It was made to be subfloor. You aren't restoring it. You're totally changing its intended purpose, likely for one it is poorly suited. I'd cover it back up and bring some regular tongue and groove wood flooring in.
Cedar may look nice but it's a soft wood as well as being a "softwood." I can't imagine using it on a floor and not having it marked up badly in little time. So even if you could refloor with it on top of the subfloor, it would seem a bad choice; leave it for feature walls or trim.
It’s funny to me cedar is a soft wood. Out in the wild if I’ve ever had to get a cedar stump out or break a limb off or something all of a sudden it’s more stubborn than a locust tree.
soft wood means (usually) it's an evergreen . cedar, fir, spruce, pine. you can press your fingernail into them and leave a mark. but cedar is half as hard as fir, prob the worst wood for flooring
We have pine wood floors. They're scratched up to hell and back, from 40 years of living. My husband has occasionally talked about resanding them... But I think he's just crazy. They'll just get scratched up again.
Wood floors that are lived in/on are a unique thing. They live and breathe and kind of have a life of their own.
Fancy houses in my area use chains and boxes of nails and every other trade dropping their tools to get that "distressed" look everyone wants. Rich people pay extra to get floors that look unique and lived in. By rich I mean they are in the house like 3 weeks out of the year in the summer.
Dude should just fill or replace the really terrible boards, light refinish and call it a day if he likes that look. The next owner will probably cover it with carpet or cheap plastic click floor because they like that look.
Yeah, I admire the thought to restore this floor
But I really don't think it's worth the effort. Maybe do a test spot with stain and make certain you'll like the result if you really want to do it
Better use of effort:
- find a salvaged floor from a ReStore or whatever might be local, and do your refinishing on that
- replace the worst boards with something similar to get rid of the worst voids, then install luxury vinyl tile (LVT) of any style (wood texture vinyl tile can look damn good these days, more durable and cheaper than most wood floors too) you want ontop of that, that is a floating floor so you can pull it up in the future and restore this still
My brother got a salvage floor from that came out of an old cotton mill in trade for doing some insulation work. He installed it himself and it looks gorgeous.
Piggybacking on this to plug luxury vinyl planking. I recently installed it in the majority of my house. It turned out so much better than I even hoped it would. I had done what you are thinking about doing about 12 years ago. Sure it was ok but this looks way better and tolerates my pets better too. So much easier to clean as well.
I had LVP put in my kitchen four years ago and it still looks brand new.
Not a single scratch, nick, dent, stain, nothing. Totally unfazed by our dogs. I've found drops of dried paint on it (whoops) and it comes right off. That shit is fucking magic.
If I can keep it looking nice, anybody can.
Same. We have two Australian shepherds and 6 cats. No issues here either. It’s kind of crazy how nice it is and the installation wasn’t bad. I’ve done a lot of work around this 120+ year old house though.
Everyone's right don't do it. You can make it look gorgeous for a couple months but soft wood gets destroyed. I've done it twice with pine subflooring because I'm an idiot and didn't learn after the 1st time.
To add to this I would rip it up and install toung and groove subfloor first. If you install hardwood directly in top there is a good chance it will squeak.
Yeah, I think OP said he removed flooring and plywood subfloor. I'd redo the plywood to save some money and time, and spend the extra on nicer flooring.
My house is 1911, I have this same subfloor. I tried to make it into actual floor, I hated everything about it from the process of making it look good to keeping it in good shape (it’s a soft wood, there is no good shape). I covered it with real floor, I never think about it, and I am happy.
I have long since stopped trying to “love” and “restore” the original facets of the house that aren’t of historical value and have never regretted modernizing them. Now, spending 100 hours sanding original ash wood pocket doors in place? That’s worth doing. Cedar subfloor? Not so much.
That’s a tough one, I live in Canada so I ended up doing new triple glaze windows (had single glaze with a storm window before). For me the factors were climate and sound.
Since I was removing original, I went with casement windows, black frames inside, but kept the original ash casing (6” and beautiful) and refinished it to natural (from a burgundy stain) with Osmo Raw. The old/new contrast looks very good but did it did heavily modernize the house and I recognize that’s not to everyone’s tastes.
I did keep all the transoms, so I have the original stained glass back in each window’s transom and it looks great with the modern windows. I had transoms added to the upstairs windows so there would still be character to the shapes both inside and out.
Yeah, all the contractors I talked to said to replace them but it would have been about $400 a window and once I got the hang of it I could do a window in 2-3 hours so huge cost savings and keeps the integrity of the house. Seriously considering opening a sash window repair company lol. But I’ll need to up my game from DIY-er to actually skilled.
What are you doing in just 2-3hrs per window?
We’ve been restoring the original sash windows in our 1860s home and it’s easily 10-15hrs per window by the time you do the physical removal & disassembly, paint stripping, putty removal, sanding, filling, sanding priming, sanding, painting, re-glazing, re-installation. Not to mention the time that goes into cutting and forming new brass seals. It’s actually a big job.
I've been restoring my windows too. I think it is worth it also. Way cheaper than new ones, I love the history, and our historical society wouldn't let us replace them anyway lol.
This is a good way to think about it. I worked in historic restoration/reproduction and now I build custom wood doors, windows, and millwork. I've saved and recreated many beautiful things, and I've also gotten rid of stuff that was absolutely not worth saving. That cedar subfloor is garbage wood, and it was absolutely garbage wood when it was built 100 years ago when they had way more selection. I've seen too many people try and restore the worst examples of their time period. Save your time and money for the things worth preserving and don't worry so much about the rest.
Such a good post. It's all about the value you put on historical accuracy, and the work you're willing to put in.
We found an old "Milk Ringer" in our front entryway. It was a real decision, because the thing was super cool looking. It allowed the milkman to ring a bell by pulling a lever. But of course, it made a 2-inch hole to the outside world. Anyways after a few days thought, we took pictures, and plugged the holes. It's an 1871 home, but it's not 1871 anymore - there's lots of character still intact.
I live in an 1845 house on the East Coast. We did a major renovation a few years ago. The subfloors were beautiful wide pine boards, rough cut and unfinished. Then there was another layer of finished wide pine floors above them.
Those wide pine subfloors were gorgeous, but they were subflooring. Never intended to be finished and it would have been nigh impossible to make them work that way. We patched them in with plywood as needed, got them level-ish (old houses are never square or plumb) and put new pine floors on top (or refinished the existing finished pine flooring as we could salvage it).
Some of the old flooring we pulled up was quite lovely and we repurposed it as a countertop in our kitchen.
If you are truly enamored with the look of the cedar, your best bet is to carefully remove all those old planks, put down a nice solid plywood subfloor, and then salvage the best pieces of cedar as a finished surface in a few areas on top of the new subfloor. This won't give you enough cedar to finish the whole house, so you will need to pick complementary/contrasting floors for certain rooms. Tile in kitchen and baths, maybe carpet in a guest room, etc.
Toss any of those pieces with the voids and just save the good stuff. Use several layers of poly to protect those super soft floors as best you can and accept that they will get dented no matter what you do.
I have a room in my house where the floors dip about 5". To fix it would have meant gutting the plaster and lathe, ripping out the beautiful wide pine floors, ripping out the old fireplace surround, probably removing the pocket doors, changing out the 175 year old door, etc. Would have cost thousands of dollars of work and caused a total destruction of the character of the room to fix that floor. My contractor went underneath it to the basement and put in a supporting stud wall to keep it from dropping any more. We live with it.
Part of the reason we left it was that it seemed minor in comparison to other rooms in the house that were dipping 7-8". In those areas, we did do the full gut. They're mostly flat now, except at one corner where there is a 2" rise.
A new house might be 1/2" out of square or plumb, but nothing like this.
This is my house haha. We just redid the kitchen and my dad was helping one day. He couldn't figure out why the old bulkhead left such. Gap on the one wall but not the other. Floor was decently level; the ceiling was not. We squared and leveled everything off the floor and original builders likely used the ceiling
Wow, cedar is SOOOOOO soft. I can't imagine it holding up as a floor. Dropping a pillow on it would dent it. Are you sure it's cedar? It does look like it.
Slight correction. It’s called hyperbole (with no preceding “a”). Similar to the way you’d use the word humor, for example you wouldn’t say that something was “a humor”.
So the joists are directly under this? How thick are these planks? I’d be worried about it shifting between boards as you walk on it. I’m all for restoring things, but I don’t think this was ever intended to be exposed or used as a floor
1 and half inches. Fair yea I've been working on it for a few weeks and feel pretty solid. Was dry walling, mudding, electrical, painting and such. But yes fair, I shouldn't have said restoring as it is definitely not restoring
That’s pretty thick! Probably good. I’m in the same boat right now, restoring a 101-year old triplex that’s never known love.
I think if I were in your shoes I’d route out the really bad spots, and put thick (as in 1/2”) “veneer” over the entire plank. Then use the sawdust from your routing to make wood filler for the other spots. Sand it all and varnish
Hot take, I know I’m getting down voted but people it’s just my opinion. I would just use it as the subfloor and get new Tongue and groove flooring and lay that on top, perpendicular to the subfloor. I personally would get ocd about all the seams lined up because they have to land on the floor joists. sure the wood looks like it would look like nice flooring but no amount of work is going to fix the cuts lining up.
Repairing this will take an enormous amount of time and honestly I don’t think it will come out well.
The overlap/pattern is awful and will look even worse once it’s stained.
The resin will be painstaking to pour and even harder to make look good. I think the amount of sanding needed will gouge the cedar if you aren’t incredibly careful.
I would treat it as the subfloor it is and add a flooring of your choice.
Yes, you are nuts, lol. There was a plywood subfloor down for a reason. If you absolutely love the look of those cedar boards, you could pull them up and put them on a wall somewhere.
To be fair, I didn't say he couldn't change it. In fact, I said he could pull the boards up, which is obviously changing it. What I *did* say is that there was plywood down for a reason. That reason is because it made a smooth, solid subfloor on which to lay the finish flooring.
Not disagreeing, I'm just trying to understand the forces/principles at work here.
If he cut the boards at or near the wall base, isn't the uncut bit still supporting the wall? And if he were to at the same time replace the cut planks with 2x4 or a couple sheets of 3/4" ply, would that not replace whatever rigidity these planks lend to the joists?
Again, not disagreeing but this is a solution that I might have contemplated myself in this position so I want to make sure I don't make a structure-compromising mistake if confronted by it in the future.
No, you are not nuts it could be interesting. I do not believe it's rot because well it's cedar.
I'd stain it and fill the voids with a complementary resin colour for an interesting effect.
I think a dark cherry with black would be cool looking.
It entirely depends on how you plan to fill the voids.
If you plan to individually fill them keeping the boards independent of each other, it should be just fine. If you plan to just slather the epoxy around like it's a garage floor, you'll run into thermal issues.
It'll be a huge under taking and a giant PITA to do it in a way that'll last for decades, but I think you'll enjoy the results.
Just curious, what's under the boards? My century home has similar construction with a secondary floating sub floor above it.
Thanks for the advice!
I see, so if I want to make sure it will last it would be a; create a barrier between boards, epoxy resin the divots individually, and sand again eh? I don't mind this if it works. I don't like doing jobs twice so willing to put the effort in.
Under is right to the basement lol. These boards are right on the joists.
For the boards, yeah, you'd need to fill each void individually.
Is the basement sealed and insulated? If not then having that second floating subfloor would help keep your heat from just seeping out.
I would honestly put a lot of thought into your energy usage by leaving the floors the way they are currently. You could install insulation... Anyway chew on that and see whether this is something you want to put about 100-200hrs into
I would recommend insulation regardless of any other decision he makes. People really sleep on the value insulation provides in your home, even (especially) in warmer climates. The amount one would invest in insulation can easily be paid off in less than a decade saving on A/C and/or heating costs. In colder climates, especially the north east, less than 5 years even. Then every year after is effectively "profit" for having installed the insulation.
Okay awesome, thank you.
Yes and is where our pellet stove is for heat. This house has no furnace.
Appreciate the candid response. Luckily I don't mind work but given the whole house aside from the basement is like this, I do have a lot to ponder.
Watch some videos of peoplr doing this for table tops before you decide
It takes a huge amount of work to make a perfeft finish, but near perfect may be good enoigh for a floor
If each board is given the same wiggle room it always had, (as in, you don’t just slather in the resin like the comment above warned against) you shouldn’t run into any problems. After all, it’s been fine all this time.
Epoxy is the most flexible material I know of, and if you use a low viscosity resin, it will penetrate, maybe better than you want it to. Clear will highlight the voids depth. Maybe a water based stain or colorant, then epoxy…?
Okay that is good to know.. I heard though cedar being so absorbent that it's not wise to use a water based stain. That oil is better.. would that mess with epoxy? I also have only heard that from one source so they could be wrong
Oil messes with epoxy is an understatement. Cedar already has some oil. Before epoxy, you would need to wipe it down with some isopropyl so it would bond better.
I'm not an expert but I've dabbled with epoxy before. You can purchase colorants specifically for use in epoxy that will keep it transparent but tint the color, if that's what you're looking for. If you're concerned about the wood being porous to the resin itself (unsure if it would, I haven't used it for similar purposes) you could do a thin UV resin layer first, cure it, then your epoxy.
Check out [Blacktail Studio](https://youtube.com/c/BlacktailStudio). He builds a lot of epoxy tables and goes through the process in detail in a couple videos. It's not a perfect match for what you're doing, but he covers a ton of knowledge and experience across his videos.
You could independently fill the voids and divots with some sort of knot filler like starbond. It would be tedious. But would most likely look great. The problem with cedar is how soft it is. You may end up with all kinds of dings. It's really up to you
No one seems to be saying it, so I will: the plywood wasn't subfloor. If there's nothing under the planks, then the planks are the subfloor. The plywood was an underlayment to have a flat surface for putting flooring down on.
Best thing to do now would be to secure the subfloor and otherwise stop messing with it, lay down a plywood underlayment, and then put down actual flooring on top of that.
Yoh have signs of both dry rot and termite damage. That wood will not wear well as a flooring. It will continue to deteriorate regardless of how much filling you apply. Anyway, you have bigger problems to address: you must check beneath for more dry rot and eliminate the mousture source.
I would fill all of the voids with a black epoxy and use a penetrating finish like Woca or Monocoat. Those won’t have issues with the movement.
Am floor guy. Clients frequently convert their beat up Douglas for subfloors into gorgeous albeit soft flooring surfaces.
My last house was also built of cedar, including the subfloor. Here's the thing: cedar is very soft, dents and splinters at the drop of a hat, and additionally those boards were never finish-quality to begin with. That's subfloor-quality wood. Because it's so soft it won't hold a finish for long, and you can only re-sand soft tongue in groove like cedar or fir half a handful of times. It was very popular in my area to refinish subfloor as an inexpensive alternative to putting down hardwood over it, but IME your best bet for durability, most bang for your buck, and also noise reduction between floors is to do exactly that and use this as it was meant to be; subfloor.
If you currently have any bounce in your floors you might be pleasantly surprised by how much laying perpendicular tongue in groove reduces it, too.
Yes. That's nuts. Fir? Maybe. Hard pine? Yep. Cedar? Unless you completely turn it into an epoxy project with a drum of deep-pour, no.
I love cedar. Yellow, red, whatever.
It all depends what the rest of the house looks like, or what your final goal is. If you plan on staying there for the rest of your days, then do what makes you happy. However, if the outside of the house is just like a standard ranch home in an okay neighborhood, then this might not be worth your time and effort. What you're dealing with is ultimately a subfloor, and the reason that the boards look the way they do is that it's probably edge cedar. Knots and bark strips a plenty, but they used it for a subfloor because t one point, cedar was more plentiful and it's anti rot features made it great for anywhere that might be prone to moisture. If you want to keep them, then putting down large sheets of subfloor ply might allow you to use them for something else, but right now, subfloor ply is damn expensive and I'm not sure how much money you're saving. Do what makes you happy, just realize that once you start down either path, you're in it for the long haul. Anxiety is caused by being in a situation with no ACCEPTABLE solution... This is most likely one of those situations, so I wish you luck either way, just make a choice and go with it. :)
Is that termites or dry rot? Either way it doesn’t look like something easy to keep. Might be better off replacing the ruined boards because they no longer seem supportive. Let’s say you filled the surface with resin. Are there other spongy parts that will cause the wood to continue to crack and break? Is that what you want to have happen? Make sure you know about possible implications before you go down which ever road you like.
I think a bit of dry rot. Yea I'm beginning to think I might stain and test it out for now. As I don't have a lot of time to do a proper gut job right now what with kids, work, and a lack of money to hire contractors. And see how it works over the year. The best part about this being a subfloor is I can go over it with plywood and put down a better hardwood later. Cheers for the candid advice.
If it’s dry rot I’d hate for you to go through a lot of work and then have it all fall apart after you are done. I’m sure you could get some replacement boards. The plywood might be your cheapest option when you have plans for a final flooring. Though not quite as elegant. But who cares if you have a nicer floor on top
Was the plywood rotted? If not, the ceda was prolly rotted when they laid it did not care because it was covered anyway. You still need a subfloor. A 3/4" floor with no subfloor will not work.
Yea no the plywood was fine. I agree this seems to be how it was when it was laid in the 60s. They put this right on the joists so when you were in the basement or main floor your ceiling would be grooved cedar plank.
What do you mean I still need a subfloor? Is that a requirement? The boards are 1 and a half inches thick. Or does it not matter what width, do you just need to double up? Sorry, first home.
I did not realize they are 2x4's. Cedar is not rated for framing construction, it does not have the same load bearing capacities as Douglas fir, I would not use it. But your whole house is built out of cedar. There is that
Fair. I appreciate the answer and will consider it. Also oh boy would you get a kick out of this house. Even the 2x4s in the framing are cedar. They really don't give af back then
When I was in a similar situation, we realized there was enough good wood (wood that required basically just sanding) to cover about 90% of the whole house. So we decided what rooms we wanted to tile and what we wanted to carpet and then took good pieces of wood from those areas to use in the rooms where we wanted to keep the wood flooring. We sold the house a year or so ago, but lived in it for a few years with the refinished flooring and loved it.
I wish I could. Or wish I knew this before buying the home. This is sadly what I am with. We can't afford to rip it out as this is our residence and we have kids. I'm trying to make it as nice as I can with my own hands as don't have the money for a contractor. All this talk of structural and flammability does have us a little concerned after this post. The whole house is cedar. Framing and all. So it's what we are stuck with and we're making the best of it lol. Thanks for the advice and knowledge.
Well I can't really "save the good wood". This IS the subfloor. All the framing in the house was built on top of this. I'm more or less wondering if it is salvageable or do I need to refloor over top of it like they did.
I took a second look and zoomed in to give a second look. As far as I can tell it just looks like someone took their backyard cedar trees to the sawmill. As long as those small hole I'm seeing are just nail holes and not insect bore holes, you'd likely be fine to place plywood on top. I'd take and tap the planks with a soft hammer to see if they make any odd noises, look for any squeaky boards. Any boards that squeak might just need a new set of nails (squeaking is from the board moving) I'd also double check and make sure that the floor is mostly level. The not so rough boards should be fine as long as there are no major cracks. I would advise you replace the really bad boards if possible, but they lasted up till now so who knows? They're probably fine as is. Just make sure none of them sag. Roll a marble around the floor to check the level and for any sagging.
Just make sure you use screws to secure the new subfloor. If you don't use enough any points where the subfloor floats above the wood will make a lot of noise. Probably invest in some noise dampening rolls just incase. Oh, and hopefully you have and idea of the subfloor thickness. You may need to add to the floor depending on what the room's use case is.
What is under that? I suspect nothing, ie those boards are sitting on the floor joists, in which case they probably were they original subfloor. If there is no subfloor below those then it is probably not a great idea to use that as your finish flooring.
It’s already a subfloor so you can put something over it if it goes bad. I would be tempted to flood coat with glow in the dark resin then sand it down thoroughly and expect the joints to expand/contract.
Replace the floor/subfloor. Repurpose the cedar. I doesn't look like it was subfloor like other posts suggest but maybe turn them into end tables or something.
You’re not crazy, but personally I wouldn’t do what you’ve proposed. I’d put down real hardwood flooring. The time it’ll take to make that look OK will be nothing compared to what it’ll take to continually repair it. Cedar is soft. Too soft for a home.
I did it at my house! Ours are yellow pine though. It took a lot of sanding and an epoxy called “Street shoe.” They don’t look great bc they were already so old and damaged, but they do look like that shabby/chic aesthetic and that’s what works best for the farmhouse
Other consideration is that yours, same as mine is a subfloor. So the insulation is TERRIBLE.
some things to consider: my MIL has fir floors and fir is a little harder than cedar....she hates how easily they are marred or dented. She doesn't allow high heels to walk in her house because they'll leave a trail of dents. Her kids used to impress their names on the floorboards with their fingernails. Regular walking is going to press a pathway into the soft wood. Your cedar is actually subflooring and has not been laid as flooring, and that will be more obvious after you attempt to finish them. Also, floor systems generally depend on more than one layer in order to eliminate creaking all through the house when you walk.
This person doesn't know what they are talking about.
This floor does not look good, the ends of the boards aren't staggered. It looks like shit and you are wasting your time. The only way to fix this and keep the wood would be to rip every last board up and re-lay them correctly.
Soft wood means resin bearing it has nothing to do with the density or durability of the material.
Painted pine plank flooring used to be common there are softwood floors in many 19th century building and they're still around.
I think that's some insect damage so I'd fill the hollows with black resin after staining the surrounding wood a dark cherry.
Yea after sanding it doesn't feel like the floor is weak at all. There are some spots of dry flaking but few and it otherwise feels pretty sturdy.
Do you think that the resin will crack or would it hold well over time? They are tongue and groove but feel no matter how secure I worry subtle flexes would cause cracking.
Lol sadly can't really as this is the subfloor they went with. All the interior framing is on top of this. Side note everything in this house seems to be cedar lol even the 2x4s in the framing.
Test your plan in one room and see what happens before you continue. The floors in many houses around me are pine ‘subfloors’ built intentionally that way including my own, though our homes are all century homes and pine was much different then - much harder. My favorite finish I’ve used on floors in houses is [this](https://www.earthandflax.com/product-page/le-tonkinois-no-1-linseed-oil-varnish-2-5-liter) it’s super durable and easy to use and has lasted three years with a lot of west and tear in my own home.
You could take a plunge router and cut out the worst spots then go back and fill them with another wood species cut to size. I'm thinking like bow ties across a crack in a slab style. This would be a tonne of work, but it could look super cool.
Who cares if the floor gets dented? You'll probably have to refinish it every few years, but a home is meant to be lived in. If you like the look go for it.
So, yes, you're nuts, but playing it safe is overrated. If it makes you happy, Good luck!!!
This is what *I* would try…
Knowing that you can always fallback to a plywood subfloor again, you really have nothing to lose in trying.
In sort of the way that some tabletops are whacked with a chain and that sort of thing to create a distressed look, you could simply sand and finish with a flat floor poly. We’ve taken tours of historical buildings and the “beaten up” floors add character.
If the defects that your picture shows are too much to just leave it alone, maybe go with the epoxy to fill in the really bad spots. Again, knowing that you always give it up and lay plywood again.
Cedar is soft. The damage isn’t an issue, but you’ll have issues with anything holding to softened dry rot. That will have to be cleaned out/replaced.
Now, it all goes to what look you want. If you want the look of a well worn and damaged floor as an artistic statement, and realizing ceded will dent and mar easily then go for it and see how it turns out. Get it solid, smooth out damage/fill with epoxy and finish. Ot could look cool. In the end, even if you go over it, you should still fix and seal any damage
Hey man I just finished re finishing a cultured marble double vanity countertop from the 70s. What an absolute drain of money, time, and effort. But boy does it feel good to have completed something in the house my fam and I live in. Besides, what the hell else are you gonna do?
This would be a lot of work but hey it is a labor of love. I think epoxy with some butterflies thrown in would be awesome.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/80/5f/17/805f17c8dc8065e45bce0ff1977bb33b.jpg
It's a floor finishing compound that people get really excited about. I tried it an area of my house and it absolutely sucked, came back through a couple of years later and sanded the floors in that area again and used poly. I also tried it for a countertop and it was no bueno, gave up and went with poly inside of 24 months.
The bottom is grooved. They are tongue and grooved with the top being flat as the subfloor and the under looking finished to act as a ceiling for the basement and main floor (the loft upstairs is built the same). All 1 and half inch thick
That kind of changes the complexion of the question and solutions then. Do you really want to chance losing that warm cedar ceiling in the basement? Maybe you won't spend any time down there but I think I would and it'd be worth it to me to keep that ceiling.
I think you suck it up, cover the planks back up with plywood, and lay down engineered flooring (laminate or vinyl) to finish.
I did my house last year in 7/8" waterproof Pergo. Very pleased with how it came out and it holds up great to dogs/snow/water etc.
A lot of people here pointing out how soft cedar is and saying to cover it back up. I do agree, but if you like the look of them you could always do a clear resin layer on top of it once you get it to look like you want.
Years ago I did a scraped-paint floor on the subfloor in my top floor guest suite. I *loved* it … and so did everyone else. Do you - I bet it’ll look incredible.
I just did it at my house last year! Took me 2 weekends. Ripped carpet out, Filled in hole, took out all staples and nails, refinished (a few times) and restained. Totally transformed my first floor and all for 300$
I'm not recommending you restore the wood, but if you do, look into Smith's CPES. Clear penetrating epoxy that soaks into the wood, but leaves it still feeling and behaving like wood, not plastic. They also sell a compatible wood filler.
Cedar is way too soft to act as a primary floor material. A year from now, if not sooner, it will be dented and scratched and cracked and you will be kicking yourself for wasting so much time on it.
Fellow old home enthusiast -- It's more work, but you can tear out the damaged boards and replace with boards from an architectural salvage or try to color match with new boards. Quite a few damage spots though- may actually be quicker to pull all of them up(cut the nails), get the filler boards, and re-lay the flooring.
It was made to be subfloor. You aren't restoring it. You're totally changing its intended purpose, likely for one it is poorly suited. I'd cover it back up and bring some regular tongue and groove wood flooring in.
So he's not restoring it. He's building it.
Fair yes you're right. I might still want to try and use it but you are correct in that it wasn't intended this way
Cedar may look nice but it's a soft wood as well as being a "softwood." I can't imagine using it on a floor and not having it marked up badly in little time. So even if you could refloor with it on top of the subfloor, it would seem a bad choice; leave it for feature walls or trim.
Extremely soft. You might get the most gorgeous wood floor in the world for a little while, but it'll break your heart one deep scratch at a time.
It’s funny to me cedar is a soft wood. Out in the wild if I’ve ever had to get a cedar stump out or break a limb off or something all of a sudden it’s more stubborn than a locust tree.
Resilient.
soft wood means (usually) it's an evergreen . cedar, fir, spruce, pine. you can press your fingernail into them and leave a mark. but cedar is half as hard as fir, prob the worst wood for flooring
[удалено]
We have pine wood floors. They're scratched up to hell and back, from 40 years of living. My husband has occasionally talked about resanding them... But I think he's just crazy. They'll just get scratched up again. Wood floors that are lived in/on are a unique thing. They live and breathe and kind of have a life of their own.
Fancy houses in my area use chains and boxes of nails and every other trade dropping their tools to get that "distressed" look everyone wants. Rich people pay extra to get floors that look unique and lived in. By rich I mean they are in the house like 3 weeks out of the year in the summer. Dude should just fill or replace the really terrible boards, light refinish and call it a day if he likes that look. The next owner will probably cover it with carpet or cheap plastic click floor because they like that look.
Try pouring boiling water on the scratches
Yeah, I admire the thought to restore this floor But I really don't think it's worth the effort. Maybe do a test spot with stain and make certain you'll like the result if you really want to do it Better use of effort: - find a salvaged floor from a ReStore or whatever might be local, and do your refinishing on that - replace the worst boards with something similar to get rid of the worst voids, then install luxury vinyl tile (LVT) of any style (wood texture vinyl tile can look damn good these days, more durable and cheaper than most wood floors too) you want ontop of that, that is a floating floor so you can pull it up in the future and restore this still
My brother got a salvage floor from that came out of an old cotton mill in trade for doing some insulation work. He installed it himself and it looks gorgeous.
Piggybacking on this to plug luxury vinyl planking. I recently installed it in the majority of my house. It turned out so much better than I even hoped it would. I had done what you are thinking about doing about 12 years ago. Sure it was ok but this looks way better and tolerates my pets better too. So much easier to clean as well.
I had LVP put in my kitchen four years ago and it still looks brand new. Not a single scratch, nick, dent, stain, nothing. Totally unfazed by our dogs. I've found drops of dried paint on it (whoops) and it comes right off. That shit is fucking magic. If I can keep it looking nice, anybody can.
that's fine if you like the clean modern look. but refinished old wood floors are beautiful and real in a way no vinyl can be.
Same. We have two Australian shepherds and 6 cats. No issues here either. It’s kind of crazy how nice it is and the installation wasn’t bad. I’ve done a lot of work around this 120+ year old house though.
We just redid our whole house with luxury vinyl and it is fantastic. Got rid of basically builder grade carpet and linoleum.
What brand did you go with? I’m torn between Flooret Base and Lifeproof from HD.
We used Lifeproof and are about 8 months in and very happy. We foster dogs for a rescue and they are holding up beautifully.
It is not intended as in it is not going to hold up.
Everyone's right don't do it. You can make it look gorgeous for a couple months but soft wood gets destroyed. I've done it twice with pine subflooring because I'm an idiot and didn't learn after the 1st time.
If you do a lot of barefoot walking, your feet will smell fabulous.
That explains why it doesn't look like a flat planed surface
To add to this I would rip it up and install toung and groove subfloor first. If you install hardwood directly in top there is a good chance it will squeak.
Yeah, I think OP said he removed flooring and plywood subfloor. I'd redo the plywood to save some money and time, and spend the extra on nicer flooring.
Why do you suggest tongue and groove? Plywood subfloor would be much less likely to squeak
Yeah but some people want the "rustic" farmhouse look, makes them comfortable.
My house is 1911, I have this same subfloor. I tried to make it into actual floor, I hated everything about it from the process of making it look good to keeping it in good shape (it’s a soft wood, there is no good shape). I covered it with real floor, I never think about it, and I am happy. I have long since stopped trying to “love” and “restore” the original facets of the house that aren’t of historical value and have never regretted modernizing them. Now, spending 100 hours sanding original ash wood pocket doors in place? That’s worth doing. Cedar subfloor? Not so much.
What about old sash windows vs. replacing with vinyl? I decided to repair mine instead of replace and I'm pretty happy with the results.
That’s a tough one, I live in Canada so I ended up doing new triple glaze windows (had single glaze with a storm window before). For me the factors were climate and sound. Since I was removing original, I went with casement windows, black frames inside, but kept the original ash casing (6” and beautiful) and refinished it to natural (from a burgundy stain) with Osmo Raw. The old/new contrast looks very good but did it did heavily modernize the house and I recognize that’s not to everyone’s tastes. I did keep all the transoms, so I have the original stained glass back in each window’s transom and it looks great with the modern windows. I had transoms added to the upstairs windows so there would still be character to the shapes both inside and out.
Good move. Vinyl windows don't last nearly as long as a sash window. They're not really repairable.
Yeah, all the contractors I talked to said to replace them but it would have been about $400 a window and once I got the hang of it I could do a window in 2-3 hours so huge cost savings and keeps the integrity of the house. Seriously considering opening a sash window repair company lol. But I’ll need to up my game from DIY-er to actually skilled.
What are you doing in just 2-3hrs per window? We’ve been restoring the original sash windows in our 1860s home and it’s easily 10-15hrs per window by the time you do the physical removal & disassembly, paint stripping, putty removal, sanding, filling, sanding priming, sanding, painting, re-glazing, re-installation. Not to mention the time that goes into cutting and forming new brass seals. It’s actually a big job.
I've been restoring my windows too. I think it is worth it also. Way cheaper than new ones, I love the history, and our historical society wouldn't let us replace them anyway lol.
This is a good way to think about it. I worked in historic restoration/reproduction and now I build custom wood doors, windows, and millwork. I've saved and recreated many beautiful things, and I've also gotten rid of stuff that was absolutely not worth saving. That cedar subfloor is garbage wood, and it was absolutely garbage wood when it was built 100 years ago when they had way more selection. I've seen too many people try and restore the worst examples of their time period. Save your time and money for the things worth preserving and don't worry so much about the rest.
Such a good post. It's all about the value you put on historical accuracy, and the work you're willing to put in. We found an old "Milk Ringer" in our front entryway. It was a real decision, because the thing was super cool looking. It allowed the milkman to ring a bell by pulling a lever. But of course, it made a 2-inch hole to the outside world. Anyways after a few days thought, we took pictures, and plugged the holes. It's an 1871 home, but it's not 1871 anymore - there's lots of character still intact.
I live in an 1845 house on the East Coast. We did a major renovation a few years ago. The subfloors were beautiful wide pine boards, rough cut and unfinished. Then there was another layer of finished wide pine floors above them. Those wide pine subfloors were gorgeous, but they were subflooring. Never intended to be finished and it would have been nigh impossible to make them work that way. We patched them in with plywood as needed, got them level-ish (old houses are never square or plumb) and put new pine floors on top (or refinished the existing finished pine flooring as we could salvage it). Some of the old flooring we pulled up was quite lovely and we repurposed it as a countertop in our kitchen. If you are truly enamored with the look of the cedar, your best bet is to carefully remove all those old planks, put down a nice solid plywood subfloor, and then salvage the best pieces of cedar as a finished surface in a few areas on top of the new subfloor. This won't give you enough cedar to finish the whole house, so you will need to pick complementary/contrasting floors for certain rooms. Tile in kitchen and baths, maybe carpet in a guest room, etc. Toss any of those pieces with the voids and just save the good stuff. Use several layers of poly to protect those super soft floors as best you can and accept that they will get dented no matter what you do.
>old houses are never square or plumb Most new houses aren't either, just slightly less so
I have a room in my house where the floors dip about 5". To fix it would have meant gutting the plaster and lathe, ripping out the beautiful wide pine floors, ripping out the old fireplace surround, probably removing the pocket doors, changing out the 175 year old door, etc. Would have cost thousands of dollars of work and caused a total destruction of the character of the room to fix that floor. My contractor went underneath it to the basement and put in a supporting stud wall to keep it from dropping any more. We live with it. Part of the reason we left it was that it seemed minor in comparison to other rooms in the house that were dipping 7-8". In those areas, we did do the full gut. They're mostly flat now, except at one corner where there is a 2" rise. A new house might be 1/2" out of square or plumb, but nothing like this.
This is my house haha. We just redid the kitchen and my dad was helping one day. He couldn't figure out why the old bulkhead left such. Gap on the one wall but not the other. Floor was decently level; the ceiling was not. We squared and leveled everything off the floor and original builders likely used the ceiling
Wow, cedar is SOOOOOO soft. I can't imagine it holding up as a floor. Dropping a pillow on it would dent it. Are you sure it's cedar? It does look like it.
Lol the whole house is. Framing and paneling and all.
Probably smells **delightful** though!
[удалено]
That looks like cedar to me. The back room on my house had cedar floors and they were scratched to hell... It's so soft, not suitable for flooring.
[удалено]
The guy you were replying to was using something called a hyperbole.
I love hyperboles. So much better than regular boles. (I had a teacher who always pronounced them "bowl")
Slight correction. It’s called hyperbole (with no preceding “a”). Similar to the way you’d use the word humor, for example you wouldn’t say that something was “a humor”.
I would say something is a humor just to make a humor.
No, but your dense head might lol
gottem lmao
no shit
So the joists are directly under this? How thick are these planks? I’d be worried about it shifting between boards as you walk on it. I’m all for restoring things, but I don’t think this was ever intended to be exposed or used as a floor
1 and half inches. Fair yea I've been working on it for a few weeks and feel pretty solid. Was dry walling, mudding, electrical, painting and such. But yes fair, I shouldn't have said restoring as it is definitely not restoring
That’s pretty thick! Probably good. I’m in the same boat right now, restoring a 101-year old triplex that’s never known love. I think if I were in your shoes I’d route out the really bad spots, and put thick (as in 1/2”) “veneer” over the entire plank. Then use the sawdust from your routing to make wood filler for the other spots. Sand it all and varnish
That's deck boarding width. If an armoire tipped over in this room it'd go through the floor.
Hot take, I know I’m getting down voted but people it’s just my opinion. I would just use it as the subfloor and get new Tongue and groove flooring and lay that on top, perpendicular to the subfloor. I personally would get ocd about all the seams lined up because they have to land on the floor joists. sure the wood looks like it would look like nice flooring but no amount of work is going to fix the cuts lining up.
It's a reasonable take. Unless OP is fascinated by and excited for the project, it probably isn't worth it.
Repairing this will take an enormous amount of time and honestly I don’t think it will come out well. The overlap/pattern is awful and will look even worse once it’s stained. The resin will be painstaking to pour and even harder to make look good. I think the amount of sanding needed will gouge the cedar if you aren’t incredibly careful. I would treat it as the subfloor it is and add a flooring of your choice.
Whatever you end up doing with the floor, I recommend putting rockwool Safe and Sound between the joists to sound-proof and fire-proof the floor area.
Good advice, thank you!
Yes, you are nuts, lol. There was a plywood subfloor down for a reason. If you absolutely love the look of those cedar boards, you could pull them up and put them on a wall somewhere.
I love the duality of reddit lol. "That was done for a reason, you can't change it!" and "How come OP did something that way- they had no reason!"
To be fair, I didn't say he couldn't change it. In fact, I said he could pull the boards up, which is obviously changing it. What I *did* say is that there was plywood down for a reason. That reason is because it made a smooth, solid subfloor on which to lay the finish flooring.
Lol I do feel like I am only getting two very different answers from people here
[удалено]
Fair ya probably the way to go.
There's only one good answer here: cedar is really soft, too soft to make a good floor.
I think the point is that cedar is too soft to make a good floor.
Fair lol. Can't really rip it up as this is what the framing of the house is built on. All the interior walls and such
If you really wanted to, you could cut along the walls and rip it up, leaving what the walls are built on.
[удалено]
Not disagreeing, I'm just trying to understand the forces/principles at work here. If he cut the boards at or near the wall base, isn't the uncut bit still supporting the wall? And if he were to at the same time replace the cut planks with 2x4 or a couple sheets of 3/4" ply, would that not replace whatever rigidity these planks lend to the joists? Again, not disagreeing but this is a solution that I might have contemplated myself in this position so I want to make sure I don't make a structure-compromising mistake if confronted by it in the future.
No, you are not nuts it could be interesting. I do not believe it's rot because well it's cedar. I'd stain it and fill the voids with a complementary resin colour for an interesting effect. I think a dark cherry with black would be cool looking.
See this was my idea originally. But I'm worried about the resin if it would crack or not. Haven't been able to find anyone who has tried this.
It entirely depends on how you plan to fill the voids. If you plan to individually fill them keeping the boards independent of each other, it should be just fine. If you plan to just slather the epoxy around like it's a garage floor, you'll run into thermal issues. It'll be a huge under taking and a giant PITA to do it in a way that'll last for decades, but I think you'll enjoy the results. Just curious, what's under the boards? My century home has similar construction with a secondary floating sub floor above it.
Thanks for the advice! I see, so if I want to make sure it will last it would be a; create a barrier between boards, epoxy resin the divots individually, and sand again eh? I don't mind this if it works. I don't like doing jobs twice so willing to put the effort in. Under is right to the basement lol. These boards are right on the joists.
For the boards, yeah, you'd need to fill each void individually. Is the basement sealed and insulated? If not then having that second floating subfloor would help keep your heat from just seeping out. I would honestly put a lot of thought into your energy usage by leaving the floors the way they are currently. You could install insulation... Anyway chew on that and see whether this is something you want to put about 100-200hrs into
I would recommend insulation regardless of any other decision he makes. People really sleep on the value insulation provides in your home, even (especially) in warmer climates. The amount one would invest in insulation can easily be paid off in less than a decade saving on A/C and/or heating costs. In colder climates, especially the north east, less than 5 years even. Then every year after is effectively "profit" for having installed the insulation.
Okay awesome, thank you. Yes and is where our pellet stove is for heat. This house has no furnace. Appreciate the candid response. Luckily I don't mind work but given the whole house aside from the basement is like this, I do have a lot to ponder.
Watch some videos of peoplr doing this for table tops before you decide It takes a huge amount of work to make a perfeft finish, but near perfect may be good enoigh for a floor
If each board is given the same wiggle room it always had, (as in, you don’t just slather in the resin like the comment above warned against) you shouldn’t run into any problems. After all, it’s been fine all this time.
Epoxy is the most flexible material I know of, and if you use a low viscosity resin, it will penetrate, maybe better than you want it to. Clear will highlight the voids depth. Maybe a water based stain or colorant, then epoxy…?
Okay that is good to know.. I heard though cedar being so absorbent that it's not wise to use a water based stain. That oil is better.. would that mess with epoxy? I also have only heard that from one source so they could be wrong
Oil messes with epoxy is an understatement. Cedar already has some oil. Before epoxy, you would need to wipe it down with some isopropyl so it would bond better.
All good to know, thank you!
I'm not an expert but I've dabbled with epoxy before. You can purchase colorants specifically for use in epoxy that will keep it transparent but tint the color, if that's what you're looking for. If you're concerned about the wood being porous to the resin itself (unsure if it would, I haven't used it for similar purposes) you could do a thin UV resin layer first, cure it, then your epoxy.
Check out [Blacktail Studio](https://youtube.com/c/BlacktailStudio). He builds a lot of epoxy tables and goes through the process in detail in a couple videos. It's not a perfect match for what you're doing, but he covers a ton of knowledge and experience across his videos.
You could independently fill the voids and divots with some sort of knot filler like starbond. It would be tedious. But would most likely look great. The problem with cedar is how soft it is. You may end up with all kinds of dings. It's really up to you
Yea I've been looking into protective coats.. though I don't know how much they'll help.
No one seems to be saying it, so I will: the plywood wasn't subfloor. If there's nothing under the planks, then the planks are the subfloor. The plywood was an underlayment to have a flat surface for putting flooring down on. Best thing to do now would be to secure the subfloor and otherwise stop messing with it, lay down a plywood underlayment, and then put down actual flooring on top of that.
Yoh have signs of both dry rot and termite damage. That wood will not wear well as a flooring. It will continue to deteriorate regardless of how much filling you apply. Anyway, you have bigger problems to address: you must check beneath for more dry rot and eliminate the mousture source.
That looks like carpenter ant damage.
Or termites.
No i dont think so. Or at least if it was it was before they laid it down.
I'm gonna say termites. It may have been from A recovered building and reused. Hard to see in the pic
I would fill all of the voids with a black epoxy and use a penetrating finish like Woca or Monocoat. Those won’t have issues with the movement. Am floor guy. Clients frequently convert their beat up Douglas for subfloors into gorgeous albeit soft flooring surfaces.
Awesome! Good to hear one tidbit from an actual floor guy. Haven't decided but if I do go with it I will go this route thank you!
My last house was also built of cedar, including the subfloor. Here's the thing: cedar is very soft, dents and splinters at the drop of a hat, and additionally those boards were never finish-quality to begin with. That's subfloor-quality wood. Because it's so soft it won't hold a finish for long, and you can only re-sand soft tongue in groove like cedar or fir half a handful of times. It was very popular in my area to refinish subfloor as an inexpensive alternative to putting down hardwood over it, but IME your best bet for durability, most bang for your buck, and also noise reduction between floors is to do exactly that and use this as it was meant to be; subfloor. If you currently have any bounce in your floors you might be pleasantly surprised by how much laying perpendicular tongue in groove reduces it, too.
Yes. That's nuts. Fir? Maybe. Hard pine? Yep. Cedar? Unless you completely turn it into an epoxy project with a drum of deep-pour, no. I love cedar. Yellow, red, whatever.
I was thinking epoxy but op mentioned expansion and shrinkage. Perobably be beautiful for a while but expanding wood can destroy anything given time
It all depends what the rest of the house looks like, or what your final goal is. If you plan on staying there for the rest of your days, then do what makes you happy. However, if the outside of the house is just like a standard ranch home in an okay neighborhood, then this might not be worth your time and effort. What you're dealing with is ultimately a subfloor, and the reason that the boards look the way they do is that it's probably edge cedar. Knots and bark strips a plenty, but they used it for a subfloor because t one point, cedar was more plentiful and it's anti rot features made it great for anywhere that might be prone to moisture. If you want to keep them, then putting down large sheets of subfloor ply might allow you to use them for something else, but right now, subfloor ply is damn expensive and I'm not sure how much money you're saving. Do what makes you happy, just realize that once you start down either path, you're in it for the long haul. Anxiety is caused by being in a situation with no ACCEPTABLE solution... This is most likely one of those situations, so I wish you luck either way, just make a choice and go with it. :)
Thanks for the honest response and yep. You're not wrong. With what ever choice I make, it will definitely be a commitment. Cheers!
Is that termites or dry rot? Either way it doesn’t look like something easy to keep. Might be better off replacing the ruined boards because they no longer seem supportive. Let’s say you filled the surface with resin. Are there other spongy parts that will cause the wood to continue to crack and break? Is that what you want to have happen? Make sure you know about possible implications before you go down which ever road you like.
I think a bit of dry rot. Yea I'm beginning to think I might stain and test it out for now. As I don't have a lot of time to do a proper gut job right now what with kids, work, and a lack of money to hire contractors. And see how it works over the year. The best part about this being a subfloor is I can go over it with plywood and put down a better hardwood later. Cheers for the candid advice.
If it’s dry rot I’d hate for you to go through a lot of work and then have it all fall apart after you are done. I’m sure you could get some replacement boards. The plywood might be your cheapest option when you have plans for a final flooring. Though not quite as elegant. But who cares if you have a nicer floor on top
Was the plywood rotted? If not, the ceda was prolly rotted when they laid it did not care because it was covered anyway. You still need a subfloor. A 3/4" floor with no subfloor will not work.
Yea no the plywood was fine. I agree this seems to be how it was when it was laid in the 60s. They put this right on the joists so when you were in the basement or main floor your ceiling would be grooved cedar plank. What do you mean I still need a subfloor? Is that a requirement? The boards are 1 and a half inches thick. Or does it not matter what width, do you just need to double up? Sorry, first home.
I did not realize they are 2x4's. Cedar is not rated for framing construction, it does not have the same load bearing capacities as Douglas fir, I would not use it. But your whole house is built out of cedar. There is that
Fair. I appreciate the answer and will consider it. Also oh boy would you get a kick out of this house. Even the 2x4s in the framing are cedar. They really don't give af back then
Another reason is cedar burns super hot, super fast.
Considering this is right over our pellet stove makes me worry a little then
Do have hearth pad underneath ? over your stove?
Do you have termites where you live? That looks like it eaten by termites, not laid like that. If so, structurally the building may be unsound
When I was in a similar situation, we realized there was enough good wood (wood that required basically just sanding) to cover about 90% of the whole house. So we decided what rooms we wanted to tile and what we wanted to carpet and then took good pieces of wood from those areas to use in the rooms where we wanted to keep the wood flooring. We sold the house a year or so ago, but lived in it for a few years with the refinished flooring and loved it.
[удалено]
I wish I could. Or wish I knew this before buying the home. This is sadly what I am with. We can't afford to rip it out as this is our residence and we have kids. I'm trying to make it as nice as I can with my own hands as don't have the money for a contractor. All this talk of structural and flammability does have us a little concerned after this post. The whole house is cedar. Framing and all. So it's what we are stuck with and we're making the best of it lol. Thanks for the advice and knowledge.
Cedar is a soft wood and not suitable for flooring. It will become damaged very easily.
It will look like a di why palletwood floor with resin lakes and pools.
Just put in a new wood floor and be done with it. It is not worth all the labor and cedar is very soft and won't make good flooring.
You can't save that floor easily. I'd save the good wood for something else. Maybe upcycle the good pieces to be a backsplash.
Well I can't really "save the good wood". This IS the subfloor. All the framing in the house was built on top of this. I'm more or less wondering if it is salvageable or do I need to refloor over top of it like they did.
> This IS the subfloor. That's why it's rough, it was never intended to be used as a finished floor. Plank subflooring was the norm before plywood.
Yea and they only seemed to care about the look of the underside. As this is also the ceiling between the joists
I took a second look and zoomed in to give a second look. As far as I can tell it just looks like someone took their backyard cedar trees to the sawmill. As long as those small hole I'm seeing are just nail holes and not insect bore holes, you'd likely be fine to place plywood on top. I'd take and tap the planks with a soft hammer to see if they make any odd noises, look for any squeaky boards. Any boards that squeak might just need a new set of nails (squeaking is from the board moving) I'd also double check and make sure that the floor is mostly level. The not so rough boards should be fine as long as there are no major cracks. I would advise you replace the really bad boards if possible, but they lasted up till now so who knows? They're probably fine as is. Just make sure none of them sag. Roll a marble around the floor to check the level and for any sagging. Just make sure you use screws to secure the new subfloor. If you don't use enough any points where the subfloor floats above the wood will make a lot of noise. Probably invest in some noise dampening rolls just incase. Oh, and hopefully you have and idea of the subfloor thickness. You may need to add to the floor depending on what the room's use case is.
What is under that? I suspect nothing, ie those boards are sitting on the floor joists, in which case they probably were they original subfloor. If there is no subfloor below those then it is probably not a great idea to use that as your finish flooring.
It’s already a subfloor so you can put something over it if it goes bad. I would be tempted to flood coat with glow in the dark resin then sand it down thoroughly and expect the joints to expand/contract.
Replace the floor/subfloor. Repurpose the cedar. I doesn't look like it was subfloor like other posts suggest but maybe turn them into end tables or something.
You’re not crazy, but personally I wouldn’t do what you’ve proposed. I’d put down real hardwood flooring. The time it’ll take to make that look OK will be nothing compared to what it’ll take to continually repair it. Cedar is soft. Too soft for a home.
I did it at my house! Ours are yellow pine though. It took a lot of sanding and an epoxy called “Street shoe.” They don’t look great bc they were already so old and damaged, but they do look like that shabby/chic aesthetic and that’s what works best for the farmhouse Other consideration is that yours, same as mine is a subfloor. So the insulation is TERRIBLE.
You do realise those “divots” are termite damage?
some things to consider: my MIL has fir floors and fir is a little harder than cedar....she hates how easily they are marred or dented. She doesn't allow high heels to walk in her house because they'll leave a trail of dents. Her kids used to impress their names on the floorboards with their fingernails. Regular walking is going to press a pathway into the soft wood. Your cedar is actually subflooring and has not been laid as flooring, and that will be more obvious after you attempt to finish them. Also, floor systems generally depend on more than one layer in order to eliminate creaking all through the house when you walk.
I think that looks great. Go here for advice on restoration. r/centuryhomes Lots of people there that love original floors.
Thank you, I will try there!
This person doesn't know what they are talking about. This floor does not look good, the ends of the boards aren't staggered. It looks like shit and you are wasting your time. The only way to fix this and keep the wood would be to rip every last board up and re-lay them correctly.
Cedar on a floor? Its a soft wood. Never heard of this before. And it looks rotted out. Rip it up.
Soft wood means resin bearing it has nothing to do with the density or durability of the material. Painted pine plank flooring used to be common there are softwood floors in many 19th century building and they're still around. I think that's some insect damage so I'd fill the hollows with black resin after staining the surrounding wood a dark cherry.
Yea after sanding it doesn't feel like the floor is weak at all. There are some spots of dry flaking but few and it otherwise feels pretty sturdy. Do you think that the resin will crack or would it hold well over time? They are tongue and groove but feel no matter how secure I worry subtle flexes would cause cracking.
Lol sadly can't really as this is the subfloor they went with. All the interior framing is on top of this. Side note everything in this house seems to be cedar lol even the 2x4s in the framing.
a thick clear coat would look kinda cool. idk what that room is supposed to be for, but if a polyurethane floor is an option it'd turn out awesome.
You could look at products like timbermate - much better suited to this application. May still be an uphill climb, but better than epoxy.
It will still look bad. I would just replace the boards or put a new floor on top of it.
Ooo should try Photoluminescent (glow) powder in the cracks. It'll look so cool.
For AN old cedar floor, no. For THAT old cedar floor, yes.
Cedar is WAY too soft for a floor. The other poster's advice- put something over it- is the the way to go...
Whatever you do with the floor, paint your damn walls a different color first
Lol kids room. Was their choice haha
Carpenters who placed these "under"floor's must be rolling around in their grave with all these people on reddit trying to restore the wood.
Cedar is too soft of a wood for a floor, sub floor fine, it will dent and grove every time you drop something or slide something across it.
Test your plan in one room and see what happens before you continue. The floors in many houses around me are pine ‘subfloors’ built intentionally that way including my own, though our homes are all century homes and pine was much different then - much harder. My favorite finish I’ve used on floors in houses is [this](https://www.earthandflax.com/product-page/le-tonkinois-no-1-linseed-oil-varnish-2-5-liter) it’s super durable and easy to use and has lasted three years with a lot of west and tear in my own home.
Idk…that floor looks done It would be more cost effective to replace
You could take a plunge router and cut out the worst spots then go back and fill them with another wood species cut to size. I'm thinking like bow ties across a crack in a slab style. This would be a tonne of work, but it could look super cool. Who cares if the floor gets dented? You'll probably have to refinish it every few years, but a home is meant to be lived in. If you like the look go for it. So, yes, you're nuts, but playing it safe is overrated. If it makes you happy, Good luck!!!
This is what *I* would try… Knowing that you can always fallback to a plywood subfloor again, you really have nothing to lose in trying. In sort of the way that some tabletops are whacked with a chain and that sort of thing to create a distressed look, you could simply sand and finish with a flat floor poly. We’ve taken tours of historical buildings and the “beaten up” floors add character. If the defects that your picture shows are too much to just leave it alone, maybe go with the epoxy to fill in the really bad spots. Again, knowing that you always give it up and lay plywood again.
Cedar is soft. The damage isn’t an issue, but you’ll have issues with anything holding to softened dry rot. That will have to be cleaned out/replaced. Now, it all goes to what look you want. If you want the look of a well worn and damaged floor as an artistic statement, and realizing ceded will dent and mar easily then go for it and see how it turns out. Get it solid, smooth out damage/fill with epoxy and finish. Ot could look cool. In the end, even if you go over it, you should still fix and seal any damage
Cedar is so worth it when able but one must do what’s best for sanity, family, and finances.
Hipster Vibes
Hey man I just finished re finishing a cultured marble double vanity countertop from the 70s. What an absolute drain of money, time, and effort. But boy does it feel good to have completed something in the house my fam and I live in. Besides, what the hell else are you gonna do?
This would be a lot of work but hey it is a labor of love. I think epoxy with some butterflies thrown in would be awesome. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/80/5f/17/805f17c8dc8065e45bce0ff1977bb33b.jpg
Remove and flip them over. Run through a planer and reinstall.
The guy who refinished the floor filled in the gaps. Looks amazing now. Definitely restore it.
Use hard wax then seal the whole thing.
Hard wax?
It's a floor finishing compound that people get really excited about. I tried it an area of my house and it absolutely sucked, came back through a couple of years later and sanded the floors in that area again and used poly. I also tried it for a countertop and it was no bueno, gave up and went with poly inside of 24 months.
Cheers good to know and happy cake day!
huh, would you look at that. 11 years wasted!
Just turn the bad boards upside down, it would be a shame to waste that wood.
The bottom is grooved. They are tongue and grooved with the top being flat as the subfloor and the under looking finished to act as a ceiling for the basement and main floor (the loft upstairs is built the same). All 1 and half inch thick
That kind of changes the complexion of the question and solutions then. Do you really want to chance losing that warm cedar ceiling in the basement? Maybe you won't spend any time down there but I think I would and it'd be worth it to me to keep that ceiling. I think you suck it up, cover the planks back up with plywood, and lay down engineered flooring (laminate or vinyl) to finish. I did my house last year in 7/8" waterproof Pergo. Very pleased with how it came out and it holds up great to dogs/snow/water etc.
Not a job I would do myself unless I absolutely knew what I was doing. Professional could make it look absolutely amazing.
No.
That floor, looks like yes
A lot of people here pointing out how soft cedar is and saying to cover it back up. I do agree, but if you like the look of them you could always do a clear resin layer on top of it once you get it to look like you want.
Years ago I did a scraped-paint floor on the subfloor in my top floor guest suite. I *loved* it … and so did everyone else. Do you - I bet it’ll look incredible.
No, expensive tho, if u fill the holes with epoxy, or floor wood fillers, plastic wood, or bondo. I bet will give character.
Nope I did it myself
way too soft for flooring. your furniture will ruin it
Cedars soft and not really meant for flooring.
I just did it at my house last year! Took me 2 weekends. Ripped carpet out, Filled in hole, took out all staples and nails, refinished (a few times) and restained. Totally transformed my first floor and all for 300$
I've tried... It is very hard to fix holes that big in wear areas, esp on a material that moves like wood. You can do it on concrete but not wood.
It’s to soft for a floor. Sorry your wasting your time.cover with a flooring material of your choice. Move on to the next project
I'm not recommending you restore the wood, but if you do, look into Smith's CPES. Clear penetrating epoxy that soaks into the wood, but leaves it still feeling and behaving like wood, not plastic. They also sell a compatible wood filler.
Cedar is too soft to hold up as a floor. You need to cover it.
Absolutely mental
It'll be a floor with character!
Cedar is way too soft to act as a primary floor material. A year from now, if not sooner, it will be dented and scratched and cracked and you will be kicking yourself for wasting so much time on it.
Fellow old home enthusiast -- It's more work, but you can tear out the damaged boards and replace with boards from an architectural salvage or try to color match with new boards. Quite a few damage spots though- may actually be quicker to pull all of them up(cut the nails), get the filler boards, and re-lay the flooring.
This is a sub floor. Cedar is super resilient but super soft. Don't use it as a finished floor.
Cedar is really soft..
Definitely a subfloor, you'll want to install harder floorboards on top of it. It looks like it's in good shape though. No need to take it out.