My house has old hardwood with some loose/creaky boards and gaps ranging from 1 to 4mm. There is no subfloor under it, only studs. I am screwing down loose planks with finishing screws, but can’t think of a good way to fasten boards that end between studs (maybe wood glue? Or screws on a diagonal?).
With the amount of repair and gap filling the floor needs, would it be better to simply lay new hardwood on top? Or is it salvageable?
>There is no subfloor under it, only studs.
Are you sure? Older houses in the US commonly had diagonal 1x boards put down over the floor joists and then the finished flooring would be put over the top of that. In that case, the diagonal boards are the subfloor. Its uncommon but possible that the finish flooring is not over anything but the joists, but the boards that end between studs would be absurdly unstable. I would bet money that the flooring in your picture is installed over some other type of subfloor.
Pretty sure. The house was built in ‘55. When screw into areas without a joist (using stud finder) it doesn’t hold the planks down. Tho maybe the subfloor is loose?
First time doing hardwood floors.
Why are screws bad? I’m pre drilling so wood doesn’t split.
See above.
I hate carpet with a passion. I know both refinishing and replacing will be time consuming.. should I just bite the bullet and buy new wood instead of dicking around trying to fill the gaps? I can afford it, but refinishing would be cheaper
I could work with this. If you have a ton of warping and deep absorbed stains then the outlook worsens. At any rate it's going to need a sand and refinish. Obviously just floating lvp is the "get it done" approach.
cannot believe boomers covered this beauty with carpet
Happened inthe first house I lived in, when I was born. Built in 1917, had wall to wall carpet everywhere. When I was around 10 my parents got new carpeting, and when the installers started pulling it up, revealed beautiful oak floors...completely chewed up by staples. All I remember is the installers talking about what a waste it was, and my mom almost crying when she saw it. The stairs were worse. My dad talked to them about salvaging it, but they said it was too chewed up.
All of our houses after that had hardwood floors.
They weren’t chewed up. You just pull out the staples and put in wood filler. Then you refinish them and they are as good as new.
I have found that when wood floors are covered with carpet it actually preserves them better. Decades of having a pad on top protects them from abuse, as opposed to being exposed to kids’ toys, rocks lodged in shoes, heavy furniture, etc.
>Why are screws bad?
nails allow for movement, screws do not
screws can still crack boards and also straight up snap off from wood moving, which is why it's against code to use screws for framing in most places
Not to mention you have a 3/8 wide hole now instead of 1/16 or less.
I have so many questions.
Is this your first diy project?
Why are you using screws instead of finish nails?
Seriously though, screws into hardwood floors? Why?
How do you know there is no subfloor?
Have you crawled up under the house to confirm that?
Do you know how expensive new hardwood floors are?
Do you know how time consuming it is and meticulous you have to be to refinish hardwood floors?
Why not just put carpet over it?
I would call a hardwood floor guy and have him come over, look at everything, and give you an expert opinion.
A hardwood guy is going to charge $4-$6/sqft to refinish it. There, I saved him the phone call.
Get the expensive underlayment and slap vinyl planks on that b***h. Easy job.
If there is not a subfloor I would just start over. Rip everything up and put down a plywood subfloor first.
Then either attempt to put the old wood back or start fresh with new wood or LVP. I would just buy the nice LVP and put that shit down.
>but can’t think of a good way to fasten boards that end between studs
That's because you don't fricking do that. The boards need to be able to move with humidity and heat. You'll just crack boards like that.
You WILL frick this up, you're over your head. You don't even know the proper terms - studs are walls, floors lay on JOISTS.
If it were me - because I have the knowhow and experience, I would carefully take the wood out. Examine it for rot, termites, and warping. Plane what's good the same thickness down to bare wood, restain and seal - if the wood is in good shape you wouldn't need to take much off, and frick scraping the old finish off by hand with solvents. Then examine the JOISTS and add sister JOISTS if needed, then an OSB/plywood subfloor, then re-install the wood. if enough isn't salvagable, then a modern product. And I'd use 2" nails instead of fricking screws.
But here your happy is drilling holes in perfectly good flooring for fricking screws, lol.
It's your floor. Frick it up trying to fix it, because we all know people who fix floors are a israeli plot, right?
Fricking autists, man.
I vote for refinishing it. rent a drum sander and go to town. it's a big project though
why the rage
>If it were me - because I have the knowhow and experience, I would carefully take the wood out.
How fresh are you hoping for this to look? If you want it to look new you're going to have to buy new. I did mine last year quick and dirty after tearing out old disgusting carpet. About the same age as yours, mid fifties and covered in stains and paint. Sanded through the old finish, golden oak stain, two coats of polyurethane. It looks good enough for now, but it's very unevenly colored. Deep stains still show through and it's covered in old nail and tack holes. It's a giant mess and you'll have to remove everything from the room, not walk on it for several days, and vent it for at least a week until the poly off-gasses.
There is usually subfloor under oak wood floors, but I have seen 2 instances when that was not the case, around here it is usually fir floors that don't have a subfloor because the fir is the subfloor but cheap fricks insist on sanding it.
Floors like yours often clean up okay-ish, but there will be stains, the only effective way to combat squeaks is to hammer shims between the sub floor and the floor joists.
Sand off a test spot to see if it will be worth the effort to sand the whole thing, a tearout and replace will be spendy.
It doesn't look bad, as long as it's structurally safe I woul just sand it down and refinish it, Hardwood Floors are great to have, they last very long and are easy to clean
And for the record, it is the nails the fasten the subfloor the the floor joist that are the cause of squeaking, they work themselves out over time and the squeaking is caused when the floor boards rub against the shank of the nail when weight is applied to the area.
Hard wood floors as old as yours are mostly hand nailed at approx a 45 degree angle, they do work loose over time but will cause cracks in the floor, but in my expirence don't cause squeaks.
Looks fine to me, my Victorian pine floors have 5mm gaps in some bits of the floor. It's fine, just don't drop stuff.
I just bought a house built in1958 and it has hardwood floors. Considered doing the refinishing job myself, but it's not for the faint of heart: there's the machine rental, the abrasives in graduated grits, the filler to apply, and then multiple coats of finish. It's a three-day job--at best--for the inexperienced.
Veteran small operator in my area charges roughly $4.50 sqft. Licensed, bonded, insured operator quoted me $10/sqft.
This video channel is a great source of information on technique, materials, etc: https://www.youtube.com/@HowToSandAFloor