Matching an old fir floor

[highup]

Customer added on to their home to get more closet space and a large new bathroom.
The home was built in 1929 and looks to have a fir floor.
The old floor had been sanded lightly and was done this way to preserve it old look. The floor boards are kind of mottled in color, lights and darks on all the boards. ....a little darker on the edges of some, with lighter splotches here and there.
For kicks and giggles, I stained a 3 inch wide strip of plywood that I had with me, and using 4 different stains, I made a board that looked pretty close to the home's flooring. Homeowner isn't expecting perfection................ he was actually thinking of layin in some floating floor to fill this area, and we all know this wouldn't come even remotely close to matching the old floor.
He just wants the dropped off area filled of the addition filled in with something.

Here's the story.
There is now a 3/4 inch drop where the old fir floor ends and the small addition starts. By "small", I mean that the area in question is a 4 foot wide area 10 feet long at the end of the bedroom by the closets.
My idea was to straighten the ends of the old boards, then install a header board, then lay the new floor boards from the header to the closet doors.

My idea was to distress the new fir boards a little bit with a scraper, belt sander and orbital sander and pre finish the boards before nailing them in place. By pre finish, I mean stain, then put one coat of finish on the floor.
After installation, sand a bit more if needed, then put on at least one more coat of finish.

My real question here is about the t&g fir flooring. These are meant to be installed then finish sanded.
I'm wondering how much ledging the boards will have if I finish them first, then nail them in later.

If the boards are relatively close to smooth after nailing in place, then this ledging won't be an issue at all since the boards won't all fit perfectly tight together anyway............ the old floor has it's gaps, so I will try to duplicate that look installing the new boards.

This is a rustic look, and that's what I am trying to duplicate.
I'll set up my etch-a -sketch to make a layout so you can see more of what I'm tryin to do.

 

[Ernesto]

High & Higher.....up. There's places that sell reclaimed wood. I bet there's one close to you , your in wood country. Best thing going for ya is it's old and destressed already. Find some that looks similar and in width, thickness and lightly hit the edges with the belt sander or ROS. The do your staining and finishing. Of course play with some scraps first.

 

[Nick]

If it's only a 4x10 area why not just nail in some 3/4" plywood first ?

 

[highup]

High & Higher.....up. There's places that sell reclaimed wood. I bet there's one close to you , your in wood country. Best thing going for ya is it's old and destressed already. Find some that looks similar and in width, thickness and lightly hit the edges with the belt sander or ROS. The do your staining and finishing. Of course play with some scraps first.

Love the idea Ernesto........ never even crossed my mind.
Issues would be the differences in thickness from board to board could be considerable since and old or reclaimed wood was sanded in place. I'd still have to sand it down to stain it to match anyway.

If it's only a 4x10 area why not just nail in some 3/4" plywood first ?

Has plywood on it now. On one side of the old to new transition, it's 3/8 of an inch low, and the other side is 7/8 low. I will need to remove the existing plywood and sister the joists to make the transition is equally low (about 3/4") from the old floor to the closet door track.
The door track sets level, and the existing transition from the old ouside wall is way off.
The bed side and the area where the header will be are the original outside walls.......... from 1929.
Once I get the wood thickness figured out, I can install the new plywood so that it sets at the right height.

You know my name is highup, and I like to do drawings.
Cheeky monkeys............

Here's the room layout showing the bed in place. The entrance door is to the left, the bathroom door to the right, and along the right side is the mirrored bypass doors in front of the closet.

Header board I mentioned is where old meets new, and the short 4 foot boards will go slightly under the closet door track. I will remove the track to do the work, then replace it once the job is done.
The header board is the only way to make this work possible since the floor is out of plane from the old half to the new half. It's not correctable other than to make the boards meet flush at the header, then slope away towards the mirror........... Home is too far out of level from one side of the room to the other.
The head of the bed is the outside wall for what it's worth.


The bed location helps to hide the 'issues' Customer knows what's possible. He's a contractor himself........ a general, not a specialty like I am.
Not demeaning him, he has some physical issues that prevent him from doing the work. I only wish I has 20% of his brains......... very smart fella on any issue from flooring, electrical, foundation, music, extreme audio, electrical......... 110 220 or 12 volt. He's a normal guy that understands bigger is always better..........
IE: A sand rail with a blown aluminum V-8 with 560 HP is far more fun than a VW rail on steroids.
All of his vehicles follow that montra.


I hope you like my drawing......... cheeky monkeys, bum lookers.

 

[Ernesto]

Love the idea Ernesto........ never even crossed my mind.
Issues would be the differences in thickness from board to board could be considerable since and old or reclaimed wood was sanded in place. I'd still have to sand it down to stain it to match anyway.

Sand or plane the back of the wood to fit height so you do not take away from the natural patina.

Not sure what kinda finish is on exiisting. Usually finish guys will give some old wood a slight sanding to take away the burrs or what have you.

 

[highup]

Sand or plane the back of the wood to fit height so you do not take away from the natural patina.

Not sure what kinda finish is on existing. Usually finish guys will give some old wood a slight sanding to take away the burrs or what have you.

Problem here is that the "old floor" has already been "refinished"...... recently, refinished within the last 5 or so years ...............refinished to retain "some" of that old patina.
Lighter in the centers of most boards and darker on the edges of some. I will assume that the refinish job was an oil based poly, but not sure.
I will have to esperiment on a few boards, then take them up to the job and see how well I did............. then proceed from there.

Never having installed any nail down unfinished wood, I don't know what to expect as to the evenness in thickness of the new fir boards.
Should it be pretty darn close, or worse than I might expect?
New board are 3 3/8 inches, but to match the original boards at the job (to keep the lines straight) I need 3 1/4" width and sometimes up to 1/16 less.
I can run the boards through my saw or a planer to "thin them up" as needed. I can also sand off or "soften" the square edges of each board slightly during the sanding and scuffing process

That's my big question tho.............. when nailed down, just how even should I expect the board edges to be to each other?
I am guessing very close and not a big issue in my situation?

 

[highup]

Sand or plane the back of the wood to fit height so you do not take away from the natural patina.

Not sure what kinda finish is on exiisting. Usually finish guys will give some old wood a slight sanding to take away the burrs or what have you.

Problem here is that the "old floor" has already been "refinished"...... refinished to retain "some" of that old patina. I will assume that the refinish job was an oil based poly.
I will have to esperiment on a few boards, then take them up to the job and see how well I did............. then proceed from there.

Never having installed any nail down unfinished wood, I don't know what to expect as to the evenness of the boards.
Is it pretty darn close, or worse than I might expect?

That's my big question.

 

[Ernesto]

Got some smooth spacers? Stick them in there so they are sitting on top of the tongue, nail the planks and then pull them out.

 

[highup]

Got some smooth spacers? Stick them in there so they are sitting on top of the tongue, nail the planks and then pull them out.

Ya mean my old credit and debit cards?
If this job is a go......and I think it is......... I'm gonna be hand nailing it.
4 foot long boards probably ain't gonna take all that long

What kind and size of nails ........bright or galvanized ?
I will assume 4 nails per board is OK?
Nails will be going into 3/4 inch plywood.

 

[Ernesto]

Seen some guys just blind nail using a 15ga nailer or you can use 6d or 8d galvanized or screw-shank flooring nails. On those you can set the nail into a drill driver, screw'er down as far as possible then set below the surface with a nailset. And or top nail with PL Premium and fill with matching caulk using that method.

 

[highup]

I've run into a new problem.
The face of the old boards are 3 3/8", but the so called 3 3/8" boards I ordered to play with for staining match are only 3 1/8"
I found enough flooring at another lumber yard to easily do this job, but their boards are also just 3 3/8" wide.

...I am guessing that today's standard for whats called a 3 3/8" board, is 3 1/8" in it's finished dimension?
If that's the case, I will need to find some place that custom mills the boards......... and I bet that's gonna be fun. Dang?
I could buy standard 1 by 8 fir boards then cut em in half............ our old high school shop teacher can mill the T&G
I'm bettin that 1 by 8's are more than twice as spendy as 1 by 4's.
Dagnamit.

Or I could use 1 by 4's and have the both sides grooved and spline them.
Problem is that standard 1 by material has slightly rounded edges.

......... but at least a 1 by 8 would have enough material to rip into 2 pieces over 3 1/2 inches wide which could be milled for T&G.
Time to go lumber checkin and measuring and pricin before they close up today.

 

[highup]

The amount of overwood on your hardwood flooring will depend on how good the milling is on the material that you will be using, and how level and smooth your sub flooring is, but you can pull the boards up on each row to check before nailing them and if you have a large overwood area you could shim up as needed at that point then recheck the board for eveness after you get to an acceptable eveness then nail that board run.

The existing floor is old worn and uneven, and that alone will help me a lot.... I will even need to leave a few gaps so what I install will more closely match the existing. Some dings, scrapes, wire brushing and rough handling will also help a little.

The flooring will be installed on new 2/4 inch plywood.