Keep the floor?
Still hanging out in the kitchen... this week we pulled up five (!) layers of floor, which brought us down to a felt-like gray, nasty looking stuff over wood that didn't come off easily. I thought for sure it was cutback adhesive, so I had decided we'd just tile over it and be done. I bought the slate, primer, floor leveler compound, mortar, etc. already, but tonight I dropped an ice cube on the floor. I didn't find it until after it had melted, and when I wiped it away, all the crap came off and exposed the wood.
So, I took some water and poured it over the floor and let it soak. After a while, I peeled a lot of the stuff away, and used a scrub brush and rag to clean it off. Now I'm torn. I don't know if I can or should tile over this wood. Our house was built in 1937, and this is the original wood. It has some spots that are rotten and would need repaired, and tons of nail/screw holes in it, plus a few areas where it's short and I'd have to pull the wood up from some places and move it to others to make it look right. It is continuous as you walk in from the entryway, to the living room, to the dining room, and into another foyer. It's the same wood that I've uncovered in the kitchen. I don't what color it's stained elsewhere, maybe early American (which I really don't like so much, but the rest of the rooms are in good condition, and we're moving in 1 1/2 yrs so I'm not going to refinish all of the floors). It would be tricky to match- but I'm sure I could. However, we have planned to put in dark walnut butcher block counter tops, and have already bought them. I don't like the idea of wood floors with wood counter tops, and we cannot afford marble/quartz/granite- which would be the only other way I would be willing to go.
Help me decide what to do, please! It's either pour the leveling compound over it and totally seal it's fate, or repair, and refinish to match the rest of the house for the sake of preserving old wood floors...
So, I took some water and poured it over the floor and let it soak. After a while, I peeled a lot of the stuff away, and used a scrub brush and rag to clean it off. Now I'm torn. I don't know if I can or should tile over this wood. Our house was built in 1937, and this is the original wood. It has some spots that are rotten and would need repaired, and tons of nail/screw holes in it, plus a few areas where it's short and I'd have to pull the wood up from some places and move it to others to make it look right. It is continuous as you walk in from the entryway, to the living room, to the dining room, and into another foyer. It's the same wood that I've uncovered in the kitchen. I don't what color it's stained elsewhere, maybe early American (which I really don't like so much, but the rest of the rooms are in good condition, and we're moving in 1 1/2 yrs so I'm not going to refinish all of the floors). It would be tricky to match- but I'm sure I could. However, we have planned to put in dark walnut butcher block counter tops, and have already bought them. I don't like the idea of wood floors with wood counter tops, and we cannot afford marble/quartz/granite- which would be the only other way I would be willing to go.
Help me decide what to do, please! It's either pour the leveling compound over it and totally seal it's fate, or repair, and refinish to match the rest of the house for the sake of preserving old wood floors...
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We had similar plans for our kitchen although we had planned on using cork tile. After pulling up 1 layer of vinyl and underlay and then the original linoleum, we found that same material. We used an emulsifying cleaner mixed with very hot water (electric teakettle) poured onto the brownish residue, let it sit for a few minutes and then scraped up the residue with a joint knife. Hot water seemed to work much better than warm. My theory is that if I get tired of the fir flooring or it gets too damaged, then I'll worry about putting down the cork.
If you sand the floor, you will not notice many of the small holes after the grime in the top layer of the wood is removed. Take care not to let the brown goo soak into the holes, damaged boards and spaces between boards as it is very difficult to get out and will show residue in your finished floor. It's character, but too much of anything isn't good. Same thing with face nailing, repairs, etc...once that floor is finished, they will look fine
But the important thing is: Do what YOU want. If you have invested in the flooring material already (we shall assume you can't take it back), then prepare the floor properly (with all the iso membranes, etc) and go for the look you want. Nothing is more frustrating, more time consuming and more costly then changing colours/ideas/ materials midstream.
First things first: determine if this is floor or subfloor; THEN decide.
A steam mop might aid you on removal, too.
Most floor glue in older houses contains asbestos. Sounds scary, but if you know what you are doing and keep it wet you can be safe.
Can you show me an example of a wood border? I was thinking I could just extend the cabinet face down to the ground to look more like built in's instead of cabinets, or I could run a strip like you said, and add feet to all of the cabinets (was planning to just do it to the sink) to block the view that much more...
That would be the easiest idea, but we've already purchased the countertops. They are 25" deep, so moving it out would cause them to be short.
A thin wood trim piece two or three inches wide would not be very noticeable under the cabinet overhang. You can have the edge beveled. Only when you fish out the grapes and Cheerios that roll under there would you see it. With a dog to help, dropped Cheerios are probably not much of a problem.
Also suggest finding one area that you could sand (maybe a piece that will need to be removed, inside the panty, etc) sand just the one small section and try out some stains. This was you can get a feel for the stain color in your natural lighting.