Preparing The Kitchen For New Flooring
Back in 2014, I discovered the original maple pine flooring in the kitchen under numerous layers of later flooring, including 1930s Fred Flintstone linoleum. I pulled up some of this but most of it remained in place ever since. Now though, The Other Justin will soon be installing a new maple floor in the kitchen as the original flooring is in Very Bad Shape. Alas. The original boards have wide places between them, and the perimeter edges had massive termite damage. The latter though has now all been infilled.
The huge temporay island I installed a few years back had to go of course. But not having a sink in the kitchen proved, immediately, not fun. So, in the niche which originally held the dumbwaiter and laundry chute, another temporary sink has been installed. Small pleasures, Ellie. Small pleasures.
Of note is that, rather than tear up the 1894 maple flooring and taking it to the dump, I decided to leave it in place. The new flooring will be laid atop it. This means that, perhaps 80-years from now, somebody might discover the 1894 flooring and have the wherewithal to somehow restore it.
In short: better to cover over rather than discard.
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Before covering over, be sure to treat the original flooring against future termite activity.
A good cleaning before covering it over will also help preserve it.
Hey Ross – I have pine flooring in my kitchen too. When I bought the house it was covered with tar and black and white linoleum squares. Since the floor couldn’t be saved, I opted to just cover it in travertine. A much more beautiful option. 🙂
I recently purchased a house that was built in the 1890s (we think) in Somerville, MA and it has the same Flintstone flooring in an entryway! I started following this blog this summer, and when I saw that I saw it as a good omen. Thank you for all of your writing – it has brought me joy through the pandemic, and it is inspiration for how to restore/rejuvenate our old house.
Covering the original flooring is a great idea. Imagine the fun some one in the future will have discovering this.
To the kitchen! Yeah for you! 🙂
Maple kitchen flooring is a great choice. Our WV hill country town is in lumber country, and local coal industry warehouses were floored with hard maple T&G seconds. When the warehouses came down in urban renewal, I salvaged truckloads, and after hours of unremitting toil, de-nailed, relaid and sanded it to floor our 12’X30′ kitchen, overlaying worn pine. Poly satin finish has alas worn out after 25 years of herds of company, international students, cats, dogs, mopping, etc. Mirabile dictu, the maple is so hard that it does not stain, is maintained by a weekly Pinesol mopping and has taken on a silvery-tan sheen more attractive than the original poly. It no longer looks like a “new floor made out of old wood”and I have no plans to refinish it.