amberly,

I have no experience working with salvaged wood, so I'm no help there. But, if you look at it, and think that sanding will fix any potential problems, I'd say go for it! I love the idea of reusing something that still has value, and if it would be a better match for pre-existing floors- what a bonus!

I think if you are going to refinish the first floor entirely anyway that it sounds like it might be the perfect match when it's all done! Great deal!

I too do not know as far as the wood refinishing though it sure sounds reasonable- but I have to comment that I think the salvaging is such a great thing to do.

This sounds like a great idea but I'm no expert. I have used old wood out of closets to patch areas in the same house and that has worked well. The price seems great.

Our 1928 oak kitchen floor was worn too far in several areas to refinish and needed replacing in our recent remodel. A new oak floor was laid in the entire kitchen. At the same time, we refinished the 1928 floors in the dining room and living room (which still had enough wood to work with) to match. We took out a floor register heater in the living room and the hole was rebuilt using some of the few planks that were able to be salvaged from the kitchen. The floor people very skillfully rewove this in the living room so that you cannot tell that this was not the original floor (there is no outline of where the heater was at all as whole longer and shorter planks were replaced). We cannot honestly tell the difference between the new kitchen floor and the repaired/refinished dining room. So - my advice is that it doesn't matter - old or new - as long as the entire floor is sanded and finished at the same time to match. If you can save money reusing old, great! It is also more environmentally friendly to reuse than cut down more trees to replace.

We did exactly what you're doing (only ours was free because our neighbor was throwing their floor away and we asked for it in trade for allowing them to use our big bin). You can't tell the "new" from the old, both of which are about the same age. They have similar bumps and bruises (many of which were sanded out) and fit perfectly. If you're going to sand it, you should be just fine (when ours was first layed you could tell the difference between the two because the rooms they came from got different levels of sunlight).

We had lots of patch work done on the original oak floring throughout our 1947 Cape...we always used new oak and there is no noticable difference once it's all finished. The only difference is the tightness in the flooring in the newest sections which is reall no big deal. The color is exact and the installers had to do a bit more sanding on the new stuff to make it level as the old wood shrank a bit in 60 years.

can you get a sample and take it to your floor refinisher? they will know if the wear layer (wood above the tongue) is tall enough to withstand another sanding. and how close it is to the depth of the floors that are already there. if it's adequate, the long boards especially would be a great bargain. there was some at our salvage place and it was snapped right up! kren

Unfortunately, I have not yet retained a floor refinisher. We were hoping to lay the boards ourselves, and they have someone sand and finish.

Also, does it matter if I choose to stain the floors, or leave them clearcoated?? I guess my concern was over the two different "batches" taking the stain differently. I thought about changing the current clear coat to a medium brown to combat the natural orangey color the oak tends to be. Any thoughts?

Okay here's what I know and think I might know - I've done both new and salvaged - and had better results with the salvaged. As far as color match goes.... The answer depends on the type of wood. Oak doesn't age as much as maple so the oak color should match as long as you have the same species(red oak with red, white with white. If you get a piece you should be able to tell easily). The grain pattern will match better with the salvaged wood.

If you want to stain, I would go with the salvage, it will take the stain in the same way the current floor will.

I am really excited to look at this flooring- at $1.75 a SF that is only $260 for the whole floor! I hope that we are able to pull this off DIY. I will be asking all you DIYers out there a lot of questions....

Thanks everyone!

I wanted to update-
I bought the floorboards today, and I am really pleased with the purchase. $288 for 180 SF. They are in great condition: never been sanded, nails carefully removed, and very little damage to the tongues. It matches what I have perfectly.

We plan to install ourselves and get a pro to stain and refinish.

If anyone is looking for salvage wood (flooring, etc). please email me for more info. This guy is fantastic and is able to get all kinds of stuff from all over the country. He is shortly starting a green building supply (salvage, antique, leftovers) store in Perryville, Maryland.

Now I just have to unload it and stack it in the kitchen...where it will live until demo day (in about 2-3 months....)

Amberley, we are trying to match our existing random width beveled oak, original to our 1961 house. Cost for reclaimed wood from 2 major suppliers was way out of our budget. I'd love to get more info on your supplier -- especially since he's in Maryland. We're in Silver Spring.

Thanks!

I am interested in your salvage person as well. Your profile page does not appear to be set up for email.

cbjmidwood and annaleef-

I changed my profile to list my email-I didn't realize that it wasn't set up that way-sorry!

Regardless, I will post his info here. His name is Kevin McCarthy, and you can email him at oldeshed@aol.com, or call his cell, at 443-243-6888.

I would suggest emailing first, as he is often in the middle of ripping out stuff during the day.

He told me that he has contacts all over the country too, and can get all sorts of stuff.

Good luck in the hunt!!

You got a really great deal! The only problem I've heard of with salvaged wood is from someone who built his whole house out of an old bridge that was being taken down. The boards had nails and weren't in great condition. But it sounds like yours are in good shape. That price is terrific! We paid over $8/sf for reclaimed pine.

You can definitely do it yourself, just keep measuring the distance to your reference line to make sure you're not drifting off the straight line. But that shouldn't happen anyway, if you tap the boards together well as you go.

Good luck!!

The fact that is in long lengths makes this a terrific deal. You cannot get stuff like that today. I hope the tongues and grooves match up on your joint, but it's fixable with a router or tablesaw if not, and it just affects where the new meets the existing.
Good luck. Lay the boards tight- scrape any gunk or varnish off the mating surfaces before you put them down.
Casey

We got about 200 sq' of salvaged oak from Kevin that is an EXACT MATCH for our existing floor -- it's the same product, and even has the peg holes and pegs! We have been searching for a long time and had settled on new wood to weave in with the old. I sent Kevin a picture and turns out he ripped out our exact floor about 3 years ago. Said he's only seen this flooring a few times over the years (Bruce alternating width, 1/16th bevel, pegged). Some of it's a bit beat up, but should install and finish fine, and we'll have some left over for repairs. At $3/sq', it was a bargain for this flooring.

Also thrilled since we are doing as 'green' a kitchen as we can.

cbjmidwood-

He is a great resource. Did he tell you about his green building/salvage store that he wants to set up?

I am glad you were able to find such a specific flooring! $3/sf is a great bargain!

What fun it is to find treasures like that, that in turn allow you to stretch your budget elsewhere.