Hardwood Floors?

[HatCityIAFF]

Question to you guys that have hardwood flooing. We live in a raised ranch in CT (split level), with stove insert in lower level. Just ripped up vinyl floors in kitchen, and laminate in dining room. These rooms sit directly above the insert. Trying to decide between hardwood floors, or engineered floors. How much do your hardwood floors shrink during the winter while running the stove? Our house gets very dry, where we have to run a humidifyer in our bedroom at night, and i'm worried that the gaps between the flooring will be way too much for me.

 

[mellow]

Not sure how much you can compare 65 year old oak floorboards to new ones but mine move very little, maybe 1/8".

 

[eclecticcottage]

Depends on which floors, lol. We have hardwood throughout. In the stove room, we get gaps up to 1/4". HOWEVER, that is a unique floor not likely to be replicated in your home. That floor is reclaimed/salvaged garage sheathing treated with BLO/Turp and a little poly. In the rest of the house, we have painted floors in one room, thin oak with poly in another and the rest are tongue and groove meant to be a subfloor mixed with reclaimed barn loft flooring and coated with blo and or tongue oil. NONE of the other flooring mentioned has any gaps appear-if it does shrink, it must be minimal.

 

[begreen]

We had new white oak floors installed in 2006 on our first floor. The flooring measured at 8-9% moisture and was allowed to sit in the house a week before installing. The only place there has been slight shrinkage has been with the wood directly in front of the hearth. And even that has been slight and is only visible in winter when the stove is going. I just checked and the shrinkage has closed up now that we are not burning. I think the key is laying down very dry wood correctly during dry weather.

 

[HatCityIAFF]

Thanks for the replys guys. It will probably be some sort of oak or maple if i do go with hardwood. And ecleticcottage, your floors sound awesome! Very rustic.

 

[clemsonfor]

I put in some HW in my living room and they expanded and buckled a bit, not bad to tear out or resand but little ridges at the seams . I did them myself , i hate it but will live with them till i refinish them and sand it out. I nailed the devil out of them and had them climatize for several weeks before install, guess my house is just that much more humid than the open warehouse that they were stored in when i bought them here in the humid south (i dont think so...just my luck)???

But in the older portion of my home(the original part is 1950 with 2 1/4" oak boards and the newer portion is 2 1/4, installed in late 50s maybe? except for thestuff i laid ) they were not nailed but every 2 feet or so so they are not tight. But anyway right now they are pretty tight and dont move adn not really any gaps in boards but inthe winter they will have hairline cracks and will spring when you walk (due to the nailing pattern) and will squeek as well.

 

[eclecticcottage]

Thanks! They were a LOT of work, when we got the wood it had been tarped for a while and was growing a bit, lol

Here are a few pics
Done:

Before:

We had tile before when we bought the place, but actually the whole subfloor and pretty much all of the joists were rotted to the point of complete replacement-in fact, the original sill plate had rotted into non-existance to the point that a friend that's a contractor didn't believe us at first when we told him there had in fact, been one (until we showed him the remains that had fallen into the cinderblock foundation!). We found the floor on CL, along with most of the old 2x4s (now part of our shed as well as some wood racks) and old siding (sided our shed). It had been taken down with the intent of rebuilding it in a different location about 5-8 years previously, but then the house was sold and the new owners had no such plans.

There are many more pics including the living room rebuild on my blog

 

[clemsonfor]

Depends on which floors, lol. We have hardwood throughout. In the stove room, we get gaps up to 1/4". HOWEVER, that is a unique floor not likely to be replicated in your home. That floor is reclaimed/salvaged garage sheathing treated with BLO/Turp and a little poly. In the rest of the house, we have painted floors in one room, thin oak with poly in another and the rest are tongue and groove meant to be a subfloor mixed with reclaimed barn loft flooring and coated with blo and or tongue oil. NONE of the other flooring mentioned has any gaps appear-if it does shrink, it must be minimal.

What is "blo" ??

 

[eclecticcottage]

Ooops, sorry, used to the old house folks. BLO=Boiled Linseed Oil. Oh, and Turp=Turpentine

 

[clemsonfor]

Is taht floor screw or screw with pegged holes or did you just shoot it with framing nails??? Or are those the old holes from the previous life that i am seeing?

 

[clemsonfor]

Ooops, sorry, used to the old house folks. BLO=Boiled Linseed Oil.

I mean i know what "Blow" is in the terms of the hollywood types like Lindsey lohan and Gary busey but......haha

oh yea i have heard of that just did not know the ackronym for it.

 

[eclecticcottage]

Hand cut nails, put in one by one mostly through the old holes that were preexisting.

And in case anyone is wondering, yes, they do occasionally work their way up and need to be hammered back in. I'd say maybe 10 have done that enough to need to be rehammered, since we put the floor in a year ago.

I need to reoil it soon, but I think it is more effective in the winter when it's dry. However, it's easier in the summer when I can move couches, etc outside and do the whole room, vs doing it one side at a time (while moving that side's furniture to the other side).

 

[Beer Belly]

Question to you guys that have hardwood flooing. We live in a raised ranch in CT (split level), with stove insert in lower level. Just ripped up vinyl floors in kitchen, and laminate in dining room. These rooms sit directly above the insert. Trying to decide between hardwood floors, or engineered floors. How much do your hardwood floors shrink during the winter while running the stove? Our house gets very dry, where we have to run a humidifyer in our bedroom at night, and i'm worried that the gaps between the flooring will be way too much for me.

.....Danbury CT ????.....we have a split level also....all hardwood floors....built in 1978, not much shrinkage during the heating season....and the Wife likes it hot....do have to oil the furniture a couple times

 

[Dix]

Circa late 1950's - early 1960's hardwood.

No problems with the PE. Murphy, on the other hand is tired

 

[PapaDave]

Good ol' Murph. Doin' a great job holding down that floor for ya'.

 

[Dix]

Good ol' Murph. Doin' a great job holding down that floor for ya'.

Yeah, he's a stickler that way. Stubborn SOB

 

[webby3650]

I have mine right on the hardwood, and don't notice any problems.

 

[ScotO]

We've got hardwood oak throughout the house, it does shrink just a little bit (maybe 1/16") in front of the hearth in the kitchen......



The antique reclaimed pine in our remodeled great room has yet to be tested with the Napoleon NZ3000 we just finished up last winter....



That is antique, random width flooring out of an 1840's home in eastern PA that I replaned, re-tongued and grooved, and installed in the room. Some Minwax Early American stain and three coats of Varathane Satin.

I can tell ya, hardwood floors help keep the house so much cleaner (IMO), because the dust in the house associated with woodstoves is easier to wipe off of hardwood than it is to sweep out of carpet.

 

[NortheastAl]

I have mine right on the hardwood, and don't notice any problems.

That legal, or advisable?

 

[NortheastAl]

Great job on the rooms, Scotty. Makin' me jealous.

 

[jensent]

I have mine right on the hardwood, and don't notice any problems.

I see a big problem in not installing a hearth of approved fireproof construction!!
Tom

 

[webby3650]

That legal, or advisable?

Of Course!

 

[NortheastAl]

Of Course!

Then it's all good!

 

[ScotO]

Great job on the rooms, Scotty. Makin' me jealous.

Thanks Al! I can tell ya, I am anxiously awaiting the cold winter weather so I can give that NZ3000 a real test.....looking forward to using that room this Christmas!!

 

[webby3650]

Here is a better view. It's actually porcelain tile! I wanted it to look like hardwood. I guess it worked!