Painting Notes · 2023-05-04 · 3 min
Why Replacing Historic Hardwood Floors Is Often Unnecessary
In pre-war apartments and brownstones, refinishing or patching old hardwood usually beats tearing it out. Here is how to tell.
What an old New York floor is made of
Floors in pre-war apartments and brownstones were laid by carpenters who had good lumber and took their time. Oak is the species you meet most often. Maple and pine turn up too, especially in rooms that were not meant to be seen by guests.
Many of these floors are narrow strips, often only a couple of inches wide, nailed tight to the joists. The boards are thick. That thickness is the reason an old floor can be sanded several times over its life, where a thin modern floor cannot.
Why the floor you have is worth keeping
The wood in an old floor grew slowly and has been dry for a century or more. It is stable. It does not cup or gap the way a lot of new lumber does in a heated New York apartment.
Matching it is hard. A new floor in the same room will not have the same grain, the same color, or the same character at the edges. In a landmarked or well-kept building, the floor is part of what the apartment is.
When refinishing is all it needs
Dull, scratched, stained or gray floors are usually a finish problem. The wood underneath is fine. A full sand takes off the old finish and the top layer of wood, and the floor comes back to bare, clean boards.
Cupped or slightly uneven boards can often be flattened during sanding. Small gaps between strips are normal in old floors and can be filled or left alone, depending on the look you want.
When patching is the answer
Water damage under a radiator, a pet stain that went through the finish, a section cut out for old plumbing or a wall that moved: these are local problems. They do not call for a new floor.
A crew cuts out the bad boards and weaves in new ones, ideally of the same species and width. Reclaimed wood from the same building is best when it is available. After sanding, a well-done patch blends into the field. It is always more cost effective to refinish or patch sections when needed than to rip out a whole room.
How sanding and finishing go
A proper sand is done in passes. A coarse grit takes off the old finish and levels the boards. A medium grit removes the scratches from the first pass. A fine grit leaves the surface smooth enough to take stain and finish evenly. Skipping a pass shows up later as swirl marks.
Edges and corners are sanded by hand or with an edger, because the big machine cannot reach them. Dust is the enemy of a good finish, so the room is vacuumed and wiped between steps and before any coat goes down.
Stain, if you want it, goes on after the final sand. Then come the coats of finish, with a light scuff between them. Oil-based finishes tend to give a warmer, amber tone. Water-based finishes dry faster and stay clearer. Each has a place, and the right one depends on the wood and the look you want.
When replacement is truly needed
Some floors are past saving. Rot that has spread through a section, serious insect damage, or boards that have been sanded so many times that the nails or tongues are showing: these are real reasons to replace.
A floor that is badly sagging may also point to a problem in the subfloor or the joists. Fix that first. Laying new wood over a weak structure only hides the problem for a while.
What to ask a contractor
Ask if they have worked on pre-war floors, and what they do when a board is too far gone. A good answer starts with patching, not with a new floor.
Ask how many sanding passes they do and what grits they use. Ask what finish they recommend and why. Ask how they handle dust and how long the floor needs before furniture goes back.
Ask what happens if they open the floor and find something they did not expect. A straight answer, in writing, before the work starts, tells you a lot about the crew.
From Downtown Painting & Flooring, a painting and restoration company with its office at 176 Broadway, Suite M-E, New York, NY 10038. Questions about your space? (917) 724-6816.