What is this? - 1940's wood flooring question

10 years ago

Hi,

I have a question and can't seem to find the answer on google, so I thought I would ask you guys! I recently bought a small home built in the 1940's. In pulling up the carpet I found a strange type of wood floor:

It looks like those are a type of wood floor (possibly??), but I wasn't sure. So, naturally, I went to the floor vent return duct:

And when I pulled up that wooden grate, I found an interesting thing... it looks like there are wood floors underneath a thin layer of wood-type material? (I apologize for the crazy pet fur in the photo!)

Does anyone know what is going on with my flooring? I am hoping we can salvage the wood floors, but I am not sure what is going on with that top layer of wood.

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

mahlib
10 years ago
Looks like Parquet to me Google it.
User
10 years ago
That is the subfloor that you are seeing in the grate. With parquet on top.
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PRO
Cancork Floor Inc.
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Sophie's on it! The lowest level (the tongue and groove stuff that looks to be 1/2" thick or so) is the subfloor. Not harwdood. Subfloor. These are "planked subfloors". The thin "wood like" substance on top = the parquet (the wood patterned floor lurking under the carpet).

So you have old (thin) parquet sitting on top of old, thick planked (tongue and groove) subfloor planks. Things are looking a little wavy. Parts of the parquet look to be coming loose (at least near the grate). I would say they threw down some carpet to hide the "beat up" parquet. Of course they look great in low traffic areas (like by a wall) but the wear areas would probably be in bad shape.

I don't think you have enough "meat" on the parquet to salvage it if you remove the carpet. It would most likely have to come off or a new 1/2" plywood laid over it and start again. The tongue and groove subfloor was never meant to be "finished". It requires something over top. There is nothing to salvage as it is not "flooring".

The only way to know for sure = remove all the carpet.
Jon
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the comments, all.

Cancork, you gave alot of insight... however - we do have a diagonal subfloor underneath the tongue and groove that can be seen from the crawlspace. So do we have 2 layers of sub-floor?
PRO
Cancork Floor Inc.
10 years ago
Good question...A local guy who has seen dozens of these things can help you. Even if you have 2 layers of subfloor, there isn't much on the market that is allowed over top of "planked subflooring"...other than carpet.

At this point in time, it is time to get a professional flooring installer (NWFA Certification is a great help...'coz they know SO MUCH MORE than "Chuck in a Truck") to come in and have a look throughout the home to see what you have.