Good Old Floor!

The carpet in the front parlor and living room was pulled up as planned.  There were some really bad planks that had to be replaced.  Every plank was checked and shored up.  The floor is now solid.  This was the floor the house was built to have in 1840.  Back then, floors were painted and plain.

This is the same section I showed with carpeting a few days ago.  The color we chose was "Antique Brown" and we are very happy with it.  The boards in front of the fireplace tell us that the mantel here was for a working fireplace and not just put up for show to cover something up.  That would make sense since it lines up with the chimney that serves the boilers.  This would be a great place for a gas insert and it can be easily vented and the gas lines would be very accessible via the cellar.

Here's the big picture of the floor and room.  We have put down an area rug but I snapped this picture before that.  The room is simple, which is how we like it.  Now that the floor is back I can't see it ever being covered up again.

What's Next

The rug in the front of the house has to come up.  The original pine plank floor is under it.  A couple of planks need to be replaced.  The rug was put in for a tenant who complained that a lot of cold air was coming up through the basement.  For energy conservation, the barrier was needed.  But it's seen better days and has to go.

Now-a-days there is this bubble type of insulation which we are going to put up under the floor, between the joists.  The floor will get painted again.  These old floors were always painted.  We never opened the other side of the door way that held the pocket doors, so we're going to try it just on the minute chance that both doors are in there.

The historic landmark application mentioned the floors that were under the rug are important, so that's why we are going to expose them.  We'll post pictures of the project and just hope it really can be done.  Sometimes you don't know if something is possible unless you try but unfortunately, not all things are possible.  But we aim to make this work.

Stay tuned....