Keeping original wood floors in Wilmington homes

Many Wilmington houses still have their original floors: narrow oak strip in parlors and dining rooms, sometimes pine upstairs, often laid over plank subfloors on old joists. They have usually been sanded and refinished several times over the decades, so there may be less wood left above the tongue than on a newer floor. That makes careful drying more important, because a floor that cups badly and then gets sanded flat may not have another sanding left in it.

The good news is that many of these floors sit over open or partly open basements. That gives the contractor access to the underside of the subfloor, which means the floor can be dried from below as well as from above. Drying from both sides is the most even way to bring cupped boards back down.

Humid summers and dry heated winters already move old floors, closing gaps in August and opening them in January. Dry readings are taken from an unaffected room in the same house at the same time, so the floor is dried back to its own normal, not a number from a chart. For more on the city, see the Wilmington area page; for the method, see hardwood floor drying.

Old floors may have layers of varnish, shellac or paint, and paint in homes built before 1978 may contain lead. If drying is followed by sanding, the flooring contractor should follow lead-safe practices. Stained boards can sometimes be replaced with salvaged boards of the same age and species, then blended in with a refinish.

Kitchens in older Wilmington houses have often been remodeled, sometimes with tile or vinyl laid over the original wood floor, which can trap water between layers. When a dishwasher or sink leak runs under cabinets, it may reach the original floor underneath without showing on the new surface. Readings and sometimes a small inspection opening are the way to find out.

Next door, in the dining room, the original oak often runs right up to the kitchen threshold, so water crossing the doorway soaks the first rows of boards. Those rows deserve close attention when readings are taken.

Old narrow oak floors over plank subfloors, dried from above and below, often take five to ten days to reach dry reference readings, sometimes longer in humid summer weather. After that, the boards are left to stabilize before anyone decides about refinishing. Many floors flatten enough that only a light screen and recoat is needed; others need sanding once they are stable, or a few stained boards replaced.

For an insurance claim, photograph the floor with a flashlight held low to show the cupping, note the floor type and species, and keep the drying log. If boards are removed, ask the contractor to photograph and keep a sample. Old floors are hard to match, so the insurer and any flooring contractor will want to know exactly what was there.

Keep receipts for any refinishing or board replacement, and ask the flooring contractor to note in writing how much wear layer the boards had left. That detail can matter if a full replacement is being discussed.

Many older Wilmington homes heat with cast iron radiators on wood floors. A leaking radiator valve or a failed connection can drip for weeks before anyone notices the dark ring in the boards, and a sudden failure can soak a room. Have a heating technician fix the leak before drying starts, so the system is not refilled onto a wet floor.

When a few boards are too stained or split to save, they can be cut out and replaced. Matching old oak or pine is the hard part: new lumber is a different color and often a different width. Flooring specialists sometimes borrow boards from inside a closet and put new ones there, or use salvaged boards of similar age, then refinish the room so the repair blends in.

Water that runs to a staircase soaks the treads and the stringers beneath. Old stair treads are thick and usually dry in place with directed air. Doorway thresholds between rooms trap water underneath and are often the last spot to reach dry readings.