What would you do if you were remodeling and at one point uncovered the original floor and discovered it's tongue and groove oak?

I would laminate over it.

I’d refinish it, personally but I don’t blame you, it is a lot of work.

Real wood is so warm.
We had that kind of floor in our shop. We refinished it.

Hire a crew to refinish it.

We do all the work ourselves.

It would be gorgeous, but in addition to the refinishing, there’s the ongoing upkeep.

Right? We’ll save it for younger people.

LOL I would! You could redo just the edges and let them show around a large area rug. Just a thought.

Oh that would so be cheating!

Do you own the home?

Yes. Free and clear. We’ve replaced the fridge, oven and dishwasher. Ripping out kitchen cabinets now.

So this is the floor in the kitchen?

Yes it is. Realtor says it was built in 50s. I say 30s or 40s.
Did I mention replacing the toilet and bathtub?

How long do you plan to live there?

Till we go to a retirement home. It’s the last stop for me.

Got it. So, this is where you plan to live until death or another lifestyle proves necessary to move.

It comes down to this. The natural oak is attractive to you. To restore it, what are you willing to choose: quality, price, or time…pick two.

It would be cheaper to restore it.

To restore it versus installing another type of floor over it?

Yes. If we were willing to do the work, which we aren’t, the cheapest option would be to restore it.
Which is why I said in the details I wish I’d never seen it.

Okay. So restoring the original flooring yourself is not an option, so price is not the driving factor. Is that correct?

When we have remodeled in the past, we always set aside money for unexpected events. I would therefore have enough to pay someone to refinish it.

Yeah well we don’t.

1. You would like to have the original floor.
2. The cheapest way to refinish it would be to do it yourself.
3. You don’t want to do it.
4. You don’t have the funds to have it professionally refinished.

Am I still with you? Is this correct?

We don’t have the funds to spend on doing something we can do ourselves.

We did, twenty five years ago. When we bought our house it had wall-to-wall pink carpet throughout. When i ripped it up (thinking we’d just replace the rug) we discovered a solid oak floor underneath — original from 1960.

Who the hell covers oak floors with pink carpet?

Anywho, a friend and I sanded and refinished them. Still looks good today.

Shame to cover up that kind of craftmanship. I get the reasoning behind it, just sayin’.

Well it serves to preserve them too.

I’d do it. If it’s cheaper and more enjoyable…at least in a room that’s special to you, maybe the living room?

Just a thought about upkeep: if you use wax, application is probably done in about an hour per room and only has to be redone after about five years.

Don’t you have a teenager in your neighborhood who’d be happy to receive a lump sum to do the whole thing? Put the cost of the laminate towards a helper, then you just have to oversee. Failing that, maybe there’s a way to exchange labour for labour? Can you do someone’s taxes or tutor a kid? Bake a fancy birthday cake? It wouldn’t hurt to ask.

Pretend you haven’t seen it.
Laminate it with oak laminate.

The problem is it isn’t a job for a teenager. It can be tedious and time consuming to not screw it up. Don’t sand too much or to little. It’s hard to keep it uniform.
Then there is the stain which takes an especially sensitive touch.

^^ Yes, that. My friend Dave and I did it (four rooms and a hallway), but he’s a contractor. I followed his lead.

We had success (eventually) by hiring a student of a local trade school. Young enough to happily work for a lump sum that’s not extremely high, but with some training in the technique. He was fast and did a good job.

When we’re done it will look similar to this.

^ Nice!

My Dad’s wife’s place. While I was there I looked carefully for things to incorporate into our house.

[We own the home] free and clear.

Congrats!! I am so happy for you! What a sense of peace and confidence that must give.

Yes it really does.
Can’t wait to get everything ironed out, appliances, a bathtub, insulation and everything else, so I can relax and learn how to live on our SS.

Ooooh! That floor is gorgeous!

Yeah. And it’s laminate.

What would I do? I would refinish it. It’s worth the time and would add value to the house. Laminate does nothing to that effect. The image you posted looks more like engineered tongue and groove which people often mistake for “hardwood” I know they used to call that laminate but these days “laminate” is synonymous with Pergo and Pergo-like flooring. If you go with the engineered floor just don’t get the glue down type, go floating and don’t go too cheap. That engineered stuff with the thin hardwood veneer dents like nothing else.

Question…would the laminate damage the wooden floors?

If it doesn’t damage the floors underneath, I’d just consider it a lovely surprise for the next owners.

If it does damage the floor below, I’d almost feel an obligation to the house to finish it.

But I’m weird like that. :P

No. Laminate. Isn’t glued down. I just snaps together.. I think there is a protective sheet that goes down first, too.

I vote for laminate then. You’re not damaging the floors. Just think of it as leaving a gift for someone who has the time and resources to properly finish them.

You could leave a little note about it for the next owners. :)

Good idea! Been trying to figure out a way to let the next owners know in case I’m not around.

Hmmm…what about a laminated notecard left in a cabinet?

If you don’t have a laminating machine, just covering it with packing tape would make it pretty durable. :)

Oh excellent! I’ve got laminating stuff from Walmart hanging around. Just don’t know where.
CAPITAL IDEA!

Good thing about modern laminate is A. it’s cheap and B. it’s easily removed if you decide to refinish your floor later.

Well, it’s not really cheap, but I agree with easily removed. I’ve been scraping up old linoleum for two days. God I’ll never glue flooring down again.

I did glue down engineered floor once. Once. You can usually put laminate right over the old linoleum