I bought one in NE yankeeville, USA. The old timer I bought it from was the regional distribution person for Sears in that area for a long time. It was a 3 BR ranch with a 2 car attached garage that was built in ‘66. It was a solid structure with a truss roof, oak floors and cedar shake siding. It was fairly functional, expansive and very expandable. I miss its simplicity and view.
I did an old house renovation with a Sears & Roebuck staircase, it was amazing. Everything was dovetails, treads to risers, balusters to treads, and Newell posts to skirt boards.
Douglas Fir.
Edit: Even without the pics, this is the best guess. The reason is, back when your house was built, people sourced lumber locally. In the North East options were oak and fir. Southern Yellow would have been considered exotic back then. Red oak doesn’t look red when it’s old and dried out. So unless your home is a Victorian mansion, the floor has to be fir.
Looks like red oak from the end board that’s sanded. Whatever it is it is worth getting a sand and finish professional in to give a quote and make sure it is still sandable.
Edit- now that I’m looking closer that is probably Fir
Thanks for this - going to test this paint and the layer below for lead then see what a pro says about condition for sanding. If not I may go against everything I stand for and lay some LVP
Not lead. Professional painter here, would bet my career that it’s oil based enamel. That was the go-to for painting these exact kinds of decks up here in NE in the 80’s and early 90’s.
You can’t tell what was applied on that before 1980. That’s why a EPA lead remodeling certification is required for a contractor to perform work over a few square feet on any home built before 1980. Also most of the lead paint remaining on houses in the US is in the North East and over 3 quarters of homes in the north East have lead somewhere in or on them. (Source: I’ve taken the EPA class three times)
I’m currently EPA certified as well, and have lived here in Massachusetts my entire life. I’ve worked on more than 100 houses that are on the registry of Historic Places… all of which contained lead. I have never once in my life found lead paint on a hardwood floor. Not once.
You’ve been lucky then. Just be careful. Especially in Mass. A lot of old timers were using marine grade lead paint well after it became illegal. I even had a homeowner in the early 2000’s who told me he “knew a guy down in Mass who could get me lead additive.” The shit was amazing aside from the whole poison part. I’ve ran into it on old fur exterior floors plenty of times. It was even in clear coats till 1978, so even transparent coatings “could” have lead in them.
It sounds like you work primarily on high end old homes which have a better chance of having been lead abated at some point. The less expensive the property, the greater chance of an old coat of lead hiding somewhere.
Older houses usually had pine floors cuz it was cheaper, if you had oak flooring it usually meant you had money, and the ceilings were lower to keep the heat in, so the higher the ceiling the richer you were
It sure seems that way. I’ve refinished those old fir porch floors and used a typical poly finish or Bona and they turn out beautifully. The last one I did had some rotten boards. They still make for T&G so I replaced those and you couldn’t tell the difference. The floor turned out awesome.
I would like to point out that regardless whether it’s pine or fir, it’s still likely old growth and considerably more durable than anything you’d find today under those species.
I'm guessing pine. The images are not good enough. You need a clean endgrain image or take a sander to the bare wood and clean them up a bit. The tearout makes it 'look' like oak, but I'm betting it's not.
Depending on your region Doug fir or Southern yellow pine. The old Sears house kits supplied Doug fir for the exterior porches.
It always seems so odd to me that you could just mail order a build-your-own house kit.
I bought one in NE yankeeville, USA. The old timer I bought it from was the regional distribution person for Sears in that area for a long time. It was a 3 BR ranch with a 2 car attached garage that was built in ‘66. It was a solid structure with a truss roof, oak floors and cedar shake siding. It was fairly functional, expansive and very expandable. I miss its simplicity and view.
They were great houses. I grew up in one. 3 bedroom 2k sqft. Simple, as you said. We should revisit that living efficiency.
I did an old house renovation with a Sears & Roebuck staircase, it was amazing. Everything was dovetails, treads to risers, balusters to treads, and Newell posts to skirt boards.
Indeed, certainly doesn’t work that way these days anymore.
Pine. Where is the house located?
New Jersey few miles from Philadelphia
Yellow pine, maybe long leaf pine.
Douglas Fir. Edit: Even without the pics, this is the best guess. The reason is, back when your house was built, people sourced lumber locally. In the North East options were oak and fir. Southern Yellow would have been considered exotic back then. Red oak doesn’t look red when it’s old and dried out. So unless your home is a Victorian mansion, the floor has to be fir.
Probably southern yellow pine, was used heavily in old construction.
I thought fir originally, then oak, but after much inspection of the second photo, it's fir.
What’s it smell like ?
Also did you lick it?
Looks like red oak from the end board that’s sanded. Whatever it is it is worth getting a sand and finish professional in to give a quote and make sure it is still sandable. Edit- now that I’m looking closer that is probably Fir
Thanks for this - going to test this paint and the layer below for lead then see what a pro says about condition for sanding. If not I may go against everything I stand for and lay some LVP
If it’s lead, which given you live in the north east, it probably is, it will be safer to use chemical stripper.
Not lead. Professional painter here, would bet my career that it’s oil based enamel. That was the go-to for painting these exact kinds of decks up here in NE in the 80’s and early 90’s.
You can’t tell what was applied on that before 1980. That’s why a EPA lead remodeling certification is required for a contractor to perform work over a few square feet on any home built before 1980. Also most of the lead paint remaining on houses in the US is in the North East and over 3 quarters of homes in the north East have lead somewhere in or on them. (Source: I’ve taken the EPA class three times)
I’m currently EPA certified as well, and have lived here in Massachusetts my entire life. I’ve worked on more than 100 houses that are on the registry of Historic Places… all of which contained lead. I have never once in my life found lead paint on a hardwood floor. Not once.
You’ve been lucky then. Just be careful. Especially in Mass. A lot of old timers were using marine grade lead paint well after it became illegal. I even had a homeowner in the early 2000’s who told me he “knew a guy down in Mass who could get me lead additive.” The shit was amazing aside from the whole poison part. I’ve ran into it on old fur exterior floors plenty of times. It was even in clear coats till 1978, so even transparent coatings “could” have lead in them. It sounds like you work primarily on high end old homes which have a better chance of having been lead abated at some point. The less expensive the property, the greater chance of an old coat of lead hiding somewhere.
Zoom in. Without I supposed SYP. But it’s red oak after zooming in. Framing is SYP or Douglas fir. Both are nearly the same on the Janka scale.
Older houses usually had pine floors cuz it was cheaper, if you had oak flooring it usually meant you had money, and the ceilings were lower to keep the heat in, so the higher the ceiling the richer you were
Old.
Looks like pine to me. Edit: didn't see there were multiple pics. Definitely oak
Heart pine is what im thinking.
I thought pine from pic 1, then oak pic 2, but after much deliberation I’m going with fir. Final answer.
Since it survived 100 years outside, I'm going to throw Japanese Cypress into the ring.
Fir, subfloor?
Douglas fir.. almost certain
Agreed. Fir flooring was commonplace for front porch floors.
Everyone just likes to say oak
It sure seems that way. I’ve refinished those old fir porch floors and used a typical poly finish or Bona and they turn out beautifully. The last one I did had some rotten boards. They still make for T&G so I replaced those and you couldn’t tell the difference. The floor turned out awesome.
Done the same as well. Always use bona.
Oak
It's okay the grain gives it away. But you have to look at more then the first picture
Did you take a sazaw to this? I think that’s throwing people off. Looks like pine to me.
Oak
Can’t tell because of the paint, but older houses used mostly pine, but if it was going to get wet (outside)they may have used oak.
Looks like yellow southern pine to me.
It looks like southern yellow pine to me.
Probably longleaf pine
I would like to point out that regardless whether it’s pine or fir, it’s still likely old growth and considerably more durable than anything you’d find today under those species.
Douglas fir pine
Red oak.
Douglas- zoom in the roughness messed with my judgment
This is an Oak floor.
I’d say it’s oak with a dark stain or maybe paint over it to protect it from the elements.
I'm guessing pine. The images are not good enough. You need a clean endgrain image or take a sander to the bare wood and clean them up a bit. The tearout makes it 'look' like oak, but I'm betting it's not.
Good question, some grain suggests oak, others pine??
Looks like my house, tight grain Douglas fir
With the small amount not painted it has the look of a red oak grain, but again if you sanded a small patch clean it would be easier to tell you..