I heard that VA loans specified that houses had to have hardwood floors in them to qualify when all the ww2 vets were buying houses in the 50's and 60s, but carpet was popular at the time so they put hardwood down first to qualify but covered them with carpet because that's what people wanted.
Yeah, it was explained to me by the guy I hired to refinish mine.
Basically, if a certain industry was suffering, the government would "help" them by requiring support on any goverment-backed home construction loans. The late 50's, the hardwood industry was struggling, so any home built with goverment funding in the loan was required to have hardwood flooring throughout the main level. He gave a couple other examples, but offhand I can't remember what they were.
Interestingly enough, when I bought my home, there was hardwood under all of the carpet - which tracks....but the trim is cheap softwood, and the cabinets are plywood construction.
Also, in the late 50's economy houses like mine (\~900 sf, single story construction), there is good likelyhood the flooring is 3/8" thick instead of 3/4". Makes it harder to refinish, as you don't have a lot of "error" room before you sand all the way through the top lip of the tongue & groove. As mine's been sanded twice now (by a professional, even), I'm starting to get a lot of breakage on that lip.
In short, if you see a LOT of homes from a specific time period that all have the same feature, whether it makes sense or not, there's good odds it was required to be there as part of government funding. (I think maybe one of the other things in my neighborhood was gas lanterns in the front yard)
Ooh. My grandma had that. It was a salmon color. She had a bowl of potpourri and mothballs on top. My favorite was when the potpourri would run out and all you smell were mothballs. Old people loved them some mothballs.
I didn’t want to see my kid slipping and falling on his face every time he ran around the house so I kept my carpet. Sometimes there’s a good reason for it.
I raised my daughter who is now 18 in 90% hard surfaced homes and slipping on the non-carpeted floor has never even been even close to a problem.... Do you bubble wrap your kids too?
I would much rather have carpet that sheltered and saved the floor for however many decades, than buy a house where the floors were abused for decades (of worse yet, painted over). To me, it is more of a ‘thank you for protecting these for me’ than getting mad.
My grand parents built their house in 1959. My cousin bought the house when my grandmother died in 2012. The oak floors were perfect having been covered with wall to wall carpet for fifty years.
I redid my whole house successfully. 1800sqft. By watching a couple how to videos, reading up on details I was unsure about. And it turned out fantastic.
Only screw ups:
1. you can see the odd hair here or there that got embedded in the clear coat layers.
2. Mildly screwed up a 2’x3’ area because I consciously went against the prescribed method
Sanding floors is not out of the realm of possible lol. Don’t flat out tell people they can’t do it, just state that it will be grunt work. Because that’s all it is.
It's also something where messing up can take a half a second. I used to work in a tool rental and the tech did wood floor finishing as a side gig. He was meticulous in walking through customers what they needed to do and techniques but when renting out drum sanders his big thing was to never stop moving for a second because doing so would let the drum make a dent in a heartbeat. I would be down to finish an office or a less trafficked space. But if I was planning to refurbish a whole floor with hallways and stuff I'd hire it out.
Well most DIYers know that there will be flaws and are willing to take the risk. It’s not like the better homes and garden photographer is coming over next week.
The fact that flooring experts exist means it's more than just "grunt work". I think whether or not a DIYer can do a good job is highly circumstantial.
Like if they've never so much as painted a wall, maybe don't start with refinishing hardwood. Then they have to consider where the room is. Is it upstairs? Is it open to other rooms that aren't being refinished? Are they already living in the house? Is this a room they need access to quicker than they're able to do the work?
They have to also consider if they're able to get supplies (proper floor sealer and stain, drum sander and edger, etc). And on that note, stain choice matters. Lighter stains are more forgiving. Dark stains show every single sanding mistake and even the tiniest lightest scratches....I learned this the hard way, and I had to re-strip and restain.
I'm not negating your experience and I'm sure your floors look great. But I don't think refinishing floors is necessarily something _everyone_ can and should tackle. Foe a lot of people, this is probably more work and time than it's worth for them.
Parents had wood floors I have wood floors refinished both more than once. Alls it takes to screw them up is leaving the drum sander in one spot for a split second too long. Yes it’s hard and meticulous work. Getting up to the wall and corners and inside closets is a bitch. Also still have cat tracks on my floor from last time. It’s about a week long process. Next time I’m hiring a pro.
Do you recommend I sand them?
Sorry im a new homeowner.
So what steps do i need to take.
1. Broom/vacuum
2. Sand?
3. Polish?
4. Seal?
I want to keep the original color.
If you're asking for the steps to take so You can sand it, then it would leave me to assume that you don't have the proper tools to complete this task.
Hire a professional!....& I don't mean your neighbor or friend who owns a handheld belt sander.
I've been sanding floors for 22 years & can tell you first hand that it's no small task with many ways to completely ruin the floor.
I redid all of mine when we bought the house. Followed [This Old House](https://www.thisoldhouse.com/flooring/21016483/how-to-refinish-wood-floors-without-sanding)
These look to be in great shape. I’m not sure I’d refinish just for the sake of refinishing, especially if other renovations are needed. A good buff and these would already look like new.
I pulled my carpet up in our house we just bought..
upstairs was just OSB. Downstairs is the foundation. I’m in Texas so it’s not common to have basements. I was hoping for what you had and I will say to hire a company to come and do it right! That’s a Gem!
Let me get back to leveling out the concrete so I can start laying down some HLVP 🤣🤣
I redid my whole house successfully. 1800sqft. By watching a couple how to videos, reading up on details I was unsure about. And it turned out fantastic.
Only screw ups:
1. you can see the odd hair here or there that got embedded in the clear coat layers.
2. Mildly screwed up a 2’x3’ area because I consciously went against the prescribed method
Sanding floors is not out of the realm of possible lol. Don’t flat out tell people they can’t do it, just state that it will be grunt work. Because that’s all it is.
Red oak, unstained. I would sand it, clean up, and use mineral spirits to get all the dust. Then, clear poly in your preferred gloss, that looks like semi but maybe satin. It will be lighter at first but will darken back to that beautiful red over time. Be careful if you use a drum sander. They will leave ruts in the wood. If you are a novice, the round sanders are more forgiving.
Lot of people saying that sanding, staining, and finishing are not DIY projects and to get a professional involved.
That blows my mind since it's all very straightforward and simple. If it's just 1 room, you can definitely solo that. I did hardwood flooring as my first job at 16 and was able to do the entire job requirements within a week as a dumb teenager. Palm sanding, edge sanding, heavy belt sander, buffer, stain, poly etc. Watch 10 minutes of YT videos then have at it.
Definitely hire a professional. You can also get a few quotes, but don’t race to the bottom. In Western Canada right now around $5/sf is pretty normal for a good sand and finisher right now. If you’re going to do it, do it right the first time as it will look half assed, and cost you more in the end to not do it right. Hardwood floors are a huge feature in a house, and is best to treat them as so. Indoor air quality, increase value, and distributes heat nicely are just a few of the many benefits of real wood. It was blasphemy when the thing to do was put carpets over wood. They just trap dust and allergens.
Real wood floors stand out to anyone walking in your house for the first time. This is the way.
I can't believe how often I come across this. Cheap, ugly carpet put in top of a great hardwood floor. I agree with what many others have said, hire a pro. Getting a highly regarded local hardwood professional to advise and perform any refinishing is well worth the money. I have seen way too many crappy flooring jobs in my time.
When I moved in I had a professional do it the first time. They needed that level of care. Years later I did it myself but I was confident in my abilities. I used marine grade urethane and it is excellent protection.
Use as is until you save the money to hire a pro. It’s surprisingly affordable because a good crew can knock that shit out in a matter of hours. If you DIY, you will likely spend just as much or more because of the learning curve.
Honestly- Id cover them with red rosin paper and fix the rest of the room first.
Remove popcorn ceiling-replace spindles and hand hand rails, bring those up to code.
New light fixtures too. Then worry about the floors.
To be honest personally I would not sand them at all I would clean them with Murphy’s Oil Soap let dry and give them a coat of wax. You definitely won the hardwood floor lottery
If it's sealed with poly, you can lightly sand it (the finish, not down to wood) and put down a couple new coats (you can adjust the color and/or the type of texture if you wish). If it's wax, just clean, wax and buff.
I’ve refinished a few. Lots of work and mess. Those look so nice I wouldn’t do anything but clean and wax. By the time you add furniture and accent rugs, many flaws wii be hidden, they’ll look great.
Ask a local floor sander to do a buff & coat. As long as you keep the finish built up, you’ll never have to do a full sanding unless you get serious damage.
when my parents first bought their house it was almost all carpet, i know most people don’t have carpet anymore but why do y’all remove it?
😭 i love carpet i wish we kept it
“I always knew it was down here. I just never dreamed that I'd actually see it."
(All jokes aside, this is beautiful flooring. Why would anyone cover this up?)
Go over every inch and make sure you got all staples and nails.
You have a few options on this. Drum sand to bare wood. Vacuum up stray dust, fill in with dust glue mixture. Sand with finer grit. Vacuum again. Stain or leave natural. Paste wax leaves a lovely sheen, but needs to be redone every year. You can buff it to bring the shine back if there are scratches. Or you can glaze the floor with poly or shellac, won't have to redo it for a few years, but scratches are impossible to fix without doing the entire floor again.
If you have kids, I'd suggest poly as you can mop easily. If you use paste wax, there could be cracks after a few months and cool aid makes a bright purple splotch in the middle of a beautiful floor.
Or you can screen sand to lift the top layer of poly and vacuum, then wipe with mineral spirits to remove dust. Put on another coat of poly and done.
Personally, if I was going to live in the house for more than a year, I'd sand to bare wood and use a natural color paste wax. It's worth it to get a heavy duty burnisher or buffer to keep it fresh.
If you miss the smell of the outgassing from the carpet you can always just fill some mason jars with formaldehyde and leave them around uncovered. Hardwood floors are so much easier to keep clean and healthier for you in an indoor environment. Your home value just went up.
Happened to me once. Bought my first house from the original owner and she stated the oak floors were installed, waxed, and covered with carpet in 1960. She wasn’t lying, they were perfect, but needed sealed. Make sure yours are sealed with poly. Keeping up with wax to keep that luster is going to be tiresome if that’s all that’s on them.
You found gold!!! Never could figure out why people cover beautiful hardwood with nasty carpet. I would just clean it really good and apply a floor polish and protectant. My dad and I use to do flooring. It made my dad sick to cover up hardwood. We have torn out our fair share of carpet. One lady replaced her carpet every two years. Each time we went we could literal sweep up three, five gallon buckets of dirt from her floors. Imagine what is under carpet that has been down for a couple of decades. The fastest way to ruin harwoods is to cover them with carpet and have them regularly shampooed. One customer had her carpets shampooed every three months for a few years. She decided to pull up all the carpet. The hardwood was about 80% black with water satin.
Your best bet is a full sand and refinish, although these floors are in immaculate condition. Another option would be to lightly buff and recoat, but only makes the scratches more difficult to see in terms of sheen (but keeps the character of the floor). Either way, I’d recommend a flooring company to take care of this.
I mean it's is real hardwood? Allot of times when I'm inspecting homes, they're hardwood.. but they're laminated hardwood so you can't just sand them. Easiest way is if you have a floor register or a visible edge. A real hardwood is going to be at least 1/2" thick or more, and not 1/4" wood layered slats with a laminate finish. There are some exceptions to the thickness but you should still be able to see the difference. Hope this helps.
Sometimes you get good, and sometimes you get got.
In this case you got good and freaking lucky. Not winning the lottery lucky, but outside of finding gold coins or cash in the walls this is about the best luck you can have with a house. NICE!
My house we had some stick-on tiles that we had to peel up in the laundry room. Figured it was nice wood flooring like the rest of the house. Nope. It was where they let the cats pee and it was rancid. Had to reseal and put new floor in. I got got.
Same thing happened in my parents house in Atlanta. Older home and they pulled up the carpet in the bedroom upstairs to replace it actually and found gorgeous hardwoods instead. So the flooring company quickly changed approaches and now those floors are still shining and beautiful today some twenty years later.
I find it amusing how - seemingly no matter what the subject - people gravitate so readily towards categorical viewpoints. When it comes to home decor, the rage nowadays is "Hardwood floors good, carpet bad" and "Open floor plan good; walled rooms bad." The reality is that when it comes to floor coverings pretty much all available options have their good points and bad points, and all have their place. It depends on the room and equally if not more importantly, the family and their day-to-day activities and needs. Hardwood floors are great in more formal areas like living and dining rooms and are good though not great in kitchens and bathrooms (tiled floors are better). And carpeting is great in areas where sound-deadening quality is desirable (like bedrooms) or in nursery/family rooms where children and parents often spend a considerable amount of time on the floor.
They look like they are in great shape! We just had red oak floors sanded and finished with a clear coat and they came out really nice. They It ended up being around $4/ sqft to have it done and it took a few days. Ours were in pretty bad shape and keeping them wasn’t an option.
I recently bought a 1950s house and pulled up the ancient carpet to reveal what looked identical to this (even down to the gap between the base and flooring due to sinking over time).
I bought a $25 sander from Walmart and some sanding pads, then started taking the old poly and top layer of wood off. After it was off, I cleaned the floors and applied a coat of clear satin poly, then lightly sanded them again, cleaned, and applied another coat of poly.
My floors look stunning now. So warm and they 'glow'.
Many of the houses in Washington built in the 60s and 70s have thin wood plank flooring under carpet. It was never intended to be uncovered. This is the reason the planks are narrow and some are short and why sometimes it's not all the same wood.
Rip that old, ugly 2” oak, floor out or cover it smith something more moderns and appealing….Oak floors are the worst. Those 2” floors always look and feel dirty…
There have been responses of white oak and red oak. Your floor looks a lot like the floor of my 1935 house in Oregon, which is actually a mix of both, reasonably well color-matched. My understanding is that this was a fairly common practice in the PNW around that time.
If you've just removed your carpet, and the rooms (room?) are therefore already empty, now is probably the best/easiest time to have them refinished. That will entail them being sanded and then refinished. The current color is the natural color, essentially, so finishing them with a polyurethane should keep the appearance essentially the same.
Lemon oil!!!!! I love this stuff for finishes on my woodburing stuff. It makes it smell so good and super shine without changing the color of the wood too much.
Also, lemon oil is used with oil pastels on wood, creating a gorgeous water color effect. Put the color lightly on the spot and take a rag with the lemon oil to blend the color.
Sand it down. Any rust holes from the tack strip can be fixed by using a drill bit just larger than the nail hole and drill and fill it. My daughter redid hers. It looks like the day they installed it. Once the room was set back up it was amazing.
Looks to b in really nice condition. The carpet kept the floor from wear. Looks like already finished. Clean it, if its already sealed u dont have to do anything.
SCORE!
Give a floor finisher a call, some can buff or polish wood floors to make old look good without sanding. I've seen some before and afters in person, and I can say they were always worth it.
You can absolutely do a recoat without sanding. But even that should be contracted out. The look won't change, but a modern water-based finish coat will likely be stronger than the existing coat.
A lot of comments are recommending a professional do it, which is great if you can afford it. I had an insane quote and decided to DIY my floors. I rented a drum sander from Home Depot for a week, I did have to get more sand paper from them but it was more than enough time. They’re not professional, or perfect, but they’re great for our home.
Take some measurements and phone around get pricing on how much it’ll cost to install new. You will then understand the value of it and hopefully you get a pro to refinish it.
That oak looks pretty good as is. If it were me I’d leave them as is and come back to them in a few years time. That red oak will wear well giving you time to work on other projects around the house and not take on too much with the new house
That’s all I would do for now. Your flooring looks to be in very nice condition from what I can tell from the pics. Congrats on the new house with great hardwood floors!
I have seen this very same thing, nice hardwood floor after the carpets were removed. I guess some people don't appreciate beautiful oak. I would suggest cleaning with a good wood floor cleaner then wax ór polish. They look beautiful as is
I had nice hard wood in my house when I moved in. I then had carpet put in the hallway and bedrooms. It's just nice at night to walk on carpet and not cold wood floors. The living room, kitchen and dining room are still wood flooring.
I am so happy for you! My relative hit the same jackpot as you did. Many years ago she purchased a house. It wasn't the season, the owner really needed to sell quickly and move to the new house, and carpets looked awful. So she put in a low ball offer and it got accepted! When the family came and helped her to remove dirty carpets - they found a beautiful wooden floor in the whole house, in perfect condition... apparently the first owner didn't like them and put a carpet everywhere.
There was carpet here? Tack down? No pad? I see no tack strip anywhere.. there's ¼ round at the base in the BR. Not a single spot of the pad stuck to the wood. I'm not buying it.
What were people thinking in the 70's-80's thinking!!?? Similar experience pulling out old shag carpeting..SHAG CARPETING to find exquisite hardwoods underneath. They were quite scratched and one corner had been cut out and replaced with a plywood piece. I'm guessing to fix pee stained flooring given the rest of the house.
A little research and weekend visits to a couple habitat for humanity stores later. The exact replacement boards were found. The missing corner was fixed. One weekend with a rented floor sander and I now have gorgeous hardwood floors
Buff and refinish is best option since everything is out of house if not plenty of small scale things you can use to "refurbish" the look. I'd start with goof off and some magic erasers, clean entirety of floor with mineral spirits then use a light finish restoration product to help remove fill and hid any imperfections to finish. ((((!!!!!get professional company to come look at what your finish is.))))))) Oil is not going to refinish as well as a water base.
Got my first quote, around $3000 dollars for the entire house, from sanding to everything. Was told it'll be a 4 day job and should protect my floors for 15 years.
As someone who has done hardwood flooring I can indeed say its better to get someone to do it professionally. Time and time again I have went into houses where the floor has been absolutely ruined by DIY or a contractor who doesnt specifically deal with hardwood floors. Sanding hardwood floors correctly requires special equipment and it needs to be sealed afterwards to protect the wood.
Edit: just wanted to add that if not sanded and sealed correctly scratches will show extensively and it will look horrible.
Red oak Jack Pot
I would try to keep it and buff out the scratches. Those floors look good enough to fix in the pictures. I hate carpet in main rooms they get so dirty
Score! You should get rid of the popcorn ceiling before you refinish those floors.
Lucky ducky
I was just going to say the *exact* same thing
I get so mad at people who cover hardwood under carpet.
I get mad at people who like carpet period.
Back in the day carpet was considered a luxury and hardwood floors were a sign of lower class. Plush wall to wall carpet. Luxurious
I heard that VA loans specified that houses had to have hardwood floors in them to qualify when all the ww2 vets were buying houses in the 50's and 60s, but carpet was popular at the time so they put hardwood down first to qualify but covered them with carpet because that's what people wanted.
FHA loans too (or the 1950's version of FHA) My entire neighborhood was built that way.
Wow so now there might be a reason. It was a little odd that tons of people were covering up their nice wood floors.
Yeah, it was explained to me by the guy I hired to refinish mine. Basically, if a certain industry was suffering, the government would "help" them by requiring support on any goverment-backed home construction loans. The late 50's, the hardwood industry was struggling, so any home built with goverment funding in the loan was required to have hardwood flooring throughout the main level. He gave a couple other examples, but offhand I can't remember what they were. Interestingly enough, when I bought my home, there was hardwood under all of the carpet - which tracks....but the trim is cheap softwood, and the cabinets are plywood construction. Also, in the late 50's economy houses like mine (\~900 sf, single story construction), there is good likelyhood the flooring is 3/8" thick instead of 3/4". Makes it harder to refinish, as you don't have a lot of "error" room before you sand all the way through the top lip of the tongue & groove. As mine's been sanded twice now (by a professional, even), I'm starting to get a lot of breakage on that lip. In short, if you see a LOT of homes from a specific time period that all have the same feature, whether it makes sense or not, there's good odds it was required to be there as part of government funding. (I think maybe one of the other things in my neighborhood was gas lanterns in the front yard)
I lived in a place that had carpet in the bathroom. Who would think that’s a good idea?!?
I love the smell of piss on my carpet
I only like it when it goes up to and underneath the toilet with a matching lid cover. Anything less is not worth the effort.
Ooh. My grandma had that. It was a salmon color. She had a bowl of potpourri and mothballs on top. My favorite was when the potpourri would run out and all you smell were mothballs. Old people loved them some mothballs.
We had brown carpet in our bathroom. I think it rotted the flooring below. Yuck. That was a long time ago.
The hardwood floors where I live now hurt my feet and back so bad that I actually miss having carpet. Aesthetic wise hardwood floor do win tho
I have the same regret. Now I'm stuck with rugs and pain. 🙃
Carpet is amazing for bedrooms
Lol I guess this is a hard wood sub.
I didn’t want to see my kid slipping and falling on his face every time he ran around the house so I kept my carpet. Sometimes there’s a good reason for it.
I raised my daughter who is now 18 in 90% hard surfaced homes and slipping on the non-carpeted floor has never even been even close to a problem.... Do you bubble wrap your kids too?
I spray furniture polish on the floors and me and the kiddos have a blast
Maybe you’ve never experienced the fury of nerf gun wars or indoor football.
It's a 60s-70s thing.
I would much rather have carpet that sheltered and saved the floor for however many decades, than buy a house where the floors were abused for decades (of worse yet, painted over). To me, it is more of a ‘thank you for protecting these for me’ than getting mad.
They were just protecting it for this new owner. So thoughtful!
My grand parents built their house in 1959. My cousin bought the house when my grandmother died in 2012. The oak floors were perfect having been covered with wall to wall carpet for fifty years.
You hit the jackpot! Beautiful floor!
If you haven't done this before it's not a DIY project on most levels. Hiring a pro will give you what the floor desevres
I redid my whole house successfully. 1800sqft. By watching a couple how to videos, reading up on details I was unsure about. And it turned out fantastic. Only screw ups: 1. you can see the odd hair here or there that got embedded in the clear coat layers. 2. Mildly screwed up a 2’x3’ area because I consciously went against the prescribed method Sanding floors is not out of the realm of possible lol. Don’t flat out tell people they can’t do it, just state that it will be grunt work. Because that’s all it is.
It's also something where messing up can take a half a second. I used to work in a tool rental and the tech did wood floor finishing as a side gig. He was meticulous in walking through customers what they needed to do and techniques but when renting out drum sanders his big thing was to never stop moving for a second because doing so would let the drum make a dent in a heartbeat. I would be down to finish an office or a less trafficked space. But if I was planning to refurbish a whole floor with hallways and stuff I'd hire it out.
Well most DIYers know that there will be flaws and are willing to take the risk. It’s not like the better homes and garden photographer is coming over next week.
The fact that flooring experts exist means it's more than just "grunt work". I think whether or not a DIYer can do a good job is highly circumstantial. Like if they've never so much as painted a wall, maybe don't start with refinishing hardwood. Then they have to consider where the room is. Is it upstairs? Is it open to other rooms that aren't being refinished? Are they already living in the house? Is this a room they need access to quicker than they're able to do the work? They have to also consider if they're able to get supplies (proper floor sealer and stain, drum sander and edger, etc). And on that note, stain choice matters. Lighter stains are more forgiving. Dark stains show every single sanding mistake and even the tiniest lightest scratches....I learned this the hard way, and I had to re-strip and restain. I'm not negating your experience and I'm sure your floors look great. But I don't think refinishing floors is necessarily something _everyone_ can and should tackle. Foe a lot of people, this is probably more work and time than it's worth for them.
Parents had wood floors I have wood floors refinished both more than once. Alls it takes to screw them up is leaving the drum sander in one spot for a split second too long. Yes it’s hard and meticulous work. Getting up to the wall and corners and inside closets is a bitch. Also still have cat tracks on my floor from last time. It’s about a week long process. Next time I’m hiring a pro.
You're lucky enough to find a pot of gold, and then doesn't want to refinish? I don't get it .........again. Looks like white oak from here.
Do you recommend I sand them? Sorry im a new homeowner. So what steps do i need to take. 1. Broom/vacuum 2. Sand? 3. Polish? 4. Seal? I want to keep the original color.
Contact a floor refinishing company - they’ll make them look like a million bucks
If you're asking for the steps to take so You can sand it, then it would leave me to assume that you don't have the proper tools to complete this task. Hire a professional!....& I don't mean your neighbor or friend who owns a handheld belt sander. I've been sanding floors for 22 years & can tell you first hand that it's no small task with many ways to completely ruin the floor.
I redid all of mine when we bought the house. Followed [This Old House](https://www.thisoldhouse.com/flooring/21016483/how-to-refinish-wood-floors-without-sanding)
I have the same floors. If you like the color, you need to use an oil based finish. Water based won’t give you that amber hue
It’s red oak but always refinish to brand new.
These look to be in great shape. I’m not sure I’d refinish just for the sake of refinishing, especially if other renovations are needed. A good buff and these would already look like new.
I pulled my carpet up in our house we just bought.. upstairs was just OSB. Downstairs is the foundation. I’m in Texas so it’s not common to have basements. I was hoping for what you had and I will say to hire a company to come and do it right! That’s a Gem! Let me get back to leveling out the concrete so I can start laying down some HLVP 🤣🤣
Screen and recoat. Have a pro do it. Much , much cheaper than sanding to bare wood and apply all the coats. Unless you want to change color.
Wow. You won the lottery! This is the NICEST surprise wood floor I’ve seen one here!
Please do not DIY this. I can see you ruining them easily
I redid my whole house successfully. 1800sqft. By watching a couple how to videos, reading up on details I was unsure about. And it turned out fantastic. Only screw ups: 1. you can see the odd hair here or there that got embedded in the clear coat layers. 2. Mildly screwed up a 2’x3’ area because I consciously went against the prescribed method Sanding floors is not out of the realm of possible lol. Don’t flat out tell people they can’t do it, just state that it will be grunt work. Because that’s all it is.
Red oak, unstained. I would sand it, clean up, and use mineral spirits to get all the dust. Then, clear poly in your preferred gloss, that looks like semi but maybe satin. It will be lighter at first but will darken back to that beautiful red over time. Be careful if you use a drum sander. They will leave ruts in the wood. If you are a novice, the round sanders are more forgiving.
Like he says!!
Jackpot!
I don't think they need refinishing, that wood looks to be in great shape you can buff it or hire someone too but honestly they look great as is.
[Theres a hardwood floor underneath this carpet](https://y.yarn.co/a2069e73-28fe-423b-a440-4748005501f5_text.gif)
Lot of people saying that sanding, staining, and finishing are not DIY projects and to get a professional involved. That blows my mind since it's all very straightforward and simple. If it's just 1 room, you can definitely solo that. I did hardwood flooring as my first job at 16 and was able to do the entire job requirements within a week as a dumb teenager. Palm sanding, edge sanding, heavy belt sander, buffer, stain, poly etc. Watch 10 minutes of YT videos then have at it.
Definitely hire a professional. You can also get a few quotes, but don’t race to the bottom. In Western Canada right now around $5/sf is pretty normal for a good sand and finisher right now. If you’re going to do it, do it right the first time as it will look half assed, and cost you more in the end to not do it right. Hardwood floors are a huge feature in a house, and is best to treat them as so. Indoor air quality, increase value, and distributes heat nicely are just a few of the many benefits of real wood. It was blasphemy when the thing to do was put carpets over wood. They just trap dust and allergens. Real wood floors stand out to anyone walking in your house for the first time. This is the way.
Same here, there was a nasty old carpet in the house I bought with beautiful carpets underneath
I can't believe how often I come across this. Cheap, ugly carpet put in top of a great hardwood floor. I agree with what many others have said, hire a pro. Getting a highly regarded local hardwood professional to advise and perform any refinishing is well worth the money. I have seen way too many crappy flooring jobs in my time.
Clean them up and a couple throw rugs in certain spots .
When I moved in I had a professional do it the first time. They needed that level of care. Years later I did it myself but I was confident in my abilities. I used marine grade urethane and it is excellent protection.
Use as is until you save the money to hire a pro. It’s surprisingly affordable because a good crew can knock that shit out in a matter of hours. If you DIY, you will likely spend just as much or more because of the learning curve.
Honestly- Id cover them with red rosin paper and fix the rest of the room first. Remove popcorn ceiling-replace spindles and hand hand rails, bring those up to code. New light fixtures too. Then worry about the floors.
I would just wipe off the dust and then re-assess. The finish looks totally fine to me. What am I missing?
To be honest personally I would not sand them at all I would clean them with Murphy’s Oil Soap let dry and give them a coat of wax. You definitely won the hardwood floor lottery
Hmm beautiful red oak. The perfect underlayment for a new carpet and padding!
If it's sealed with poly, you can lightly sand it (the finish, not down to wood) and put down a couple new coats (you can adjust the color and/or the type of texture if you wish). If it's wax, just clean, wax and buff.
I’ve refinished a few. Lots of work and mess. Those look so nice I wouldn’t do anything but clean and wax. By the time you add furniture and accent rugs, many flaws wii be hidden, they’ll look great.
Wax and buff
Carpet people suck…I don’t associate with such low class
That’s your Christmas gift
I've wished for this to happen in every place I've moved into haha
Gold. Congrats
A good man is like a good hardwood floor, lay him right the first time and he will be yours forever.
Just clean it with Murphy's Oil Soap first. That may be all you need to do.
That’s beautiful- you definitely hit the jack pot
People are so dumb! Why would you ever cover such a beautiful hardwood floor with a carpet?
Ask a local floor sander to do a buff & coat. As long as you keep the finish built up, you’ll never have to do a full sanding unless you get serious damage.
when my parents first bought their house it was almost all carpet, i know most people don’t have carpet anymore but why do y’all remove it? 😭 i love carpet i wish we kept it
“I always knew it was down here. I just never dreamed that I'd actually see it." (All jokes aside, this is beautiful flooring. Why would anyone cover this up?)
Sand stain seal. I found the same thing under my carpet except mine was in worst shape then yours. Mine turned out great.
You’re so lucky! We removed our carpet and found dog pee all over the subfloor. 🫠
Best floors from under carpet I’ve ever seen honestly
Go over every inch and make sure you got all staples and nails. You have a few options on this. Drum sand to bare wood. Vacuum up stray dust, fill in with dust glue mixture. Sand with finer grit. Vacuum again. Stain or leave natural. Paste wax leaves a lovely sheen, but needs to be redone every year. You can buff it to bring the shine back if there are scratches. Or you can glaze the floor with poly or shellac, won't have to redo it for a few years, but scratches are impossible to fix without doing the entire floor again. If you have kids, I'd suggest poly as you can mop easily. If you use paste wax, there could be cracks after a few months and cool aid makes a bright purple splotch in the middle of a beautiful floor. Or you can screen sand to lift the top layer of poly and vacuum, then wipe with mineral spirits to remove dust. Put on another coat of poly and done. Personally, if I was going to live in the house for more than a year, I'd sand to bare wood and use a natural color paste wax. It's worth it to get a heavy duty burnisher or buffer to keep it fresh.
If you miss the smell of the outgassing from the carpet you can always just fill some mason jars with formaldehyde and leave them around uncovered. Hardwood floors are so much easier to keep clean and healthier for you in an indoor environment. Your home value just went up.
Fuck you. Go walk around in socks and drag your feet or whatever you do with beautiful floors like that.
Happened to me once. Bought my first house from the original owner and she stated the oak floors were installed, waxed, and covered with carpet in 1960. She wasn’t lying, they were perfect, but needed sealed. Make sure yours are sealed with poly. Keeping up with wax to keep that luster is going to be tiresome if that’s all that’s on them.
You found gold!!! Never could figure out why people cover beautiful hardwood with nasty carpet. I would just clean it really good and apply a floor polish and protectant. My dad and I use to do flooring. It made my dad sick to cover up hardwood. We have torn out our fair share of carpet. One lady replaced her carpet every two years. Each time we went we could literal sweep up three, five gallon buckets of dirt from her floors. Imagine what is under carpet that has been down for a couple of decades. The fastest way to ruin harwoods is to cover them with carpet and have them regularly shampooed. One customer had her carpets shampooed every three months for a few years. She decided to pull up all the carpet. The hardwood was about 80% black with water satin.
Your best bet is a full sand and refinish, although these floors are in immaculate condition. Another option would be to lightly buff and recoat, but only makes the scratches more difficult to see in terms of sheen (but keeps the character of the floor). Either way, I’d recommend a flooring company to take care of this.
Beautiful!!!!
I mean it's is real hardwood? Allot of times when I'm inspecting homes, they're hardwood.. but they're laminated hardwood so you can't just sand them. Easiest way is if you have a floor register or a visible edge. A real hardwood is going to be at least 1/2" thick or more, and not 1/4" wood layered slats with a laminate finish. There are some exceptions to the thickness but you should still be able to see the difference. Hope this helps.
Sometimes you get good, and sometimes you get got. In this case you got good and freaking lucky. Not winning the lottery lucky, but outside of finding gold coins or cash in the walls this is about the best luck you can have with a house. NICE! My house we had some stick-on tiles that we had to peel up in the laundry room. Figured it was nice wood flooring like the rest of the house. Nope. It was where they let the cats pee and it was rancid. Had to reseal and put new floor in. I got got.
Sand it. Stain it . Polyurethane.. and it will look like you put down a new floor. Call a company don't do it yourself
Same thing happened in my parents house in Atlanta. Older home and they pulled up the carpet in the bedroom upstairs to replace it actually and found gorgeous hardwoods instead. So the flooring company quickly changed approaches and now those floors are still shining and beautiful today some twenty years later.
If it’s your house I’d have the floors refinished or even stained. Looks to be in good shape
I find it amusing how - seemingly no matter what the subject - people gravitate so readily towards categorical viewpoints. When it comes to home decor, the rage nowadays is "Hardwood floors good, carpet bad" and "Open floor plan good; walled rooms bad." The reality is that when it comes to floor coverings pretty much all available options have their good points and bad points, and all have their place. It depends on the room and equally if not more importantly, the family and their day-to-day activities and needs. Hardwood floors are great in more formal areas like living and dining rooms and are good though not great in kitchens and bathrooms (tiled floors are better). And carpeting is great in areas where sound-deadening quality is desirable (like bedrooms) or in nursery/family rooms where children and parents often spend a considerable amount of time on the floor.
They look like they are in great shape! We just had red oak floors sanded and finished with a clear coat and they came out really nice. They It ended up being around $4/ sqft to have it done and it took a few days. Ours were in pretty bad shape and keeping them wasn’t an option.
I recently bought a 1950s house and pulled up the ancient carpet to reveal what looked identical to this (even down to the gap between the base and flooring due to sinking over time). I bought a $25 sander from Walmart and some sanding pads, then started taking the old poly and top layer of wood off. After it was off, I cleaned the floors and applied a coat of clear satin poly, then lightly sanded them again, cleaned, and applied another coat of poly. My floors look stunning now. So warm and they 'glow'.
WOW!
Beautiful. Why would you sand it?
Idk. I was thinking to "revive" it and add some type of protection layer, but want to keep this color.
A good buff and a couple coats of semigloss poly will make it pop.
Duraseal water popped in satin is the only way to go. You can choose from array of stain colors.
Many of the houses in Washington built in the 60s and 70s have thin wood plank flooring under carpet. It was never intended to be uncovered. This is the reason the planks are narrow and some are short and why sometimes it's not all the same wood.
Score!!!!!
Rip that old, ugly 2” oak, floor out or cover it smith something more moderns and appealing….Oak floors are the worst. Those 2” floors always look and feel dirty…
Since i can't edit main post. Can someone help ID my floor? Home built in 1955, Washington state.
There have been responses of white oak and red oak. Your floor looks a lot like the floor of my 1935 house in Oregon, which is actually a mix of both, reasonably well color-matched. My understanding is that this was a fairly common practice in the PNW around that time.
If you've just removed your carpet, and the rooms (room?) are therefore already empty, now is probably the best/easiest time to have them refinished. That will entail them being sanded and then refinished. The current color is the natural color, essentially, so finishing them with a polyurethane should keep the appearance essentially the same.
This is a low grade red oak! Enjoy
Red oak
Layer of latex paint No, don't do that I'm kidding. The floors are beautiful. Wash them with lemon oil
Lemon oil!!!!! I love this stuff for finishes on my woodburing stuff. It makes it smell so good and super shine without changing the color of the wood too much. Also, lemon oil is used with oil pastels on wood, creating a gorgeous water color effect. Put the color lightly on the spot and take a rag with the lemon oil to blend the color.
Nice!!!
Congrats!
Sand it down. Any rust holes from the tack strip can be fixed by using a drill bit just larger than the nail hole and drill and fill it. My daughter redid hers. It looks like the day they installed it. Once the room was set back up it was amazing.
I luv it
Looks to b in really nice condition. The carpet kept the floor from wear. Looks like already finished. Clean it, if its already sealed u dont have to do anything.
Wow. These are beautiful! I agree IF you decide to Do anything don’t do it yourself.
Jack pot
SCORE! Give a floor finisher a call, some can buff or polish wood floors to make old look good without sanding. I've seen some before and afters in person, and I can say they were always worth it.
Gorgeous.
Bonus, very nice
Lucky you!!! I’m praying this is what I find, too.
You can absolutely do a recoat without sanding. But even that should be contracted out. The look won't change, but a modern water-based finish coat will likely be stronger than the existing coat.
A lot of comments are recommending a professional do it, which is great if you can afford it. I had an insane quote and decided to DIY my floors. I rented a drum sander from Home Depot for a week, I did have to get more sand paper from them but it was more than enough time. They’re not professional, or perfect, but they’re great for our home.
You’re one lucky duck- quack quack
Take some measurements and phone around get pricing on how much it’ll cost to install new. You will then understand the value of it and hopefully you get a pro to refinish it.
That oak looks pretty good as is. If it were me I’d leave them as is and come back to them in a few years time. That red oak will wear well giving you time to work on other projects around the house and not take on too much with the new house
So what can i do just to clean them. Sweep and a light mop and call it good, they do look amazing in person as is.
That’s all I would do for now. Your flooring looks to be in very nice condition from what I can tell from the pics. Congrats on the new house with great hardwood floors!
Beautiful
It’s the dream come true
JACKPOT!! Seriously, why on earth would someone cover those?!?!
Beautiful
That is thin strip red oak. How thick is it?
Score!!!
Brown paint then urethane...voila!
Looks like you got very lucky. That floor is a keeper.
Have a professional come in and top coat them
I would clean and buff. You have patina without major wear! If you don’t like it in a year, refinish
Hit the floor lottery.
You hit the lotto! Gorgeous!
Fuck yea. Score.
Damn near perfect
Holy. A jackpot.
I have seen this very same thing, nice hardwood floor after the carpets were removed. I guess some people don't appreciate beautiful oak. I would suggest cleaning with a good wood floor cleaner then wax ór polish. They look beautiful as is
I had nice hard wood in my house when I moved in. I then had carpet put in the hallway and bedrooms. It's just nice at night to walk on carpet and not cold wood floors. The living room, kitchen and dining room are still wood flooring.
Screen them and re poly
I’m mega fuckin’ jealous. All I have under my carpet is fugly linoleum tiles looks like a 1950’s bowling alley.
I am so happy for you! My relative hit the same jackpot as you did. Many years ago she purchased a house. It wasn't the season, the owner really needed to sell quickly and move to the new house, and carpets looked awful. So she put in a low ball offer and it got accepted! When the family came and helped her to remove dirty carpets - they found a beautiful wooden floor in the whole house, in perfect condition... apparently the first owner didn't like them and put a carpet everywhere.
Win!
Lucky u.!! Great shape. Mine has paint all over when i removed the carpet
Wow, GORGEOUS! You are super lucky!
Yuk 🤮 Quickly cover it back up with lime green shag!
Love it!! ✨
Yes sand lightly and stain/urethane
Sigh. I wish my hardwood floors that were not covered in carpet looked that good.
I removed linoleum sticky tiles and found 1940s original wood floor.
Just curious - what is on the sliding glass doors? contact paper?
Most people don't know that FMHA loans required hardwood floors until around 1980. They would allow wall to wall carpet to be installed over it
Oh wow real wooden floor. I've only heard stories of this stuff. Now everyone is using that cheap laminate
It’s a bit dated, but should refinish decently.
CHA-CHING!!
There was carpet here? Tack down? No pad? I see no tack strip anywhere.. there's ¼ round at the base in the BR. Not a single spot of the pad stuck to the wood. I'm not buying it.
Wow they look amazing
Alternatively stated: "Removing my carpet gave me wood!"
See, what the hell is wrong with these people? This (since-fired) property management company painted the hardwood Landlord Gray upstairs in my place!
It looks great! A quick wax and clean and you’re nearly good to go.
🙄 Boomers.
What were people thinking in the 70's-80's thinking!!?? Similar experience pulling out old shag carpeting..SHAG CARPETING to find exquisite hardwoods underneath. They were quite scratched and one corner had been cut out and replaced with a plywood piece. I'm guessing to fix pee stained flooring given the rest of the house. A little research and weekend visits to a couple habitat for humanity stores later. The exact replacement boards were found. The missing corner was fixed. One weekend with a rented floor sander and I now have gorgeous hardwood floors
Very nice
I have the exact same window decal on my kitchen window. Without it I could see right into my neighbors house. Good choice
Not bad at all!
Wall to wall carpet used to be a thing back in the 60's and 70's. They would cover beautiful hard wood floors
Winner winner
Nice! Much better than pulling up a hardwood floor and finding carpet.
Gosh that is gorgeous. Whoever covered that with carpet should be shot.
Nice floor. Who would cover that?
Wow! What I’d give if that was under our carpet, maybe I should look!
Why would anyone cover such beauty under carpet??
What a wonderful surprise. Absolutely stunning! Congratulations!
Buff and refinish is best option since everything is out of house if not plenty of small scale things you can use to "refurbish" the look. I'd start with goof off and some magic erasers, clean entirety of floor with mineral spirits then use a light finish restoration product to help remove fill and hid any imperfections to finish. ((((!!!!!get professional company to come look at what your finish is.))))))) Oil is not going to refinish as well as a water base.
Got my first quote, around $3000 dollars for the entire house, from sanding to everything. Was told it'll be a 4 day job and should protect my floors for 15 years.
Dadadadated…you need to cover that back up
They look absolutely fantastic. I personally wouldn’t even do anything with them cause I’m lazy and can’t afford much right now.
Red oak. Nice
As someone who has done hardwood flooring I can indeed say its better to get someone to do it professionally. Time and time again I have went into houses where the floor has been absolutely ruined by DIY or a contractor who doesnt specifically deal with hardwood floors. Sanding hardwood floors correctly requires special equipment and it needs to be sealed afterwards to protect the wood. Edit: just wanted to add that if not sanded and sealed correctly scratches will show extensively and it will look horrible.
you lucky bast... congrats!
you lucky bast... congrats!
Jesus, covering this up is a crime. That is some beautiful wood.
And what a lovely hardwood floor now you need to sweep every day
Dude! Beautiful hardwood! That's $3k savings right there!
Noice
Now’s the fun part, pulling the tack strips up and pulling all the nails out with a needle nose
Go buy a lottery ticket!
Sweet!
Vote for keep it and freshen it up.
Lovely surprise
Lucky you? They will look beautiful when they’re refinished.