Get floored by your home!

Cheesy title, but there is potential that your home is hiding something from you. (This post is for those who own a home; no offense renters).

Older Generations

Folks that have lived, loved and since moved on to greener pastures (why does everyone move to Florida anyway?) may have owned the home you’re currently maintaining and maybe paying for.

While previous owner lived there, you can guarantee that some “updates” took place. There is something unconscious about people needing to change things; it’s impressive to see sometimes.

So, get ready to go check every carpeted room in your home, because:

IT COULD BE HARDWOOD FLOORING!

That was not a typo. People in this world really used to cover over hardwood flooring with carpeting. Get this, some people went nuts and covered hardwood floor with cheap linoleum flooring (YUCK).

This practice was popular in the 1970s and 1980s. So, if your home is built before that time period, I might be talking directly to you.

Some people might say “So what if it’s hardwood flooring? What’s the big deal?”.

THE BIG DEAL?! Hardwood flooring can not only look great while adding an extra element to your home, but it could command a higher sale price when it comes time to put it on the market and finally make that move to Canada you’ve been putting off for 10 years.

You found Hardwood flooring. Jackpot! Right?

Not so fast.

Yes, it could potentially increase the value of your home, but not before some work gets put into it.

It really depends on what flooring type was covering the hardwood and the method that was used to put that flooring down.

Covered by Carpeting

Believe it or not, this is the best case scenario (for most of us).

Wall-to-wall carpeting looks nice, it’s inviting to guests and children just to name the most obvious reason. It’s a great place to just slip off your shoes and feel the fuzzy, warm embrace on your bare feet all year round.

But the way carpet has to be installed to ensure no lumps, folds or otherwise unevenness can be created will make removing it a pain in the keester.

You’ll find carpeting is held down with either nails, glue, or a combination of the two.

If it’s just nails, then pulling them all out after the carpet is ripped up will be a tedious challenge, and filling all of the holes will leave little “pock marks” all over your hardwood floor, unless you can get a close fill to make them disappear (even MORE tedious work filling each hole), then sand the whole floor to get a uniform finish, followed by stain and a sealant of your choice.

It’s a lot of work, but there’s just something about hardwood flooring (done right) that makes us feel like millionaires.

If there is glue involved too then read until the end.

What about linoleum flooring over hardwood?

Yikes… I feel very bad saying that there is A LOT of work ahead to fix that mess.

Linoleum flooring is a cheap, vinyl type material with a tendency to peel, crack and separate over time (as your home expands and contracts with the temperature), and as the adhesive backing meets the expiration date there will be plenty of “lifting” from the floor beneath.

Not only is linoleum ugly as it ages, but it can be tacky if not installed properly in the appropriate rooms. Unless you’re just trying to cover ugly sub-flooring, or you’re on a super thin budget, please don’t get this stuff.

We’ve all been in a position when buying hardwood floor or tile is just not a financially viable option.

Back on topic though… Life is not easy when removing linoleum from hardwood flooring.

It’s going to take hours (I really mean DAYS) to scrape up all of the old, flaking sheets from the floor beneath. But once it’s all scraped off, everything is good right?

Not quite.

Now all of the glue will have to be cleaned off (likely with the help of some strong chemicals), then the remaining floor has to be sanded uniformly, stained, and sealed. Be sure to wear a mask as well as promote the most ventilation possible in the work area if you do this yourself.

Though scraping and refinishing may not feel as tedious as removing carpet (because there should be less nails, if any), but it’s way worse.

The glue has been directly contacting the hardwood flooring for possibly decades at this point, and glue of any type has a tendency to absorb into wood, leaving behind some nasty residue that will reject any stain that you try to apply.

In other words, there’s a possibility that you’ll end up with patchy bare/light spots along the hardwood floor.

Though it may be a “style” that people could deal with, it’s something that would absolutely drive me insane.

By the time you pull up all of the carpets in your home you might be:

FLOORED

to find out that there’s nothing special underneath, and the hardwood floor fairy skipped your home when it was built.

Or you could be sitting on a considerable increase in value depending on how many rooms are hardwood, and the size of the room(s).

But it’s worth a look, especially if you plan on selling at some point.