We’re removing a couple interior walls. The house has all wood floors. What are the options for replacing the wood where the walls were? I can’t exactly put a bunch of 5″ blocks in the empty spaces. Do I have to remove existing and replace with longer boards? We’re trying to keep costs down (who isn’t?)
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“Have you seen my baseball?”
Replies
There's no way the hardwood strips are going to line up exactly enough from room to room. It'll be less expensive and faster to demolish whats left and start over than to try to patch where the partitions were. You might be able to save some flooring runs at the beginning of the project depending on your layout.
Gently pull up all of the flooring strips and carefully stack them in one room..when construction is done then start over relaying them down room by room. Most likely you will wind up one room short.. there you can either buy a new room full of hardwood flooring and lay that down or you can put carpeting etc. down in that room if pinching pennies is your highest priority..
Yes you will have to resand and refinish all the flooring!
All depends....
is it 3/4 T&G?
was there existing flooring runing through doorways in the walls you removed...in which case the flooring from room to room !might! line up well enough to peice new in....
are you making a "great room", such that you can't put a piece of wide plank into the space where the wall plates were?
Unless the existing flooring is pretty special stuff, tearing it all up & saving, then re-installing + some additional new to fill out the sqaure footage is both labor intensive & not likely to look good...it's not easy to pull up a traditional 3/4 T&G, lots of damage to the toungues & grooves on the salvaged pieces, & you have to deal with all the re-finishing (uneven stain from new to old, etc.
good luck.....
Oh & BTW, you could put 5" blocks in...I've seen it done...I appreciate greatly that you wouldn't!
I agree that 5" blocks are not the best choice, but...I think you can do a lot of nice things to dress up a patch job in this area. I once worked on a house where they use a mixture of slate tile and oak endgrain blocks to spice up the transition. The pattern spilled out into the two rooms slightly and I would bet that the average person would not notice that it was a patch job.Maybe you could integrate something really special like the floor that Jim Blodgett installed.
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=50238.1
Jon Blakemore
following up on what Jon Blakemore said, you may be able to turn the patch into a design element, even if it means removing more flooring to make the result look planned. For example, if the patch runs down the middle of the now enlarged room, try a strip of contrasting flooring and carry it around the perimeter as well. It should be easier, cheaper and/or better looking than some of the alternatives.
Thanks for the replies.
Yeah the strip will be right in the middle of the room.
Excellent options presented so far. Now its a matter of which to implement-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Have you seen my baseball?"
smslaw has a good idea, how about a very wide piece of walnut/chestnut? Wide enough to fill in the whole space with one board, dark (less noticeable, just like patching), very wide, might look very nice-
you know, that really didn't click until you mentioned it again Rick. I think that is a great option. I like that!
Thanks -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Have you seen my baseball?"
post some pics when you're done-
will do. In fact I will post threads/pics as the our renovation progresses-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Have you seen my baseball?"
I widened an opening in my house, and one of the wall ends I removed had a cold air return. I made my own register out of red oak (to match the floors), and then I also made another dummy one for the other side. I used some roofing felt underneath the dummy one so they both are black when looking in.
Please see the attached picture.
While that is another great option Ravz, floor registries weren't/aren't a part of the typical Florida Bungalow. But thanks ;-)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Have you seen my baseball?"