Floors

[Lesley]

Hi! I moved into my first house at the end of October. It's over 100 years old but in great condition; just needs a lot of updating. The place came with really ugly, gold carpeting (that was probably purchased in the 80s) in three rooms downstairs. I took it up in two of the rooms and beneath it are beautiful subfloors. It doesn't seem like plywood, because it's really smooth. It's really quite nice and some people who have seen it thought it WAS a hardwood floor that just wasn't finished. I realize that it's a subfloor, and I do plan to put down hardwood floors as soon as I can afford it. But for now, I've purchased room-sized area rugs to cover most of the subfloor, and I am living with it like that until I can afford to put down hardwood floors.

My question is, will this do any harm to the sub floor--living with it like this for maybe a year or two?

Thanks for your help!

Lesley

[Colbyt]

Absolutely no harm.

Is this flooring tongue and grooved? Wide boards?

You may have something worth more than any new hardwood floor would ever be worth.

Colbyt

[No]

If its just plywood its probably relatively soft and wont ware well although you would do no harm regardless. I wouldn't want to look at plywood floors. Without a finish they could absorb liquid though. I would seal them in a kitchen, bath or entry way.

[Lesley]

No tongue and groove. Just very wide boards. I don't think they're very old. In fact, I'm told that there are hardwood floors UNDER the subfloor. Apparently, the hardwood floors were not in very good shape so the previous owner (who had this house for 35 years) put a subfloor on top of the hardwood and then put wall-to-wall carpeting over the subfloor. I did not discover this until I took up the carpet. I was told that "there are hardwood floors under the carpet". I wasn't told that they were WAY under.

Thanks for the help, as always!

Lesley