Time to start recycling wood floors again

Last summer we started fixing our wood floors.  We reclaimed vintage wood floor boards from houses that were being torn down, found some at a restoration warehouse, and used what my father years ago tore out of the house I grew up in. Then we stripped them and installed.  No professionals needed...just good friends to help with the gunky work of cleaning the boards and a father-in-law willing to crawl around on his knees.  Thanks Dad! Here is what they looked like right after being torn out of a house.  Really icky in the tongue and groove area.  But as you strip them it's incredible how the natural beauty just seems to leap right out of the faded boards.  Now that the rain has stopped and we've got some warm weather consistently, it's time to strip this load that's left in my garage from last winter.

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Here is what our floors looked like when we bought the house about 6 years ago.  The living room was covered in a really gross carpet that had to go. When we pulled it up we found the original wood floors in pretty bad shape with water damage and plywood cut outs.  We also found that our house had no subfloor under the dining and living rooms. Just one layer of the original wood floors. Our house was built in 1918 so it's worked but we noticed some sagging and soft spots. We strengthened from the underside and decided to use the original floor as the new subfloor. We didn't feel too bad as we are putting in wood floors just as old and even older in some cases.

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Last summer and fall we completed the dining room and most of the living room.  We were just a few rows shy of being done when the cold weather hit. So, we called it quits for the season. You can see the new old wood we are laying over the original floor. Again, we did it ourselves with no professional help. This will take a weekend finish up.

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Before we called a halt last winter we completed the dining room floor. We decided we liked the natural beauty of the wood.  This is quarter sawn southern heart pine. It's beautiful. What a shame for this kind of lumber to end up in landfills! We sanded and then put 4 clear coats over it. It's super tough and has stood up to lots of wear already. We are going to do the same in the living room as the two rooms connect via a double pocket door and then the floor will look seamless. 

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