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Caring for antique wood floors

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Started 1 year ago by Charlie
Latest reply from HeySquare

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Charlie
Victorian Village
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My home in the village has some amazing old antique wood floors. They were probably installed some time in the early 1900's. They got refinished before we bought the place, but over the last couple years I've noticed chipping, gaps in the boards, marks etc.

Other than vacuuming and cleaning with wood cleaner, is there any sort of recommended (every 3/5 year maintenance) for old wood floors. Filling gaps, resealing, etc? I don't want to find out one day that I've ruined these amazing wood floors from not knowing how to care for them. Suggestions, links appreciated.

Posted 1 year ago #
Tenzo
Chicago Lakeshore
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Are they hard waxed or Polyurethane

Poly is going to look a little yellow, like a gym floor and can chip.
Those are best cleaned with a damp sponge with water and a little vinegar.

Hard wax, wont have chips in it but most likely will have scratches.
Those require a little more upkeep but are much nicer IMHO

Posted 1 year ago #
Charlie
Victorian Village
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Tenzo wrote >>
Are they hard waxed or Polyurethane
Poly is going to look a little yellow, like a gym floor and can chip.
Those are best cleaned with a damp sponge with water and a little vinegar.
Hard wax, wont have chips in it but most likely will have scratches.
Those require a little more upkeep but are much nicer IMHO

I'm thinking it has a polyurethane coating, you can see areas that have been chipped and exposed wood. Does it need to be patched or just wait till it gets so bad and strip and recoat?

Posted 1 year ago #
Tenzo
Chicago Lakeshore
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Unless there is visible damage or it bothers you a lot I would do it all at once. The sheen and the color won't match exactly if you try to fix it in one spot.

If there is a strong reason to get just a spot done; you can remove the old poly with alcohol spirits and rub it with fine steel wool.
This will get rid of minor scratches.

Search the forum on 'hardwood floors' there is a lot of good advice and links to good people.

Posted 1 year ago #
chrisgillespie
Short North/Victorian Village
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I'm not sure if the 'chipping, gaps in the boards' may be due to the tongue and groove portions breaking out. We have that problem with ours. It is due to the floors being refinished (sanded) to their limit. Sanding floors takes a little of the floor off each time, and there's just only so much wood there...

If that's what's happening with your floors: Some folks wood fill these gaps when there aren't too many. Eventually (unfortunately), you'll probably just need to replace the floor.

In the meantime, use a microfiber dust mop to pickup dust/dirt. I agree vinegar and water is about the best. I mix it in a reusable squirt bottle, and spray a small area then wipe it off with a microfiber mop head (the same thing that my dust heads fit on). I have also used Murphy's Oil soap with the same technique (mix in spray bottle, squirt on, immediately wipe off with dry microfiber). BTW - Don't try to mix these 2 -- I tried that once to see if I could create a super wood cleaner -- it curdles!

Posted 1 year ago #
HeySquare
German Village
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Good link for general information and minor damage. The gaps in your floors are probably a bit more visible now because its low humidity, and the floors shrink a bit in winter.

http://w3.gsa.gov/web/p/HPTP.NSF/gsagovAllProceduresDisplay/0956002R

And contrary to popular belief... a lot of the beautiful antique wood floors that we so proudly refinish today were considered subfloors when the houses were built. My wood floors are beautiful, but they weren't originally intended to be the finished floor, but rather to be covered by carpet (you can usually tell if you look around the edges of the room... the floor will have lots of little tack holes where the carpet tacks originally secured the carpet).

Consequently, some of the wood used may not be the most durable species. My floors are (I think) a yellow pine, so they fairly susceptible to scratches and dents, and have gotten dinged up by my dogs and my furniture.

Probably the best thing you can do for them is keep them clean, and avoid sanding them unless absolutely necessary (see Tenzo's problem with grafitti carved into the wood)

Posted 1 year ago #

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