With what would you replace this marble floor?

[Lily left the valley]

If the smudges are really making you batty, get some rug(s) with good non slip backers for at least the higher trafficked spots for the time being. With everything else you have going on, this is one major change (given all the area involved) best left to stew on the back burner of your brains for a bit. Especially if you see even the slightest chance of making changes to the cabinetry which may change the floor coverage.

I understand your concern with matching wood given the multiple connected rooms you have off your kitchen in particular. I also agree about various points folks have mentioned about why although it's period accurate, if you're replacing entirely anyhoo, might be best to take that option off the table for at least the kitchen itself.

We have a working class 1935 bungalow, and our kitchen/dining and connected hall had three layers of flooring when we bought it. Topmost added for the sale was a cheap vinyl fake wood planking style atop what turned out to be partly damaged (still yet unID'd) variant of the -oleum family in a textured deep red trimmed out with a thin gold band, then beneath that is the same wood floor we have in the rest of the house. We found out from property records (and former nail holes) many of the first floor rooms had wall to wall carpeting at some point. (Including the kitchen--over the -oleum!)

I know VCT and the -oleum family are looked down upon by folks who assume it's vinyl or near enough to snub. Yet as Willa pointed out it is sensible for a kitchen setting; you can use it to add color and interest; it's easier on your feet and anything you drop than any stone/ceramic would be; and one of the greener options out there if that sort of thing matters to you both.

Depending on how true to whichever incarnation period you hope to be, there are companies out there that will make any floor pattern you desire. So you could have a linoleum rug fashioned into it, or 50s style if you leaning that way--you could also design something where you might not have an exact period resource but feels as if it could have been an option at the time (bolstered with the use of period colors, for instance).

I don't know if you are yet aware of the Antique Home Style site, but you can see examples of various period options there too (some from old catalogs, some photos), as well as many images on Pinterest (as much as I am not a fan of the latter, there are good resource images to be had there.) Floors from that time period were not -all- squares, as much as I love those too.

Another possible flooring that was in some American homes at your build time and the fifties was cork (one of the ingredients in linoleum as I think was mentioned). Modern cork floors are also offered in a wide array of colors and patterns, and it also shares some of the same benefits from the -oleums. So you could even get a cork floor in a period style. (Phil actually found some stenciling on his cork when he was doing his floors.)

With any flooring that may leave the gaps below doors you are concerned with, the gap can sometimes be softened by adding height with luan or other sheet goods as needed, or you can put in wood thresholds that help cover the difference as well as are fitted to help prevent toe stubs too.

[phil]

I'd pull it out too. Some may really likt that stuff. It does look expensive.

battleship lynoleum or cork would look nice. If the floor needs to be protected perhaps a commercial floor finishing machine could put a commercial grade finish on it much like a store might do. they have coatings that can be built up and that would perhaps protect the stone like material.

If the floor height is changed, a strip can be added to the bottom of doors quite easily also the baseboards and plinth blocks could be removed and replaced. You might need longer plinth blocks and also you have to consider how it affects stair tread heights. you can fudge the bottom step a little but the top step should not be a lot different than the rest because at the top of a staircase you have more to loose if you trip up due to inconsistent tread heights.

I wouldn't enjoy such a hard floor but some like that sort of thing. I dont like stone counters either but many love them. To me putting a cup down on a hard surface like that makes me cringe a bit, sort of like scratching nails down a blackboard.

maybe you could pull the tile and replace with 3/4" flooring ? how thick is the stuff?

I think a lot of house flippers like to buy old houses, tear out the original trim and replace it all with painted MDF, then the house looses all the warmth and splendor it had to give way to that new clean look. Its always possible to replace original woodwork but to me painting in the wood to match walls hides it and I find it a bit like taking a neat old 50's car and removing all the chrome or painting all the chrome black this is cheaper than restoration but I don't consider it restoration. It's customization.
way back it wasn't perceived the way it is now. Now we look at the chrome on a car or the woodwork on an old house and go wow, that's beautiful but years ago people would think it's wood so big deal, every floor is wood ( or every car has chrome) . now natural beautiful wood is a feature you wouldn't want to cover up. Usually the paint is done in laziness or because the MDF and cheap pine that they use in new houses would look like garbage otherwise. So they made it a trend and new house flippers want to make old houses look new so they follow suit. It's true though that paint wasn't just invented and it is a preference, so rather than argue that, I'd say it is just the way I perceive it myself. All our houses have had several owners and it just takes one owner who loves painting over woodwork and then you loose all the nice trim by covering it in paint. some even paint or stain antique wood furniture. It drives me nuts to see people ruin antiques this way. more often than not that trim presented a certain style and the overall design showed off the woodwork. The proportions and the contrast were a part of the style and intent of the original design. This is lost when it's painted in. My house had these big bulky crown moldings that were painted. I pulled them and refinished it with plain old square corners like it had originally. a lot of people add these elements in ways that they weren't intended. when a lot of MDF is used you can see it right through the paint because it is all flat and perfectly smooth because MDF has no grain or "life" wood has flaws and natural characteristics. In this day and age this is so severely lacking that people admire even fake wood patterns printed on fake wood flooring. They can chrome plastic now too, but somehow it still isn't chrome to me, but a simiulated and cheapened version, same with hardiboard with wood grain printed into it , same with shingles made of ashphalt made to look like wood shingles. fake brass was a concept of the 70's but you can tell it isn't brass from across the room.
I think restoration is often the act of removing what doesn't belong and bringing back these natural elements. restoration is the act of taking something old and making it look not new, but to look like it was never seriously damaged or disturbed but still has the imperfection and some of the wear that you would expect to accompany the age of the piece. when others cant' tell if it was restored or just well preserved that's the target I try to keep in mind, but we do have to consider expense and time as well to keep it practical. Unless you are flipping it, really the only one you need to please is yourself and your family. no flipper will take the patience and time to do restoration work like gothickhome is doing for example. It is very time consuming but the patience pays off in spades when you do start to see it all work together in the way it was intended. The payment is more in personal satisfaction than in dollars but I have no doubt it also affects the price If the new buyers appreciate that sort of thing. Near to me the builders are going crazy rennovating , lifting building suites expanding and the intent is a lot more focused on increasing prices for sale , to make money. It's not always the best formula when you look at hours spent vs the increase in value so it's really only practical for those who get a thrill out of making it look as good as possible. To any contractor working in the housing market, restoration is a naughty word that looses money for them so they would rather replace than renew , because to them, Its all about the money.

[Manalto]

...I dont like stone counters either...putting a cup down on a hard surface like that makes me cringe...

Same here! The only thing worse is a glass tabletop.

Outside of a tropical climate, I don't see the advantage of tile or stone floors in other than wet environments, like kitchen, bathroom, laundry. However, people tend to have strong opinions about flooring and those preferences can take precedence over practicality.

[phil]

stone can look beautiful , it is a natural product. If I visit a giant old cathedral or some place like that I am in awe of the floors. My house in particular is craftsman style. to me that means it wasn't built in excess but with practicality in mind. It was designed for a single family to live in. the lack of dining room is less formal. materials should reflect those in the viscinity, for me that is a lot of fir, maybe granite walls outside. the look is somewhat robust and long lasting, but never too busy or gaudy. Its often tempting to add bling because we imagine them as being fancy but really they were just normal houses build for families and not show homes. There were some larger homes and some with more fancy columns and detail and some of the arts and crafts homes have crossover in details. I think the arts and crafts designs were a bit more artistic and colorful but they still were fairly simplistic with use of a lot of naturally occurring colors. The craftsman ideas were often quite simple and robust looking without overuse of materials. I think one reason why they popularity of the style is used in new buildings is because they are basically trying to achieve some degree of class and to reveal a classic look but without a lot of expense. The Victorian mansions were the height of excess and not usually afforded by the average working person. I think for some of them it would take more than one lifetime to restore them properly and that may work if you are OK with hiring help but less practical for someone living in it and working on weekends and such without the options of contractors coming and going.
modern CNC could actually really reduce the work that went into Victorian homes, but it seems rare that it is used in this way.

I have a house near me that was craftsman but the guy retired and worked away making and adding all sorts of Victorian features. It looked nice a few years but I can see the maintenance already becoming an issue for new owners to keep up with. Its stil fun and I dont think he diminished what it could be. The guy obviously put a lot of thought and love into doing it.

we had a few nearby houses that were extremely tiny, thick plaster walls and cedar shingles that wrapped around the eves. They looked like something from a walt disney movie. Unfortunately they were torn down for new houses. At least a lot of the craftsman ones were pretty practical and so some were kept up nicely.

whe I bought I adored that fact that every house was different , now some are buying up lots , some followed suit and kept with the craftsman styles but now it seems they dont even care and just build boring houses. now it's like every second house is old and every second one is replaced. almost all the old ones have new windows. lots are being saved and lifted but what they save is mostly the framing. I think if they wan t a new house and cant' get a demo permit they just reuse the studs and call it "restoration" its almost always cheaper to replace than to restore, so the trend becomes to replace because it's more sensible financially than to restore. The root of it is these are businesses and businesses have no conscience. they are businesses so we cant' expect them to have human characteristics like "caring" or "sense of accomplishment". It would be ludicrous to expect those human traits from a business. that's not to say a business owner may have human tendencies but as businesses grow larger, the money makes decisions, not conscience.

[A.Fox]

1918, thank you for mentioning that House Beautiful and House and Garden are available on Google Books. I will have to check them out. I'm pretty aware of 1920s house styles, but I've spent much less time researching the interior fashions and design.

Overall we aren't creating a museum piece for certain. Our interior tastes are a mix of antiques from various periods ranging from early 1900s through the mid century with a fair amount of current pieces. But I want to do my best to keep as much that is original to the house with the house and I feel like most things that are physically fixed to the house should be appropriate to the time period or style.

For those suggesting the unglazed tile, we actually have some in the sun room, and it was also the material of all of the original fireplace hearths. I kind of suspect it was used on the front stoop too before the dark gray tile was installed out there.

IMG_20180721_062142537.jpg (817.99 KiB) Viewed 724 times

(photo from after the carpet was removed but before we got all of the glue residue off).

Trouble is my Other Half hates this floor (bringing to mind commercial kitchens and retro Burger Kings) and it's all I can do to keep it from being covered over again, so I don't think I could convince him to do more of it, at least not in red. But he might go for it in another more neutral shade.

[Mick_VT]

Have you spoken with a marble floor specialist? I'm wondering if the floor just needs a good sealing

https://flooringsourcetx.com/blog/marbl ... le-sealed/

http://www.nalboor.com/advice/why-you-s ... floor.html

[awomanwithahammer]

I'm in the linoleum camp for kitchens. I installed Marmoleum brand in my home kitchen (not the one I'm currently renovating), and I LOVE it. The pattern is not in your face, very soothing instead, and the feel underneath is comfortable. It is recommended that it be waxed, but I have not done that. I like the look of the unwaxed floor. After 10 years, it has a few stains and a couple chips where something was dropped on it, but in general, it has held up nicely. It isn't inexpensive, but it was worth it to me.

As far as the rest of the marble floors, put anything down. Burlap would do. Looking at all that black and white veining would make me crazy. Ever read "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Dorothy Gilman?

[phil]

one pretty obvious thing you could do is look for old houses destined for teardown or even school gmnasiums and places. You can pull up the floor and relocate it. I had a old house parts place near me that regularly sold salvaged flooring.
in places my floors had plywood and patches. I fitted in the old flooring and sanded them and now you cant' tell the original from the replaced flooring. Of course to treat the floor you have is the easiest so far as the mob bucket marks and such are concerned.

I like the tile I'd leave that. I'd probably remove the 70's valance and the crown molding and try to replace the window trim that was probably lost in the 70's upgrade. the sill should proably stick out from the wall a couple inches and looks lke thay whacked that off. some of mine had lost the sill and had 50's trim but I framed them in with wood to match the rest of the house and I spliced in sill extensions so they stick out the same as the others. I didnt remove the windows to do that they are wood casements.
mine had big box valances too. they even reduced the kitchen ceiling height. at one time our houses were considered old fashioned so in the 70's they did updates that were a bit cruel. mine had evidence that it once had fir wainscott about 5' high all around the living room. Id like to replace that but since wood cost is a bit High I just finished the walls opting to delay that while keeping it liveable. It is also possible to just replace the whole floor with T and G 3/4 in fir or oak or whatever you like. the only thing with modern flooring , unless you pay lots its mostly just short pieces. That's less labor though , than restoring old wood, pulling nails fixing cracked boards etc.
I went to great lengths to get down to my original floor, it took a lot of work but now I have no transition strips or funny things with the height changing from room to room. my bath still has ugly tile and needs a complete reno. some stuff just has to wait it's turn. It's a long process so often the option is to wait and go slowly and do restoration or to opt for a quick coverup, or pay lots for others to do it if you can afford that.

I think most of our old houses were built with floors of fir or whatever was available locally, many were oak too. so even if that tile was laid during the build it could have nice wood flooring under it. you could investigate. If most of your flooring is still present perhaps it's restorable. My kitchen had jute backed lyno , or battleship lynolium from day 1 and was always covered with something so the floor was not sanded but it had lots of black marks near all the nails from moisture. That took a lot of work to fix but I bleached the floor and then stained it a tad to match the others again. when I bought it my kitchen had stick on tiles, easy to pull but under that it had tiles glued down wiht this tar like stuff. nothing would dissolve it. I used a clothes iron a bottle of water and heated a bit then got my putty knife under , the whole floor took months, finally when that was off I could sand it. I saved that floor and it was horrible, some was a mix of thinner strips etc. I made it all match in the end. If you want quick and fast then you can also put a floating floor over whats there. so you could strip it all out then see if you can save the floors with the option up your sleeve of laminate. you can lay laminate without nails so it protects what is there until a future date without doing a lot of damage. easy then to lift it as you restore room to room. You could pay more and get a higher end laminate and leave it at that.

you can also lay a floor over a floor. you'd probably rotate the direction for stability. the nails will run the floor below so it will become a subfloor, maybe you'd call it a second subfloor.

tearing into all of this is a big job so you'd have to consider how it upsets life and expenses. putting some sort of coating on is going to be easy by comparison.

I went and bought a bunch of rubber mats that dovetail together. each is about 18" square. as i went from one room to another I was able to re lay them. It wasn't perfect flooring but I liked that I could just change the layout and at one time or another they were in every room, now I'm done with that they are ok for in the basement. that helped just not to go nutty during renos.

i would not tear into things in every direction unless you can hire people. some go too far with initial ambitions and then feel like they are living in a reno zone for years. Ive seen others totally transform a house in 6 month by throwing a couple hundred thousand at it. you have to do what suits you. i cut as much cost as I can by using all recycled materials whenever possible but I also take on stuff where it just wouldn't really be practical in cost to hire out. If you hire out they like new materials, plunk it down and get out to the next job. a lot of those trades people do it fast and efficiently , they just don't get caught up in too much restoration, so as people hire out lots often the houses get modernized because they want to work with new materials.
in my opinion our houses did not have MDF , plastic, or even plywood so the more of that you can rid yourself of the better, but be practical. if it has mdf and its painted and you like it leave it be.
I think if you use modern materials and clean things up and sell or restore and sell the costs involved would offset any higher price you will get through restoration work. That's pretty general though things like dropped ceilings in a 9 foot room would not be acceptable to me even with new material construction. like old cars some are deserving of the ork of a frame up restoration and others just are not worth the work so if you were going to restore a car like that you'd probably be fussy with the original purchase knowing that you can't do that many times in a lifetime.

the one bonus I find with restoration since I am mostly recycling used materials I get lots of them free or cheap so I'm not buying a lot of new materials and I avoid that as much as possible. I can keep moving ahead even with much less cash outlay this way. I even often pick my jobs to suit the materials I find along the way rather than buying materials I often find the materials then take on jobs to use them up. this allows time to hunt for them. I found one owner that pulled all the trim out of a craftsman house in some giant reno where he went all new. that was a good score for me and he was just happy to see all the stuff get reused.

[GinaC]

It's a shame that the marble is so out of style, since somebody really put a lot of effort into it. But styles change, and this underlines why it's never a good idea to make permanent changes using the latest trends.

I'm in the white porcelain hex tile with gray grout camp, or maybe white with black trim. I think it's so classic that it will blend with whatever you put with it.

[phil]

(Phil actually found some stenciling on his cork when he was doing his floors.)

I took them up before I sanded my floors. spent a weekend cleaning the back of them. Posted them for free and passed them along. they were much like battleship lyno, but cork with a hemp backing. I think cork is a good choice. I restored my wood floors in the kitchen but If you didn't want all the fuss Id look into that and you may find something similar to it but in square sections that you click together, or similar. That's way easier than doing a new wood floor.
puzzling that the stone tile would have a lower height. maybe the wood floor has another wood floor under it? maybe you can get clues from the basement looking up? pull a heat vent and look there ? it would be pretty normal to see shiplap laid at a 45 then the flooring on top.

in care homes and hospitals they put stuff so you dont slip. Its some applied product. If they put too much it makes you trip because people actually slip their feet as they walk and they get grippy which has a weird effect where you seem to keep tripping and falling forwards. I don't know how it would affect the appearance but maybe worth a good coat of commercial floor acrylic it would isolate the stone from staining? replacing the floor is expensive obviously.

my fir does dent. If I started from scratch I'd consider oak in the kitchen. i have to be gentle on it and I put a rug under the kitchen table. i cringe when people drop stuff. I put pads on all my furniture. I like what I have but can see the reason for a harder floor especially near the counter. you could go the other way and do a oak floor like you might see in a pub where the floor is so marked up darkened and rough that it has a certain appeal and super easy maintenance. Its about your preferences though . not ours.

If the floor is lower in the kitchen maybe laminate is ok. Its not really vintage restoration but there are some good options if you look at the more expensive ones. at least easy to install , maybe you could just put it over whats there. you might not want all the mess and dust and noise of a new floor installation and then you'd probably still want to sand and finish it in place so it's flat and even and nice even if you laid new wood. . sometimes they put thin plastic foam down , like you might see for packing material. It's called a floating floor. one thing with it it looks very flat now so you may not need to deal with low spots and such.

If you did do a new floor of wood, maybe you'd wan to pull the cabinets and run it underneath. you cant really see it but then you'd keep options of configuration open. Id think about if you like the present configuration before you do the floor all around your counters. If you chose laminate or sectional cork flooring then you could just buy a little more and if you reconfigured then you have a way around the issue. - or just plan to keep it all as it is . doesn't look like you have a bad layout.

a clue might be your bottom step. when new it would be equal to all the other steps. If they built up the floor the bottom step might be a bit different than the rise of the other steps. when we climb a staircase we automatically learn the height in the first couple of steps.. Its one of those human reactions we dont really consider until you trip and realize its not correct. if I recall right the code said 1/4" tolerance but maybe there is some variance allowed on the last step to the floor. You just dont want it way different or it gets weird. in our old houses we get used to weird stuff like that and it becomes normal to us. changing the height of the bottom step would be difficult and so it probably hasn't changed if the steps are original. easy to check just measure the rise of the other steps and compare to the last one to the floor. Originally it would be equal.

if you were to detach the stairs and lift the bottom step it is possible but if you change that then you change the run length too then the handrail might need to be refitted.. if you moved it very far it would affect the treads and make them not level. things can be fudged to some extent but there are limits. when a new staircase is built the rise of each step is calculated. IF the house is built to standards you may find a similar rise and run but in our old houses you'll see differences from house to house. the number of steps is determined by the total rise, It has to be reasonable and equal for all steps within reason. If one is 1/8th different that's fine. build up the floor an inch and you might have an issue if you had to have an inspection for example. there are rules in code for that. I htink we are naturally able to compensate on the bottom step , but one step in the run being wrong can cause tripping.