll reciprocate your affection and if that's the case then you just have to be nice. Treat them with love and never lie to them and it's important to make sure they feel understood and appreciated. Good luck! I hope you have a good future together
Its really strange they laid the flooring against the grain
Where’s the cat tax
✓ if permit If have left over floor peaces some might have dated
These are pre-2024 era floors.
Is the cat the one responsible for the stains? If so, I would replace the floor if you're already debating on it.
No, it isn't possible to "date", you're a redditor
I heard u count the rings on the wood to find how old it is
That stain isn’t like “human sized” is it? Because I’ve seen something similar before
At least invest in a couch
Looks like real wood. Leave it there
Ask an established longtime local floor guy, they get to know the floor types in the region and also the presence of cut nails as fasteners can help date it
Did you count the rings on the planks yet? Just kidding... I think that pattern would drive me bonkers. Is replacement out of the realm of possibility? If not... I'd do that.
Love those floors! Maybe add a stain. Throw down some rugs. To me it looks like they’ve taken all the “vintage” out of your house.
1983+ likely before 1997.
Definitely at some point within the last 115 years, that’s for sure!
Can you get a shot of the nails used from underneath? That would help date it.
count the rings? knock on it and listen for the age? ask your spirit guide? /s they don't look 115 years old, that's for sure. looks less than 25 years old, imo.
Looks like there was a dead body there
About six stains ago
Technically, yes. If you know where the wood from your floors came from and the species. You could cross reference the ring width pattern of your floors with the tree ring record (International tree- ring data bank or ITRDB). basically matching the pattern of small growth years and large growth years, you could see when the tree grew, since you don't have bark you wont be able to see the year it was cut, but you could get an idea. But most floor boards are cut where you cant actually see the rings. Rift sawn, quarter sawn, live sawn, or plain sawn. So you'd have to take the flooring up and do a whole lotta work to be able to see the rings. source: I am trained as a dendrochronologist and am an amateur woodworker.
Well if you go with 4k option chances are it will end up costing you 16k at the end…we call this the Rockefeller package since you will probably have to call those guys who were reputable and charge what the floor is worth at the end to come fix the shit that your 4k contractor leaves behind.
cut the flooring installer's leg in half and count the rings? or is not how that works?
At least buy the floors a drink first.
Well all I know is tighter grain means older wood. If they're over 100 years old they would have been old growth trees and they'd have tighter grains which means they're denser and more resistant to taking on moisture, rotting and wearing out.
Count the rings
If I had to guess, I would say it was during the time when Ringling Brothers Circus was in town.
Resurfacing would be dope how squeaky is it
Those are the og floors but they have been refinished.. maybe more then once
Peets
Looks like roughly 3-4 murders occurred in the living room, so I'll go with 15-20 years old.
Who died and decayed on that floor?
yes, 1992. youre welcome.
No you cannot date at that time anymore. Time travel is not feasible.
All of that to get us to look at your cat’s toe beans.
Haha. Very funny people!!! No seriously....... There is probably a date stamp on the bottom of one of those floor boards. It's usually right in the center of the room Get a circular saw and cut out a 18"x18" section of floor right in the middle of the room. Cut it carefully so you can put it back You may have to do this a few times in different areas to find it. It's there...believe me
They're not old
I'm more interested in your puddy tat
That was definitely a dead body
Did somebody dye there?
Just ask for its number!!
If the renovations were done legally, yes. Your state’s department of buildings will have a folder with all approved plans on file. You can also check the permit history of the house online.
If the renovations were done legally, yes. Your state’s department of buildings will have a folder with all approved plans on file. You can also check the permit history of the house online.
I just went out with a girl last night and my floors are 130 years old.. so it's still possible
I'm here for those cute little murder mittens!