You Should Consider Painting Old Wood Floors (Hear Me Out)
The first apartment I rented in my poor twenties had crappy wood floors painted brown, which I never thought about until years later, when I bought my first house, I had to to tear some absolutely disgusting green carpet from our stairs. . Beneath it, I discover pitted, cracked, and downright ugly steps. I remembered those old painted floors, and painted our stairs, and suddenly I saw my former landlord’s decisions in a whole new light.
To many people this sounds like sacrilege – conventional wisdom is that parquet is beautiful, durable and should be preserved at all costs. But you know what? Painting these stairs worked and made me realize that painting hardwood floors isn’t always crazy. In fact, there are several reasons why you might want to consider doing this at home.
Reasons to paint your wood floor
Basically, there are two reasons for painting a wood floor: aesthetic and more practical. Let’s dig into both.
Aesthetics. Maybe you just love the look of painted floors. It’s less crazy than you might imagine; as Remodelista points out, many of the adorable cottages have painted floors—maybe you’ve stayed at an adorable Airbnb once and liked the way they look. But there are other reasons why you might want to paint your floors for aesthetic effect:
- To hide imperfections. Natural hardwood is attractive but may be starting to show its age. Potholes, pits, nail heads, stains – after a while, a wood floor that is still in good condition can become inconsistent in color and wear a lot. Some people find it charming – a record of life lived on this floor. Others want a cleaner and more consistent look. A smooth coat of paint can hide all sorts of problems.
- For connecting disparate wood species. If your home has multiple floors, giving it a patchwork feel, painting all those different woods can tie everything together. This can be especially effective if you want to keep the color palette and style consistent throughout your home because you can tie your furniture and decorations to the same floor color and look.
- To start from scratch. Wood floors are wood floors and this can limit your design choices. Painting them, especially a light color or even white, can make a room look bigger and brighter, and also give you a lot more options when it comes to decorating.
Practicality. On the other hand, you may not be painting your floors because you like the look of them, but for more practical reasons:
- To extend the life of the floor. If your hardwood floors have been repaired several times, you may not be able to repaint them. Engineered floors, for example, only have a thin hardwood veneer on top , making sanding very difficult. And even hardwood can only be sanded 2-3 times before it starts to break down. Painting the floor gives it a fresh look without aggressive sanding. You will probably have to sand a bit to remove the finish and glaring damage, but this will remove far less material than if you were sanding for a refinish. In addition, proper painting will protect the floor from further erosion and damage.
- Expenses. Simply put, hardwood floor repairs can be expensive , ranging from $2,400 to $6,000 , depending on the size of your home and other factors. And installing new wood floors isn’t exactly cheap either, costing between $12,000 and $36,000 for an entire house. Painting these floors will be a lot cheaper , so if you want to make repairs without selling organs on the dark web, painting the floors is a good option.
What to look for before painting wood floors
While there are good reasons to paint hardwood floors under the right circumstances, there are a few things to consider before you take half a gallon of old garage paint and start smearing it.
- You need the right materials. You can’t just use old floor paint . You’ll need to prep your floors properly, choose the right primer, and choose a super-resistant porch and floor enamel paint (or even a marine paint that will hold up to just about anything). The best paints for your floor can be very high in volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which can release gases over a long period of time and have a negative impact on both the environment and your health.
- Think about persistence. While you can always repaint your floors a new color, if you paint your floors and hate the look of it, it’s probably impossible to go back to plain old wood. This is especially true if you painted them because you couldn’t sand them down for recoating in the first place.
- How will it be worn? If you’ve primed properly and selected a high-quality paint suitable for the indoor floor, you shouldn’t have too many problems with the paint chipping off – and perhaps enjoying the allure of patina wear. But, unlike painted wood floors, the paint remains on the surface and can wear off or flake, chip and crack over time. The good news is that you can simply repaint every few years, but this needs to be taken into account.
- How will this affect the value of your home? You may love the look of your painted floors, and painting them may have given new life to some of the tattered hardwoods. But not everyone will see it that way. If you ever intend to sell your home, be aware that many potential buyers will find painted floors a big expense because they will have no choice but to tear them down and replace them.