FNB: Week 4, Finding the Floors

Apartment A fully demolished

Among the injustices placed on the First National Building over the years is the many...MANY...layers of flooring.  As Matt, Lane, John and Derek Dye have completed most of the demolition (read "disembowelment") of the building we are uncovering the more-than-century-old floor underneath.  In some places three or four layers of flooring have been installed up to an inch thick!  This includes underlayment, linoleum, carpet, tile and even some furniture board.

I want to be very clear - I try not to be OVERLY nostalgic about old stuff.  Floors are just floors after all and the work involved in restoring these floors would be large.  There is something special, though, about walking on floors laid down one hundred thirty-two (132) years ago.

As we discover the old floors we also find the flaws that have been covered up for decades.  The first is also the most humorous.  Some enterprising contractor of a time gone by used spiced meat cans to patch a hole he found (or maybe made accidentally...).  The second is simply a hole found randomly in the floor of Apartment A.  You can see this hole in the photo above.  No good explanation comes to mind.

 

At this point, the plan is to take the building down to the original floors.  When the new walls are installed we will decide if any of the floors are in good-enough shape to save.  The rest will be covered up again and a new flooring material will be installed.

The mason has been working this week.  The windows are ordered and should be here late July.  Final demolition will end in the next week and framing will begin shortly thereafter.  It's coming along nicely!