Moving in Projects- Hardwood Floors Revealed

Before purchase, and as part of our budgeting I had done a lot of online research, store research and inquiries to estimate costs and create an immediate, 1 year, 5 year, 15 year timeline for repairs, upgrades, and renovations. 

Immediate concerns that we needed to finish before moving in were water supply line replacement, sink replacement and floor refinishing. Additionally I wanted to do any discovery necessary to determine the cause of leaks so that plumbing repairs could be made as necessary.

Day One I began pulling up carpet. I wanted to see what we were working with an how much, if any of our floors could be refinished vs. replaced. I had budgeted up to $5K for refinishing or up to $15K for new floor installations with the idea that if we had to we would only refinish the first floor and stairs  before moving in and have the upstairs completed in a few years based on budget. Two of the four bedrooms had hardwood floors already (even if in moderate to poor condition) and we knew we could stay in either room without bothering or allergies. 

By day 3 I had seen at least half of the floor in all of the rooms with carpeting and had also seriously strained my lower back. My hands were swollen and red, but somehow I couldn't stop myself from continuing to roll back carpet. 

The hardwood reveal was a mixture of excitement, delight, disappointment, and buckets of sweat and dirt and aches and pains. If I had it to do again I definitely would have hired someone to do a lot of it, but in the end I feel like I likely both saved us a lot of money and had some things at a higher level of quality than I would have been willing to pay for.

Let's take a look. First we had great expanses of 30 year old carpet with 30 year old, crushed, disintegrating, glued-by-time-to-the-floor foam padding. 

I started in the "parlor" (front room) and discovered quite detailed wood inlay/patterned borders. I noted that the boards were all top-nailed. My previous apartment in Chicago also had this style flooring and from my research it could be a pain to refinish as the nails either had to be hammered down slightly or they would drag on sanding machines and could damage the sanding drums creating drag lines in the paper, eat through the paper quickly, and potentially leave dark "smears" of metal across the wood. Removing them wasn't easy either as the small brad headed nails often had to be removed one at a time as they would pop right through any wood that was pried up off the floor.  The real determination on which needed/could be done was how thick the remaining wood was. Too thin and it would pop right off the nails or crack at the nailed areas when sanded.

Regardless, the more I saw the more excited I got. Large black areas were disheartening to see as they signaled water damage and I wasn't sure what the wood would be like in this area (and if it would even be salvageable.) I couldn't get to the wood in these areas without using a plastic or metal scraper to scrape back the foam which had essentially glued itself to the floor. I tried to do this as carefully as possible so as not to leave any deep scratches. 

I gradually revealed a good portion of the Front Parlor, Living room, Entry way, Dining room, and a portion of the stairs, hall, front, and back bedrooms.

Damaged wood from Carpet nails/staples surrounding fireplace.

Industrial-looking air intake vent cover and plywood in living room below air conditioner. 

Plywood "lift" under carpeting by livingroom bathroom to hide the raised floor height of the bathroom.

Dining room wood border. Different style than Parlor and Livingroom, but still an interesting design and with long length boards (9ft+)

Dining room fireplace wood surround

Base of stairs- an odd mix of stripped and finished wood as if several carpets ago they stripped everything, then layed carpet runner and only finished the wood surrounding the runner. Also, thousands of staples! 

Master/front Bedroom wood floor. Old and covered with scratches and pain drops. The carpet and padding in this room are older, but don't seem as old as the downstairs and are of a much higher quality. The foam is dense and shows no signs of deterioration. The carpet however appears to have a couple of bleached out stains.

The smallest/back bedroom that we un-affectionately call the "Ugly Bedroom." Dark, cheap wood paneling, poorly stripped and refinished trim with dark gashes and a yellow-green undertone,  industrial style dark green carpeting, and dropped acoustic panel ceiling with yellowing tiles gave it an "unwanted, un-updated 1970's office building" look. Some 1980's style stained glass window panels and curved plantation shudders made for a truly hideous space. The floor when revealed was a dark wood with multiple areas covered in white markings that appeared to be mineral deposits from a leaking chimney and gaps around the walls where quarterround trim molding had been removed when carpet was installed. I was fairly certain it was a gonner. 

I began setting up appointments for flooring refinishers to come out and give estimates.