March 16, 2012

More on the Floor (Kitchen Floor That Is)

Well, I showed you the problems we were facing with our kitchen floor project (Old Kitchen Floor: Problems & Preps). Several folks were interested in how we'd tackle these, so here's what we've done so far.

The original floor is neither flat nor level. Flat and level are not the same things, so we started by addressing the numerous buckled floor boards.


To smooth these out, Dan rented a drum sander. Ordinarily, sanding is done with the grain. To knock out the ridges made by the buckled boards, Dan sanded diagonal to the grain. Since this is going to serve as our subfloor, a smooth sanded finish isn't crucial anyway. This took care of most of the ridges. The few stubborn ones were nailed flat.

Remains of buckled ridges were nailed down

The result was a much, much flatter floor....

After sanding and nailing

He also addressed a sagging spot in a high traffic area. I mentioned there was a 24" wide dip in front of the pantry hallway. Initially we assumed it was between two floor joists. When he went into the crawl space, to see if he could beef up the floor like he did with the dining room, he discovered that the problem was the joist itself. There was a half inch gap between it and the floor boards so that they weren't even touching it. That meant there was a span of 48 inches with no support. No wonder it sagged! He was able to work a shim between the joist and the floor, which raised the floor to eliminate the sag. What a difference.

The other thing Dan did was to fill in where the floor beam had been exposed.

Fill-in over the exposed floor beam was one
of the leftover boards from our dining room floor.

This is where a wall had been removed years ago, leaving an exposed floor beam. We discovered it when we removed the old ceramic tiles. He filled it in with a leftover board from the dining room floor project. He's using the same to frame out the wood cookstove floor protector.

Border for brick look floor protector

The next step is to lay out the new boards to get an idea of the best layout.

That's the progress at the moment.

Next post: installing the floor


20 comments:

Clint Baker said...

That was such a blessing to find those hardwood floors! We have to redo our floors in the near future. I can't wait to see yours finished!

Susan said...

Looking good!

Ngo Family Farm said...

Looking real good!
-Jaime

Sherri B. said...

How nice to have an even floor now. This all does sound like our floor, even the dip in the traffic area. I will tell my Mr. about what you found under the crawl space..perhaps we will be able to do what you did to fix it. Thanks for the update. - Have a lovely weekend! xo

badgerpendous said...

You two are like bees! I certainly do get inspired by your "get it done" attitude and ethic. We have some projects that we've been putting off, but spring fever is here and it's time to get to work!

The Stay @ Home-Gardener said...

Good job Dan!

Leigh said...

Clint, we're fortunate to have all wood floors. The one in the kitchen is in the worst shape though, and mortaring the ceramic tiles directly to the wood didn't help it any. With no subfloors though, this one will serve us well as that.

Susan and Jaime, thanks!

Sherri, you never know what you might find! At least this problem was fixable. :)

Badgerpendous, well , we both tend to be restless! It's been hard to be without a kitchen though, so we're motivated.

Stay ! Home-Garndener, he's my hero. :)

Sue said...

Great progress! It'll be done before you know it, and can't wait to see the final pictures.

Lap Dog Knits said...

Love watching the progress...
totally in love with that stove!!

Mama Pea said...

I really appreciate you detailing all of this for us. Plus, I think it will be great for you to have to look back on and reminisce about when it is ALL DONE! Keep up the great posts.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing what you are doing to solve the issues Leigh:) Way to go Dan!!

Nina said...

It's great to see the progress. Gosh the hardwood floor sanded up nicely. I can see why you are putting flooring over it. Sometimes however, I just wonder what people were thinking in the first place, when they took the shortcuts like not putting down underlay. We've got a bunch of those sorts of shortcuts to remedy in our house and it makes so much more work to repair them than if they'd done it right the first time!

Renee Nefe said...

I am so impressed with your progress this far. It is looking so great.

You are very lucky to have a handy husband. I have two friends who have husbands that are completely clueless when it comes to home projects. Sad part is neither has the money to hire out these projects either. Lucky for them their wives are somewhat handy and they don't mind.

Jocelyn said...

It looks great! Congrats on all your hard work so far. It's going to be beautiful.

Leigh said...

Sue & Lap Dog Knits, thanks!

Mama Pea, it's true about the documenting. We have a lot of fun looking at old blog posts and photos and saying, "gosh, do you remember that?" Sometimes it makes our current challenges seem less daunting, LOL

Stephanie, you're welcome!

Nina, yes, we wonder about those short cuts too. Pity they were made during building! We wonder if it was a money issue, or a supply issue; who knows?

Renee, it's a relief that it's turning out so well! I'm thankful Dan is so handy. I'm not so I rely on his knowledge and skills heavily!

Jocelyn, I confess, we are so ready to get this over with!

bspinner said...

Looking good! Everything is finally coming together.

CaliforniaGrammy said...

Yet another "amazable" job!

Julie said...

Its looking really good!

Denise said...

Love how you trimmed out the floor protector! Cant wait to see it all finished.

Leigh said...

Barb, Janice, & Julie, thanks!

Denise, we're finishing up on that now and I have to say I'm relieved at how well it's turned out. I'll have a post on that early next week!