Repair Or Replace

[heightsfan]

Good Afternoon All,

hope your week goes well!

We have a 1920s bungalow home with original pine wood floors.

We have noticed there are some areas in the home that the floor squeaks and some sections where the

actual floor board seems loose or as is if my foot heel will sink in?

Do these floors have sub floors?

How can these be repaired with minimal cost?

I want to keep the original floors.

Please provide thoughts, ideas, experiences, or comments.

Thank You

"make it a great day"

[musicman]

Good Afternoon All,

I have noticed there are some areas in the home that the floor squeaks and some sections where the

actual floor board seems loose or as is if my foot heel will sink in?

Do these floors have sub floors?

How can these be repaired with minimal cost?

I want to keep the original floors.

Please provide thoughts, ideas, experiences, or comments.

remember the wood is designed to flex slightly so there will be occasional squeaks. this is can be dependent on humidity and temperature. i would say your floor does have a subfloor. a floor person could go in from the bottom and attempt to secure the loose board without affecting the finish.

[rapturematt]

Most of the floors that were install in yesteryear was installed on top of 1X6 Pine Planks and then covered with felt paper. If you have loose and squeaking floors could mean that sub-floor has either rotted or the nails have rusted out. A lot of times you have to replace all of the sub-floor with plywood to prevent the squeaking and loose floor. That can be a big project and sometimes costly because you have to remove the existing floor and re-install the floor after you replace the sub-floor.

My recommendation if you want to fix it at minimal cost is to crawl under the house and look at the sub-flooring where it is squeaking and seek if the sub-floor is giving and why. You may find other problems as well like termite damage and wood rot since we live in a humid climate. If you see give in the floors and non active termite damage, you might be able to reinforce the sub-floor by attaching pressure treated 2X6 or 2x8 to the rotted or termite damage wood and that would reduce the movement of the floor, but not completely get rid of it.

Also keep in mind, it is an old house and old house have squeaks and drafts and that just is the character of the house until you decide to completely gut the house and start from scratch.

Good Luck and let me know if you have any other questions.

[Guest danax]

Those are probably long leaf heart pine floors. Only available today as salvage, unless you get the newly milled heart pine from old sinker logs or antique beams ($10-15 sq ft.), and yours is probably as nice or nicer so.....I think they're well worth saving.

Speaking of salvaged heart pine, I was at Historic Houston earlier this year buying some to repair my heart pine floor (termites ate the subfloor and finish floor) and I was speaking to another man there also buying some, who happened to live in the Heights. He was surprised that my house (in the lowly East End) had a subfloor as his did not. So, you might not have one.

As mentioned above, it's all fixable and sistering a beam to remove a squeak is relatively easy. Even removing a part of the floor to replace some sub floor isn't too bad.

[RedScare]

I doubt you have a subfloor. I live a couple of blocks from you, and probably have a very similar house to yours. They just nailed those boards straight to the floor joists. Over the years, the nails can move back and forth from the humidity and the nail hole gets a bit wallered out, causing the floor to creak. If you get the floors refinished, the refinishers will put putty between the boards, as well as side nail them (a special type of rib shanked nail) to stop the creaking.

WARNING: This will not completely eliminate the creaking. My floors were redone in March. As we were heading into summer, my AC was on continuously until 10 days ago. I have not had heat or AC on since. The dry weather allowed the boards to shrink, causing creaks all over the house. That's just the way it is in Houston and old houses.

There are numerous ways to renail wood floors. The "best" way, is to go under the house and renail them, so it will not show. Make sure to put weight on the boards before you do it. Another way that I did some boards was to nail from the top with a nail gun and finish nails. The refinisher then covered up the nails with putty. This makes the board solid, but is not recommended in areas that are easily seen. The aforementioned side nails also are nailed from the top, but they go between the boards, so they won't be seen.

Google creaky wood floors. You'll see numerous ways to attack the problem. Do not expect to completely eliminate the problem though. It is pretty much impossible to do.

[heightsfan]

Thank You All,

for the great input !

Question , is it possible eventually breaking the floor boards or cracking pine floor ?

What if my home does not have a subfloor ? Will I have to add one ?

Can I just crawl under the house and nail to beams a support board to prevent from breaking boards from inside ?

[musicman]

Thank You All,

for the great input !

Question , is it possible eventually breaking the floor boards or cracking pine floor ?

What if my home does not have a subfloor ? Will I have to add one ?

Can I just crawl under the house and nail to beams a support board to prevent from breaking boards from inside ?

anything could break depending on the weight.

i don't think you would have to add a subfloor. you could add support if you were concerned but adding an entire subfloor wouldn't be cost effective.

and the answer to your question would be yes.

are you having signs of cracking boards?

[OldHouseLover]

I've had same problem. We took out floor, put bracing [2X4] between beams & replaced boards. Some boards will get damaged. Home Depot has packets of hardwood flooring. Sand new boards & stain & give a coat of whatever protection the floor has. DIY had a good article on this. It's not hard to do, just getting past fear of project is main obstacle.

anything could break depending on the weight.

i don't think you would have to add a subfloor. you could add support if you were concerned but adding an entire subfloor wouldn't be cost effective.

and the answer to your question would be yes.

are you having signs of cracking boards?

[musicman]

I've had same problem. We took out floor, put bracing [2X4] between beams & replaced boards. Some boards will get damaged. Home Depot has packets of hardwood flooring. Sand new boards & stain & give a coat of whatever protection the floor has. DIY had a good article on this. It's not hard to do, just getting past fear of project is main obstacle.

you should've been able to install bracing without removing the floor. the few pieces that were bad here were easily replaced without disturbing the remainder. luckily i got some floor from a trash pile down the street. it's aged already and worked out nicely.

[heightsfan]

Good Afternoon

So it is possible that these older bungalow homes do not have subfloors ?

I guess the only true way to brace would be from underneath ?

[flipper]

I guess the only true way to brace would be from underneath ?

Unless you remove the current floor...

It's not as big of deal as you might think. You can do it!

flipper