Hi Franklyn,
I came across your website while looking for both a short term and long term solution to my wood floor problem.

The house I bought two years ago in Michigan was built in 1918 and the floors were covered with carpet in living and dining room and old tile/subfloor/linoleum in the kitchen. Like many homeowners, I'm sure, I was hoping to pull it all up to expose a nice hardwood floor. Instead I found what makes beginning DIY'ers look up to the heavens and say "Whyyyyyyyy?"
Here is the result:

1. Probably not worth mentioning...but the adhesive from the old tile is disgusting. Plus the gapping between the boards, not extreme but noticeable.

As disgusting as old adhesive is I have found quite often that it seals the floor very well and protects the floor underneath from damage from the elements. This may be a blessing in disquise.

2. Apparently to repair a squeaking problem, they had driven nails into each slat so that I have rows of nail heads about 3" apart, each row is about 1 foot apart...a LOT of nail heads.

OK! The reason the rows are about a foot apart is so that the nail goes thru the flooring and subfloor and into the joists. This stops the movement which causes squeaks in the floor. Pulling the nails out is next to impossible and even if you could you would have the squeaks back. The thing I have had luck with is using a small finish nail set and hitting the head squarely in the middle of the head. What happens often is the nail set goes thru the head and sets the shaft of the nail. You end up with the rest of the head stuck on the nail set like a washer. Success with this approach depends on how thick the head is. You can also do the same thing of the nail heads are thicker by denting the center of the nail head with a prick punch and drilling thru the center of the head. This is a lot more work and I would suggest trying the first approach first.

3. Also apparent is the amount of remodeling/adding on that was done to the house. The floor tells where there used to be walls and other features, mostly filled in by miscellaneous planks of wood.

I have a favorite saying. "If the houses could talk no one would live in the houses." It sounds like your house had some reMUDdleling and not remodeling.

At first glance I thought shaky went with automotive and not economy and wondered what company you worked for. (grin) I am looking at going into website promotion myself. It's not because the wood flooring business is shaky but I am realizing someday I physically won't be able to or want to do the wood flooring business. I have a conference call every Tuesday night at 8PM Pacific time with FREE classes on website ptomotion at 1-503-767-1300 pin number 1805 but that's another story.

SHORT TERM SOLUTION (to last about 2 years) Scrub clean, fill gaps, lightly sand, then paint the floor.

My questions How bad of an idea is this?

Personally I wouldn't go this route. First you are making a lot of work doing this in the first place and for yourself removing the paint later on when you are ready to really fix the problem. Secondly, there is no such thing as lightly sanding when adhesive is involved. It's like karate, you either agressively sand the floor yes or sand the floor no. Sand the floor lightly make mess just like grape. Maybe I need to watch the "Karate Kid" again. (grin) I would go to Costco and either get some inexpensive snap together laminate (they have the lowest price)or some cheap carpeting and cover the floor until you are ready time wise and financially do the job right. The beauty of using the snap together is it comes up faster then it goes down and you can sell it to someone needing a floor. You wanna see "Yuck" everyday paint your floor. It won't hide as much as you think. I think that answers most of the questions below.

What would be good to fill the gaps? How much should I sand? I own a cheap palm sander, should I rent one instead? I noticed some paint manufacturers sell latex paints made for wood floors. Do you have a recommendation? Also for a clear top coat? I've been searching for some ideas instead of just painting it one solid color. I'm thinking a pattern would also help hide some inconsistencies. Mostly I've found art deco stuff or checkerboard patterns, neither of which I like. I have a couple of rugs in my living room that I'm thinking about borrowing a color scheme and pattern from but I was wondering if you had any links that could give me ideas.

LONG TERM SOLUTION Since my husband wrinkled his nose at the idea of painted wood floor we're assuming prospective buyers will do the same and we'd like to sell the house in about five years. We're torn between a few options but at least we have a couple years to decide what to do:

You might just want to follow your husband's nose.

1. Repair the existing floor At this point we'd have to remove all the paint and repair the "holes" where walls and stuff used to be. We think we could steal some boards from a large hall closet then put some different floor in the closet. We're not sure what to do about the nail heads, though.

Assuming you follow my advice you won't need to remove all that paint. Paint is hard to sand off since it has such a low melting point. Usually the sandpaper gets hot enough to melt the paint rather than sanding it and you start going thru lots of sandpaper. If your house was built in 1918 I would seriously consider repairing the floor if possible. The very fact that it's original flooring will help with selling your house. A new floor probably won't go with the style and class of the old house. There also is some historical value in restoring the original floor.

2. Replace the existing floor Should we pull up the old floor and install new floor or just lay a new floor over top of it? Both ideas seem pretty wasteful

I would go this route only if the original floor is unsavable. I have done a lot of historical renovation in Georgetown, Wash D.C. and in upstate New York and saving an old floor is well worth the effort.

3. Cover the existing floor Pergo? It was my original plan but the more I look at it in other people's homes the more I don't like it. I guess I'm just a traditionalist but NOTHING compares to a nice hardwood floor. Not sure how to gage whether the "investment" is worth it to help sell the house.

I agree with you. I compare it to real Christmas trees vs artifical Christmas Trees. It makes a better temporary floor than paint and I would go with the least expensive laminate I could find if I was doing this. If you can find it cheaper than Costco go for it. Sometimes you can find it really cheap at one of the box stores when they discontinue a style and are unloading the old stock.

4. Crazy Dream? I have a HUGE Silver Maple in my backyard that might need to come down but I bet a good trimming would yeild enough lumber to make a floor out of. How realistic is that?

You need to call an arborist to find out the feasibiity of that. We have some people who do just that out here in Washington State. It takes time for the wood to dry out enough to make flooring out of and this may be a consideration. Prepare for six months to a year. An arborist may know someone who does that. Also check out Windfall Lumber as a starting point for this. Lot of resources on that website. I work with them a lot.

PS. I think the floor is Oak. PPS. Part of the renovation I'm in the middle of is moving an island that contains a sink/dishwasher which I don't know when I'll get around to. This is part of my headache as I know I'd build a pergo around the island after it's done but a new hardwood floor would probably have to go under it?? Plus, I'll be creating more "holes" by moving the plumbing.

Nope the hardwood doesn't have to go under it. Put 3/4 inch plywood under the new cabinets and butt the temporary laminate up to it. When you are ready to restore or install new over existing just remove the laminate which by the way isn't attached to anything...it's a floating floor which makes revoval a snap or should I say an unsnap. Most snap to together laminates are reusable.

Any advice you can give would be GREATLY appreciated. I can send digital pictures if you'd like but I doubt it's anything you haven't seen before. (sorry my e-mail is so long!)

No problem. Thanks for all the unique content for my newest webpage. Lot of great keywords here. I would appreciate it if you would sign my guestbook. The link is at the top of this page.

Franklyn

Thanks,
Jeannette

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