Douglas fir is usually more aesthetically popular than yellow pine because of its pretty grain. I really like the natural color variation in Douglas Fir. Here are the basics of how to refinish Douglas fir flooring successfully. Tweet on Twitter. I did find a breathable finish to used after installing the floor. I tore out the carpet, sanded and stained the plywood subfloor, used a sharpie pen for the lines and rolled over that with a pizza cutter. I tore out the carpet, sanded and stained the plywood subfloor, used a sharpie pen for the lines and rolled over that with a pizza cutter. However, if you’re going for a specific home design style, your stain can vary all the way from transparent to deep mahogany—the choice is yours. Typically this occurs from heavy wear or water damage that can’t be sanded out. Is Douglas fir suitable to refinish? If the area of damage is small enough they can often be repaired, but if it is throughout the floor it may not be cost effective to repair. Many of our customers are replacing or repairing 100 year old doug fir flooring all across North America. It makes for a visually interesting finish. At Woodland Flooring, we source our Douglas Fir from only natural Forest Salvage or from Private family owned forestry operations in B.C. What are the steps? There’s laminate flooring down, but under the laminate, there’s Douglas fir. On the Janka hardness scale, Southern Yellow pine is 870, Douglas fir 660 and Eastern white pine 380, compared to red oak which is 1290. Step 1 Check to see if there is enough wood left to refinish your fir floors. Suffice to say I cannot teach you how to sand a floor by email. As … Refinished Doug Fir Living Room Floor. What do you recommend. Improper spacing. Will it hold up? I had the floors stained a medium walnut to hide some of the imperfections. Refinishing of the mudroom, kitchen, living and guest rooms ; New installation of Douglas fir in the master bedroom; We also talked about exactly what we were hoping to see in the results. I Totally agree!! Fir refinishing will help remove many signs of age, and allow you to achieve the finish color and texture you desire. The hardness varies, pending on the pine species being used. Photo By Susan Seubert. Avi was able to address all of the concerns; squeaking, missing tongue-and-groove, splintering. Nov 8, 2011 - $50 floor. : ) Nov 8, 2011 - $50 floor. Share on Facebook. Douglas Fir is a strong and resilient wood with a medium density yet durable for its lightweight. Unless there is a height issue/problem, I would go over your existing fir subfloor with a new floor, after the fir subfloor was refastened with screws. Step 3: Clean up. How to Refinish a 100-Year-Old Wood Floor. ... scuffs, dents, and dings that will need to be sanded and refinished in short order. Answer: Dear Amy. Technically, pine flooring is not a hardwood; it is a soft wood. Subfloors are nailed or screwed to the floor joists. Karen L. Lv 7. Whether you've been admiring your old wood floor for years or you just discovered it hidden under some old carpeting, refinishing it can be a … It’s solid and straight and the grain is gorgeous but there’s one downside, douglas fir needs a little coaxing to accept stain. just call it patina and throw an area rug down 0 0. Mike the Hardwood Floor Guy assured me that he could bring them back to … Refinishing Fir floors advice? Or is it too soft? It turned out that Bona Mega was the preferred water-based finish of the team at Peter’s, and we decided on a low sheen satin finish. Step 4: Stain. DougFirFlooring.com is your source Douglas Fir Flooring and Fir products such as trim, lumber, and stair treads. My experience: I bought a small 1952 house 8 years ago for 77k. Its rich patina tones of red and yellow are truly Old World and have stood the test of time for over 100 years in many heritage buildings. Karen L. Lv 7. By. I would strongly consider sheeting the fir flooring with 3/8" (minimum) plywood to add stability to it. Is Douglas fir easy to refinish? Subfloors are nailed or screwed to the floor joists. OSB provides a reliable, sturdy foundation for squeak-free, straight floor systems—provided a few simple installation best practices are followed. Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. Question and Answers. it doesn’t look like it was sanded much prior to the finishing and like their might have been foreign particulate contaminate in the finish. We prefer to use water-based finishes whenever possible and have had great results with the Bona Mega finish that was used on the refinished Douglas Fir flooring at our Tree House. Given the colour of the stone we're going with my wife decided a nice dark stain would be petfect for the mantle. Douglas fir is a beautiful wood; however, it is very soft. Douglas-fir is the only redwood-type material still available in substantial volumes of clear wood and is characterized by having the highest ratings of any western softwood for extreme fibre stress in bending; tension parallel-to-grain; horizontal sheer; exceptional strength, hardness and durability. That fact alone speaks volumes about the species use as flooring. Wed Feb 15, 2012 7:37 pm. This would allow you to install pretty much ANY wood floor over it. Each floor system comes complete with all the structural wood components and hardware. Did we want to apply a semi-gloss finish? Yellow pine grain is typically loose and brain, and if it is not properly handled and prepared, the wood between the grain lines can sometimes swell or shrink, causing warping. Solid full length Douglas fir, or spf floor joists, engineered “silent floor joists” (“I” joists), and plywood sub-floors are engineered for each house package. The back room has a lot of dents but isn't quite so bad. that looks like an 60 year old pine or douglas fir tongue and groove floor whose appearance reflects its age. In fact, you can even skip the stain if you want a completely natural look. 20. I had Avi restore and refinish the original Douglas Fir floors in my historic loft. I had other companies that would not touch the project due to the age, type of wood and wear on the floors. I think from my reading that floors need to breath or you have a moisture problem with the subfloor. We decided on thick douglas fir shelves for the reading room. Photo By Susan Seubert . Jul 14, 2016 - Refinished Douglas Fir flooring, circa 1870s. High gloss? I'm in the process of redoing my fireplace and part of that is a new mantle. Related Questions. 1 day ago. Usually when we encounter 100 plus year old sub floor it does not look like what you have shown in the pics; the edges are not as square and the wood is not as tight and straight. I wasn't 100% sure that refinishing would work because as the before photos show the floors were in bad shape. The tough part was over, and the crew got right back to work! Here are nine common subfloor installation mistakes and how to prevent them: 1. The planks were installed on top of a subfloor… The “toy ” floor sanders they rent at all the tool rental shops will not, in any case, do a decent job of sanding your floor. My husband and I would like to refinish it ourselves. Article by Janell Happ. Choosing The Proper Fill For Gaps In Old Douglas Fir Toungue And Groove Flooring. Before you can start installing, you need to make sure that you prepare the room. What would the floors look like once they were sanded? Question: Hi Joseph, Here is my question again regarding filling the cracks in an old doug-fir floor: I have very “rustic” quality doug-fir tx floors. Feb 3, 2012 - To make the house somewhat liveable I had the floors refinished. You will then want to begin sanding the floor. what year was the house built and what area is it in and maybe I can take a better guess. 1x6 VG Douglas Fir . Step 1: Prepare the Room. Added care must be taking during this process to avoid damaging the wood. The walls in the entry are a golden clay plaster. 7 upvotes, 15 comments. Yuck! Both of the bedrooms have a lot of paint splatter on the wood floors, and the front bedroom's floor is badly gouged and dented in places. A: Douglas Fir is softer than most hardwoods but it is easy to work with and stains and finishes really well, if staining is your cup of tea. They're in pretty bad shape since they had multiple layers of vinyl/carpet on top of them. Siding Boards Douglas Fir Western Red Cedar Trim Boards 1x4 Paint Grade 1x6 Paint Grade 1x4 VG Douglas Fir 1x6 VG Douglas Fir Doug Fir makes beautiful flooring. Posted in the DIY community. The fir tree has a smooth, tight grain that doesn’t tend to twist or warp as pine grain does. I have 2-foot-by-12-foot Douglas fir flooring in my kitchen, living room and dining room (approximately 1,000 square feet). A beautiful floor starts with a stable subfloor. To showcase the stunning lake views from the common spaces, we stayed fresh + light with soft white surfaces paired with refinished Douglas Fir subfloors (discovered underneath the old carpet). September 2020. : ) Nov 8, 2011 - $50 floor. For this reason, we do occasionally run into fir floors that are too far gone to be salvaged. Press J to jump to the feed. Another disadvantage of prefinished flooring involves dirt, and lots of it. just call it patina and throw an area rug down 0 0. Reply. Would we want to re-stain them? This, of course, defeats the purpose of wanting to save time and money in the first place. The house had carpet all throughout. 2 days ago. that looks like an 60 year old pine or douglas fir tongue and groove floor whose appearance reflects its age. Hello all, My house has some beat up original Douglas Fir floors in the bedrooms that were once covered by carpet. Matte? it doesn’t look like it was sanded much prior to the finishing and like their might have been foreign particulate contaminate in the finish. Virginia Young and Janie Lowe developed and use many of their Yolo Colorhouse hues in their own home. The floors are 3/4" planks of what looks like heart pine and Douglas fir, 2 1/4" wide, nailed directly to the joists. And I doubt that the rental places will give you a course on sanding and finishing your floor. If most of the nail heads are visible, the wood is too thin for refinishing, and will need to be replaced. Janie and Virginia painted and updated the kitchen cabinets, refinished a fir subfloor with water-based sealer and refinished the plaster walls with casein paint and a beeswax glaze. Picked up a chunk of douglas fir and thinking I should have gone with a different wood. Step 2: Sand. With its rose and gold variations in tone, Douglas fir flooring is often stained in a light or transparent color to let its natural beauty shine through. Step 5: Finish. Related Q: I just bought my first home. We custom ordered them from our local lumber yard at 2.5″ thick and just shy of 11″ wide and 12 feet long at $33 a pop. Gregory Hamilton says : September 11, 2019 at 8:56 pm . Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts System comes complete with all the structural wood components and hardware many of our customers replacing. 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