The Wood Floors

The addition floor started out in my mind as an extension of the living room, which is the original oak flooring of the house. Originally, I hoped to simply continue the floor into the addition. However, despite being knot free and tight grained, it is 1/4" top nailed, somewhat damaged and very brittle. After patching an old heating vent hole, I decided that it just wasn't a practical or comfortable choice. In fact, I can see now that I will probably replace the living room floor itself as well.

So then my problems were cost and compatibility. I wanted something that would blend into the old floor without actually matching it, and I needed something I could afford. Tongue and groove oak (the best visual match) was out because of cost. The contractor suggested wall-to-wall carpeting, as my cheapest option, but I really didn't want carpeting especially in the front hall. A lot of research and cogitating ensued. I eventually decided on parquet tiles because I could lay them myself, which saved a lot.

Once I was sure that I would be laying a totally different type of flooring,my greatest concern was then to make sure that the transition between the old floor and the new one was comfortable. Apparently most people don't spend a lot of time over this kind of thing because neither the architect nor the contractor understood why I kept coming back to it, but it was a particularly critical transition to me because of the unusual arrangement of doors that it will define.

In the end what I came up with was a 45 degree square connecting all three doors and separating the three floor areas from each other completely. Originally I was going to put a design of some kind in this area as well, but I have since decided that the floor will be busy enough without it. This transition area should also give a clear definition to the unusual doorway even when the doors are closed, although it did mean cutting a section out of the existing floor.

An unexpected advantage to this plan was pointed out by the contractor, Hal Slater. He thought that it would give me a better, more solid transition between the new addition and the existing house if we extend the subfloor and underlayment into this diamond as well. I agreed.

Once I decided on parquet, I started checking out exactly what wood to use. Oak parquet was still more expensive than I had hoped. I would have liked to use bamboo, cork, or one of the other sustainable/renewable flooring materials now available , and did a lot of research toward that end(see environmentally friendly materials). I eventually chose Hevea, a wood that looks good with my existing oak. Although it is much lighter, it has the same color tone as the oak. Hevea is listed as a sustainably grown wood product.

When the time came, the carpenter came out and cut away the existing flooring in the living room, as well as putting down a layer of plywood in the addition to bring the two floors level. At this point an unplanned advantage of the diamond was revealed. In some past remodel, someone had actually cut the subfloor boards away several inches back from the joist, probably to put the front door in at floor level. It explained why the floor in front of the door had always been so spongy.

To fix this problem my carpenter, Mike, filled the missing board ends and stubbed in a support for the remaining boards, which firmed up the whole area considerably.

Then the floor guys came in and put down the underlayment that I will be sticking the actual floor to. They leveled the diamond somewhat first so that the two floors would meet smoothly, but then the underlayment went everywhere.

I eventually decided to put the floor down in four sections, the hall in front of the bathroom, the office, the hall in front of the door, and last, the diamond. The reason for this was to avoid, as much as possible, dragging and setting up equipment and or materials on the newly laid floor.

The first portion of the floor to go down was the bathroom end of the hall. This made it possible to finish the bathroom doorway and the two closets. I eventually got the hang of putting down the glue and positioning the tiles, but in the process I managed to stick a lot of things together that I never intended to, and got glue everywhere. Then I got distracted by other projects. 

When I got back to laying floor tiles I started in the office. This time the bulk of the floor went down fairly quickly because I started with only the tiles that did not require cutting. Those will go in last all around the perimeter, and that will take more time.

When the office was mostly done I began finishing the hall floor as well, although when I reached the transition area where the diamond would go, I just left an opening.

The last piece was the diamond. To get an idea of spacing and arrangements, I laid out the whole thing without glueing it down. I'm still trying to decide how to handle the edges where floor meets floor. The old floor was somewhat brittle and the cut is not exactly even or completely straight -- only obvious when I put a board against it. I was able to trim the edges somewhat to make them fit better but the diamond was cut to more or less exactly the right size and recutting it would mean coming up with another piece to edge the diamond inset -- although I may do that down the road. If I could have a "do over", I would have Mike make the cut about 1/4" - 1/2" back from the actual line and do the final adjustments myself with hand tools.

Once it was laid out, I had to decide how things would go down in when it was glued. I can see, when I compare the two floors, that once the whole project is done, I will need to clean and rewax the living room floor, which seems to have gotten very dingy somehow. I discussed some of my concerns about the diamond with my contractor and developed a plan. Then I glued down the diamond and cut the transition pieces for it as well.

There are some irregularities, especially along the edges of the diamond, that will need to be dealt with, but overall I like the way the floors turned out.

Although after living with it for a while, some minor problems have developed. The gaps between tiles where I did not get them tight has become more visible, and of course one of those spots is in the hall right in front of the door. The same is true about the edge of the diamond. For some reason, there are a couple of spots in the diamond where the floors are becoming slightly uneven as I walk on them. Finally, the Hevea is a softer wood than I expected so it is more easily marred and/or scratched than I expected.

I have decided to wait at least six months, if not longer, before I do anything. Hopefully by then all the gradual changes will have stabilized and I can evaluate the best options, including stripping and refinishing the living room floor as well.