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| Photo 2 |
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Now that you have gotten over the shock of Part 1, the photos here are the next steps that were taken. The GC is somewhat of a tree hugger (I mean that in a good way) so using renewable resourced products, green earth, good-for-the environment -type materials in the renovation process is one of his top priorities. We all should give this mind set consideration when problem solving our job site conditions.
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| Photo 4 |
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In
Photo 1 we see a pile of very expensive maple flooring full of cleats, headed for the dumpster or burn pile, right? Wrong; all the cleats/nails/fasteners were removed by hand and the reusable planks stacked and banded together (
Photo 2). This should minimize the warping (memory) of the planks from the water damage. Now as you saw in the Part 1 photos, there is no way you could save all the wood; there was just too much water damage/warping. But 75 percent recovery is not all that bad when you consider the cost of replacing solid maple. If you don’t believe this, then You Make the Call!
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| Photo 6 |
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To your local distributor and ask about the cost on a good solid hard rock maple plank. The trick in reinstalling the planks will be to span the old fastener holes, getting a good solid bite into the subfloor. In
Photos 3, 4, 5 and close up
Photo 6), we can see the different localized water and insect damage. These areas must be removed and repaired.
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| Photo 8 |
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In
Photos 7 and 8, the removal process is performed. But what next? The sleepers must be repaired as well. The metal straps securing the sleepers were formed into the concrete slab when it was poured, and are reusable if you were careful removing the old 2-by-4.
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| Photo 10 |
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Then comes the arduous task of plumming and leveling them, as seen in
Photos 9, 10 and 11; using a laser transit and shims to do this worked best. The floor top lasers most commonly used in our industry were tried, but the transit seamed to save time. As seen in
Photos 12 and 13, both the width and depth of the newer 2-by-4 is smaller than the old. Unless you get a custom Mill to make them, (at an unbelievable/not in the budget price) you’ll have to make due with what you’ve got. Here is the question of the day! When is a 2-by-4 not a 2-by-4? When you’re dealing with construction older than the WWII area.
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| Photo 12 |
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As everyone knows, a 2-by-4 has not been a true 2 inches by 4 inches in a very long time. The change took place when wood shortages due to increase housing needs for areas like shipyards and other war machine manufacturing. Additionally the yield per log could be increased with a smaller 1 1/2-by-31/2. They also found that a true 2-by-4 was overkill for the engineering requirements. There is your history lesson for the day. The plasterer’s union went to war over the new drywall products called sheetrock but that’s a story you should ask Grandpa about. Thanks again for reading “You Make the Call.” Have a great day.
