First things first – we conducted our species check. This process involves sanding a few spots, pulling a few boards, and chemical testing. This 3 step process insures that we get the correct hardwood installed. We even go a step further and match the wood grains to the correct grade of hardwood.
Maple & Oak
One big challenge we faced with this house was that they had put a large addition onto the home. This sounds great! Why would that be a problem?! Yes, indeed adding more space to a home is peachy, but when you are adding brand new white oak to a floor that is over 100 years old….buckle up buttercup! We had over 500 sqft of new wood to install into this home. Not only in the new addition, but there were LOTS of repairs. Again, you can do a lot of damage to your wood floors in 100 years. We had spots all over the home that were replaced, and they stuck out like a sore thumb.
Oh! One more thing, we had two different species in the home! On the first floor, white oak and on the second floor, maple. Something you may not realize, is that maple is very uncommon in the residential space. You usually find maple on gym floors. It was a pretty cool discovery! Again, we were challenged with matching up new and old wood.
Lacing New Hardwood Into 100 Year Old Hardwood
After all the wood was installed, damages repaired and floors sanded, that is when the real challenge set in. How are we going to make the new match the old?! Clearly you do not want to walk into your home and see patchwork wood everywhere. We spent A LOT of time finding the perfect concoction to match new/old and white oak/maple.
It may seem impossible to get new hardwood to match ancient hardwoods. Now, imagine lacing new hardwoods into a 100 year old hardwood! Some would say, you’re crazy! Well, we are crazy but it worked! It worked so good that we had to write it’s own article. Click here to learn exactly how we got it to match.
Project Overview
- Species Check
- Maple & Oak
- Over 100 Repairs
- Color Matching
- New Hardwood Laced Into Old Hardwood