Hello All,

Neat forum you got here.

I am in the process of renovating the main floor of my house. One thing that I am considering is extending the hardwood from my living room into the adjoining kitchen area.

The house is 52 years old, and has original hardwood in the living room. It is 3/8" x 1 1/2" oak (says "Dixie Brand NOFMA on the back). It is in quite good shape, and does not appear to have been refinished. Previous owners have gone to extraordinary steps to install carpet over top of it. One thing they did is they screwed drywall screws through it about 5" inches apart along every joist. As well there is some water damage in the front porch.

I am not expecting to make it look brand new, and, in fact, like the character of older/imperfect hardwood floors, including the squeaks. I would like to save it, and so have a few questions:

1. My wife likes dark hardwood. Would staining it a darker color before filling help to hide the screw holes throughout and water damage in the front porch?

2. Is it possible to find matching hardwood? What might be some typical local places I should look into?

4. Would I be better off installing new 1/2" or 3/4" hardwood in the kitchen or look for an exact match so I don't have to worry about thresholds or transitions between the 3/8" and new stuff?

5. A carpenter friend suggested when I take the drywall screws out that I should try and push some 30 min. epoxy in the hole to try and keep the floor from squeaking. Does that make sense?

6. Is this all a waste of time? Is working with old 3/8" worth the time (hope so)?

Any and all observations/comments are welcomed. Thanks a bunch.

Ken

I don't see much 3/8" T&G, especially in a 1&1/2" width. Most likely, you will need to have it custom milled. Try calling around to the local flooring distributors to see if they can help. As to your ?'s:
1) Stain it the color you like. A dark stain will help cover dark flaws. Those puttyied screw holes will show no matter what you do.
2) Answered that.
3) Stock flooring profiles will always be less expensive than custom mill.
Odds are color, grade, and grain pattern will not match that well.
4) Try removing screws and see if floor squeaks. If so, try your friend's idea in a few spots to test his idea. Don't fill the hole up and prevent you from being able to apply correct filler/putty.
5) A thin, creaky old floor? Not my favorite! Depending on size, I would look at the cost comparisons. The cost of removing all the floor and replacing with new unfinished 3/4" #1 common strip VERSUS the cost and difficulty of trying to match the existing floor. Good luck!

Are these thin width and thickness boards in a pattern or are they laid straight in full strips?

Is this an engineered ply product or a true solid?

Thanks for the responses guys.

Your input definitely helps.

Just to answer your questions Floorguy:

They are laid straight in full strips and are solid.


I am thinking of tearing out the 3/8" and then replacing the whole floor area with new 3/4". I'm assuming that 3/4" is worth the extra expense over 1/2"?

I have roooms upstairs that if and when I expand on the floor area up there, I can use the old T&G from downstairs up there, maybe.

Thanks again for the help,

Ken