"Hi there,
I was doing some research on our old house and up popped your post on "Poplar floors".
We have a 200 yr. old house just down the road from you in Fisherville, Ky. and it has original yellow poplar floors throughout. We were told…"
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Cassie Marshall
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Cassie Marshall's Discussions
Removing old newspaper off of hardwood without damaging?
1 Reply
My husband and I are refinishing our hardwood floors and when we removed the OSB that was covering them we found some old newspaper attached to the hardwood. I know it will come up when we begin…Continue
Started this discussion. Last reply by LoriMae Reynolds Oct 5, 2010.
Type of Wood?
13 Replies
My husband and I were pulling up the carpet in our third bedroom and found this! Any advice as to what type of wood it is? We've heard people say ash, poplar, or pine. I've attached a photo of the…Continue
Started this discussion. Last reply by Sean Maher Dec 20, 2010.
Questions about flooring...
1 Reply
Our home has had a lot of renovations over the years, and we have lost a lot of its original charm. My husband and I want to work on restoring it over the next several years back to what it once was.…Continue
Started this discussion. Last reply by Sarah Jane Dean Aug 11, 2010.
Style? Narrow down age?
15 Replies
Hi all! My name is Cassie and I'm new to this site. My husband and I are in the process of purchasing an older home, but unfortunately we don't have much information about it. Over the next several…Continue
Started this discussion. Last reply by Martin Aug 10, 2010.
The Marshall Home
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"Hi all! Thanks so much for all of the advice and input. I've been meaning to update this for a while and just haven't found the time. We finally determined it was yellow poplar. We've sanding down and refinished all of the floors in…"
Stephanie Marie Barber replied to Cassie Marshall's discussion Type of Wood?"Hi! The boards look like they're diagonally laid - are they? Like PStewart mentioned-it looks like a subfloor."
LoriMae Reynolds replied to Cassie Marshall's discussion Removing old newspaper off of hardwood without damaging?"How about trying an old iron? Use a thin, white piece of cotton cloth over the newspaper and press a hot (dry) iron over it. Then carefully use a thin scraper to try and lift the newspaper off. If it isn't glued down, but just sticking from…"
Phil replied to Cassie Marshall's discussion Type of Wood?"I tend to agree that these were never show pieces. However, I think that clear coating them with varnish or shellac or whatever was easier and perhaps more durable than floor paint? I have some fairly rough t&g pine floors (random width, maybe…"
PStewart replied to Cassie Marshall's discussion Type of Wood?"I can only do the "looks like" method -- and not that well. But, this floor looks more like a subfloor or an old pine type floor that was meant to be covered. Those gaps between each board are large and iot appears they were folled with a…"
Removing old newspaper off of hardwood without damaging?
My husband and I are refinishing our hardwood floors and when we removed the OSB that was covering them we found some old newspaper attached to the hardwood. I know it will come up when we begin sanding down the floor, but we thought it would be cool if we could actually remove some of it careful to frame and hang up. We are actually able to read some of the articles and have determined its from August 1958. Any advice on how to remove the newspaper without damaging it, or it that is even…See More
John Leeke replied to Cassie Marshall's discussion Type of Wood?"To get past the "looks like" method and positively identify the species of wood you need to look at the end-grain of a piece with a magnifying glass to see features of the wood's cell structure. A good book to learn how to do this…"
Phil replied to Cassie Marshall's discussion Type of Wood?"That's not oak. Have you tried the thumbtack yet (or little nail) to see if it is soft or hard?"
"Thanks so much for all of the advice! We spoke with the guy we purchased the house from yesterday and he said it was oak. What does everything think about that? He said he removed all of the flooring just like that from the first floor,…"
Lair Tienter replied to Cassie Marshall's discussion Type of Wood?"It looks like a floor I had on a job once. The old guy that repairs floors was dumbfounded. He had never seen anything like it but we found to make a repair it had the same hardness and grain as Butternut. The color was a little different but that…"
KenK replied to Cassie Marshall's discussion Type of Wood?"American Chestnut? Too bad there aren't too many of these trees around anymore."
Phil replied to Cassie Marshall's discussion Type of Wood?"I at first thought maple too, but given that it was upstairs and that maple is very hard and hard on tools and blades, I figured that it was something softer. A thumbtack will tell. Push it into a discrete place, then compare that to a thumbtack in…"
BenningtonColonial replied to Cassie Marshall's discussion Type of Wood?"Is it really hard? Pines and poplar, for example, are fairly soft. One might imagine that it could be maple, if it is hard. Although the fact that it appears to be milled with rough edges seems suspicious. But perhaps maple was common enough in your…"
Phil replied to Cassie Marshall's discussion Type of Wood?"Not ash, not pine. Each of those woods has a distinct grain, and this wood has a minimal, nondescript grain. Poplar would fit that, but so could other woods. No one used it around here for floors, although I have some poplar doors that were paint…"
Profile Information
- Tell us about yourself:
- My husband and I live and work in Louisville, KY. We are buying our first home just outside of the city limits in Floyds Knobs, IN.
- Tell us about your old-house experiences and dreams:
- We know very little about old houses, but want to restore our home to its original beauty over the next several years while we live here!
Comment Wall (1 comment)
- At 12:19pm on January 29, 2011,
Kathy Thiessen said… Hi there,
I was doing some research on our old house and up popped your post on "Poplar floors".
We have a 200 yr. old house just down the road from you in Fisherville, Ky. and it has original yellow poplar floors throughout. We were told that poplar wears like iron and it has certainly held up well in this old house!
Congrats to you for saving another old house, by the way, if you need any advice we've done just about everything in this place in the last 14 years. Now we have our house on the market as sadly, we are moving for a job to Nashville, and on to our next "old house" adventure. Good luck to you!
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