In my madness, I decided to use the walnut floor from my original living/dining room in the new master bedroom. The walnut was installed in the 1980’s, on top of original Douglas fir. Because it was added on top of the original floor, there is a small step up when entering the living room.
It was a brief moment of madness, but once I’d started pulling up the walnut, I was stuck with that decision.
Pulling it up went fairly quickly and easily, although my knees are barely up to the task these days. I suffered for several days afterward.
Under the walnut was a brown tile, made to look like wood. Why not install wood-like tile over a wood floor. Makes perfect sense.
Yes, probably asbestos. I removed it quickly and it’s out.
Under the brown tile was linoleum. It has a diffused pattern, so only discernable what it is from a distance. It did not come up in a single piece or I might have entertained using it elsewhere. Yes, I’m odd. But the centre had been glued down with tar-like substance, so it came off in small pieces.
And underneath is beautiful 3 ½” Douglas fir. And now there is no height differential between the hallway/living and kitchen/dining room. All the same Doug fir.
There are spots that will need replacing- where boards are splintered and the like. And there is a real soft spot at the bay window. There is clearly insufficient structure to support the floor in that spot. Good thing I have not sealed under the bay window completely! I think I can remove the insulation, restructure to provide support, and then replace the insulation. You can see in the photo below where the exterior of the bay window was never properly sealed or insulated. The silver is where I installed 4″ rigid foam last summer. Before that it was only the baseboard that protected the house from the outside under the bay window!!
I think I will be happy with the fir when I have a chance to refinish it. Right now I’ve got it covered with brown paper, while we wait for the addition to be done and we can move our living space over there. The chore list does not get shorter.