Redwood Floors – From Subfloor to Finished Art

Redwood Floors – From Sub floor to Finished Art

One of the biggest challenges in reviving the Eureka house was the floor and all that covered them. After a year of removing carpets, vinyl flooring, plywood and particleboard we were left with redwood subfloors. The rough planked floors were mostly square cut with the occasional gap that exceeded a ¼ inch.

Houses in Eureka have the unfinished subfloors covered with carpet or some other easy surface. The houses often do not have the hardwood floors, a few have Douglas fir, but many were left with subfloors. The cost of importing hardwoods was just prohibitive. Many of houses you do see with traditional oak floors were added later in the 20s or 30s.

After looking at oak and maple hardwoods we came back to the redwood subfloors. We loved the wide planks of old growth, some up toe 18 in. wide and many of them over 20 ft. long. You can just imagine what it was like to build these houses at the turn of the century.

There was concern about the softness of redwood, but we looked at other redwood floors and they were holding up well.

Our friend, Rick Willits from Blue Lake, gave us a great deal of encouragement and some advise on cleaning up the floors. If you need floor work and love wood then Rick is the guy to see on the North Coast.

We spent weeks cleaning the floors, scarping off the cardboard glued to the floors, cleaning the gaps, pulling a million tacks and nails and re-setting the large nails holding floor board down. Once our work was done Rick came in with the floor sanders and 4 coats of low gloss Varathane to finish the job.

The wide plants show off the old growth redwood that makes this house really shine. It helps tie the house the north coast and the ancient forest that are so much of the North Coast.

We plan to cover most of the floors with a collection of bright period rugs to protect our new floors.

Bathroom fix-up - the clawfoot tub goes!

Every old house needs a bathroom touch-up.  Ours was a mix of a nice tub and an outhouse.  The WC was set in a dark hole --- we struggled with saving the tub, but in the end we found a new home for the old claw foot somewhere in Arcata.  Here are a few before and after pictures.

Before --- 

 

We removed some of the redwood "paneling" and found some nice wainscoting - in the original yellow.  A little TSP and the paint looked nearly new-- a hundred years latter.

I'm not even going to show the old toilet -- just too gross.

After --

Here are the after - huge shower - It may not be period but we can live with that.

Unrelated photo of Table Mountain - Butte County - Springtime

Brass Door Knobs Unearthed!

 The doors throughout the house are covered in tons of paint...  A little hot water, some elbow grease, and some stripper there is a new look.

 Took the paint off a door knob and plate and look what was underneath! 

Now we just need to strip and repaint the door.

Scullery Kitchen Renovation

 We recently got pretty close to finishing our scullery renovation (yep, thats where we keep the skulls)

Before

 

On the wall you can see the remnants of the California Cooler - or San Fransisco Cooler.  The wall opened to the outside to keep food cool.  Long ago removed and now it just adds a draft to the room.

On

Here are some more before photos...

After

The counter top is a solid oak from Ikea - the two pieced were butt jointed with the edges routered to remove beveled edge and make the pieces fit together.

Front Porch Renovation

A while back we did a great new front porch renovation! 

Before, the front porch was concrete, so we thought we would bring it back to what it might have originally looked like made of local redwood.

Time to get to work!

We took the porch down, but then Pam couldn't leave the house! So we added a ramp!

This dog made our porch! 

We had a some redwood railings made. Had the porch constructed, and then got to painting! 

Here's the finished product!

Before and After

Every once and a while it's important to take stock of your seemingly endless project and highlight achievements through a series of satisfying "Before and After" photos!

Before, Apple Tree (see previous post on subject for more info) 

After

Before, Front Porch 

After (also see previous post for more info, and this one too)

Before, Skirting (more info)

After, almost done

Before, Front Parlor

Later, but not quite done

Before, The Second Parlor (see flooring post)

Later, not quite done on this one either, but it looks better!

Before, Stairs

In progress, stairs

Before, Stairs 

In progress, Stairs

While clearly there is work to do, a lot has been accomplished! And I didn't even mention the Mystery Door, or Mystery Well! 

Porch and Skirting - Redwood Salvage

April 2011 -- Eel River at Fernbridge

After the earthquake in 2010 we had a foundation put in to replace the old post and pier that was knocked over by the quake.   We salvaged about half of the redwood skirting – we cut off the rot, cleaned and sanded some of the old paint off.    Now its going back up – primed and fresh painted.  

The reclaimed skirting was also used on the new porch. All the redwood needed oil based primer, which we love putting on, only drawback is we were painting inside in the winter and we had to shut the heater off to avoid the huge fiery conflagration.

The end of the rains.   We have had months of regular rainfall on the North Coast.  The rivers were all running high, as you can see the Eel River is big and muddy.  Now that the rain has let up we were able to get out and put some paint on the porch and install more of the skirting around the foundation.

Original redwood skirting cleaned and trimmed - ready to put up on new porch

Here's a warning.  As we cleaned and trimmed the old siding I thought it would be easier to nail the skirting up and then sand them in place --- bad idea --- the belt sander is heavy and designed to be used on a flat surface --- not in a vertical position where the weight just pulls you down.   I also got a face full of paint dust and chips.