Video
Historic Flooring and the Use of Substitute Flooring Materials
Transcript
Hello, my name is Liz Petrella and I'm an architectural historian with the Technical Preservation Services office of the National Park Service. Thank you for joining us today for this webinar on replacement flooring materials and the Secretary of the Interior Standards for Rehabilitation. This webinar is intended to provide additional information on the use of substitute replacement flooring materials including luxury vinyl tile and luxury vinyl plank flooring to replace deteriorated or missing historic flooring. In particular, this webinar discusses the characteristics of different historic flooring materials and their common substitute replacement materials and a framework for decision-making for when they may be appropriately used, consistent with the Standards.
This training is a companion to new guidance on replacement flooring materials for historic wood flooring available on our website under the “Planning Successful Rehabilitations” tab and Preservation Brief 16 on the use of substitute Materials, available for download on our website. This guidance is intended to provide more flexible and less costly alternatives in the interpretation and application of the Standards where the use of substitute materials can maintain the historic character of the historic property.
Guidance, preservation briefs, and other technical preservation publications and information issued by the National Park Service are intended to help property owners and others involved in historic preservation to formulate plans for the preservation, rehabilitation, and continued use of historic properties consistent with the intent of the Rehabilitation Standards. The Standards, however, take precedence in decision-making, and together with the accompanying Guidelines should always be consulted first.
In using the information contained in this webinar, it should be considered in its entirety and portions should not be taken out of context. The Technical Preservation Services website should also always be consulted to make sure you are using the most current version of any published guidance or technical preservation information.
How to approach flooring is an important element in every project. This webinar will present the framework we've developed that can be used to inform decisions on flooring in historic tax credit projects. I'll start by discussing flooring as a character-defining feature. Then I'll explain the factors that are used when evaluating when it's acceptable to replace historic flooring and how to choose a compatible replacement in those instances. Finally, I'll illustrate these points with some quick examples.
What makes flooring, or any feature really, character-defining versus not character-defining? Standards 1, 2, 5, and 6 tell us that distinctive materials are important and that they should be preserved, afforded minimal change, and replaced a match when necessary. We can also look to Preservation Briefs 17 and 18 and how those documents define and discuss the concept of “character-defining” and then how we apply this concept to flooring in tax credit projects. From these publications we learn that character refers to all those visual aspects and physical features that comprise the appearance of every historic building, and that character-defining elements include the overall shape of the building, its materials, craftsmanship, decorative details, interior spaces and features, as well as the various aspects of its site and environment.
It's easy to see how flooring can be considered both part of a building's character as well as one of its character-defining elements. However, it's worth highlighting that flooring can be historic without being character-defining and that there may be reasons to retain it in both situations but each project is going to be unique.
It's important to note that identifying something as character-defining is not a box that is easily or clearly checked where things always fall neatly into one side or the other. It's a continuum that involves both the importance of the flooring to the historic significance of the property and its amount. In many cases flooring may not itself be the character-defining feature in a space but can contribute to the space and its overall character. The more that the flooring contributes to that space the more important it will be to retain.
In the process of deciding whether the flooring in a particular building is character-defining, several things should be considered. Is it a distinctive material? Is it important or indicative of the building's use, history, or building type? We can identify instances where the flooring contributes to the character of an overall space or spaces, particularly when a flooring material might be particularly characteristic of or associated with a specific property type. For example, wood strip flooring in a gym, wood plank flooring in mills, terrazzo or rolled linoleum in a hospital or school, terrazzo, tile or stone in a bank lobby, wood block flooring, unfinished concrete in an industrial building, carpeting in a mid-century office building, or distinctive designs such as checkerboard tile patterns or parquet flooring. Some examples of non-character-defining flooring may be ephemeral finishes in speculative office spaces, later changes that do not match the historic, or deteriorated flooring that's no longer identifiable or repairable.
Primary spaces are those that are essential in conveying the historic and architectural character of a building. Secondary spaces are less critical in defining a building's importance within its period of significance. A secondary space is usually more simply detailed or has less integrity. The physical condition of interior elements will frequently affect their historic character and how they contribute to the historic significance of the building. If an interior plan has been heavily altered, it may no longer adequately convey its importance to the building's character and further changes may be more acceptable.
Going back to the basics, we know from the rehabilitation Standards that features that are characteristic of a building's type, style, and period of significance should be retained in the rehabilitation. The first takeaway from these Standards should be that if the historic material or feature is there, it should be retained. and if it's deteriorated it should be replaced to match. How closely it must match and whether or not a substitute material can be used will depend on how important the space and the flooring material are to the historic character of the building. Next, I'll share several examples of property types and some standard flooring materials.
In most residential buildings including houses, duplexes, and rowhouses, the most common type of flooring is wood plank floors as seen in the example on the left. Higher-style houses may have more intricate flooring such as wood inlay and parquet as seen on the right. Features and finishes do not have to be considered fine craftsmanship to be character-defining. For example, in both simple workers' housing and high-style townhouses, we know that even simple flooring can be character-defining.
19th and early 20th century school buildings, whether they're elementary, high schools, or K-12 schools, often have durable terrazzo floors as seen on the left or wood strip flooring as seen on the right, in the main circulation spaces and wood floors in the classrooms. Later, mid-century schools often have resilient tile floors as well.
Main Street commercial spaces often have decorative tile, wood strip flooring, resilient flooring, or a combination depending on the historic use and time period.
Throughout the country we see mills, industrial buildings, and warehouses with wood flooring as well as buildings built with concrete structure and floors. Some examples also exhibit a combination of the two types of flooring on lower versus upper floors. And though not as common, we do also see wood block flooring like the example on the left.
Purpose built office buildings from the 1920s through mid-century and beyond often had repetitive floor plans with a hierarchy of spaces that showcased various flooring materials, including vinyl composition tile, marble or stone tile, and terrazzo. Often lobbies and corridors and circulation spaces had different materials than the offices themselves. These examples show various finishes, including terrazzo in the lobby and vinyl or asbestos in the elevator lobby and original offices. Some buildings were built as headquarters offices and often had specific flooring planned from the beginning, while others were speculative office spaces and each tenant often could select their own flooring.
For any building type, when considering if the flooring is character-defining, the current condition should be considered. No matter how highly ornamented or finely crafted something was originally. If it is severely deteriorated, that will affect this determination. On the left, this is one of those pictures where it takes a second to understand what is up and what is down. It's clear that even if there are remnants of the historic wood floor under the debris and remains of the roof and ceiling, it will be in bad condition. The photo on the right is of a modest vernacular house, and the interior has seen some damage and deterioration, but the wood floor is visible upon close inspection throughout the Part 1 photographs. It's clearly dirty and covered in places by debris, but these photographs alone are not enough to justify replacement. Further detailed photographs close up showing specific and persistent deterioration would be needed. Dirty and dusty does not equal deteriorated and in need of replacement, especially in primary spaces.
Proper documentation is very important, not only for the overall building, but for the flooring. As always, photographs should depict conditions prior to the start of rehabilitation, including any demolition. While this may seem obvious, be sure the photos show enough of the room that the floor is included. Sometimes we get photos where the floor is cut off, especially in rooms that are on the smaller side. These photos help us evaluate the historic flooring and its condition. If circumstances prevent you from fully documenting an area, note in the application that it will be fully documented and submitted at a future date. Providing supporting information about original or historic flooring can be very helpful. Some things that will be considered when reviewing documentation as it relates to the flooring. Is the flooring fully visible for assessment? Modern finishes or layers of flooring should be removed or at least investigated to determine if historic flooring remains underneath and its condition. Debris should be removed for full understanding of existing conditions of the flooring, for example trash and dirt removed from floors so that any deterioration or lack thereof can be understood. If you're not able to fully document the condition at the Part 1, it may be necessary to provide additional Part 2 documentation once debris is removed and the flooring is cleaned of accumulated dirt.
So why is this documentation so important? Well, we need to know what is there and is any of it historic. Applications should provide photographs that show the existing conditions and specifically the flooring. The flooring itself should be visible, not the debris or floor coverings. In the case of the school on the left, one classroom in another part of the building was saved from the mountains of trash and clearly showed that the historic flooring was wood and that it remained. Unless it is explained that the historic flooring only remains in those specific locations, we will assume that the same wood flooring is beneath that pile of debris. Simple gestures such as pulling carpet back to show the flooring underneath may be enough to give a basic understanding of historic flooring and its condition.
Photographs of existing conditions are always important, especially if there are varying conditions throughout a building. In this example, an industrial building was built over several campaigns with differing flooring types historically, with wood of slightly different dimensions and character. And it's all in varying degrees of deterioration. To further show the condition and different types of flooring throughout the building, the applicant also provided a survey in plan form.
While a survey like this would not be required in most instances. In this project it was very helpful in understanding the various flooring types throughout the building. In this case it was determined that the remaining historic flooring was sufficiently deteriorated to justify replacement throughout the building. Given that there were several types of historic wood flooring it was helpful to understand the types and their locations and the overall amount throughout the building. This concept and documentation style could be applied to buildings with varying types of flooring as well, such as a mix of wood, terrazzo, concrete, etc., showing exactly where each type of flooring remains and its condition. A consultant may find documentation such as this flooring survey a useful aid while describing existing conditions and proposed work for the Part 2. If you're already using documentation like this in your own work, you should consider submitting it as part of the application. But again, it is not required.
Even if flooring is gone, what is left can tell us something about what the flooring was historically. This image shows the sleepers set on top of a concrete floor. The historic wood floor that was installed on top is now missing, but this is clear evidence that a wood floor existed in this concrete structure building. This will inform our understanding of what is a compatible replacement flooring material.
When available, historic photos or documents like archived newspaper articles can inform our understanding of what would be an appropriate new flooring if no historic flooring remains. Of course, restoration is not required, but knowing if a historic floor was wood, concrete, tile or terrazzo is a good start for determining what type of flooring would be appropriate to put back.
Once you have properly documented the flooring in the property, you should make sure that the application sufficiently addresses any proposed work. The narrative should describe the proposed treatment and provide justification for covering or replacing historic flooring. Be sure the proposed replacement material is identified, including material type, dimensions, color, and finish. And manufacturer specifications provided for any substitute or replacement material. If there are building code or ADA issues that impact the flooring treatment, the application should include a discussion of this and reference specific code, as necessary.
Next, we'll discuss the factors affecting the acceptability of wholesale replacement of historic flooring. Before we get to the specifics of individual flooring types and what is or is not a compatible replacement material, we first need to lay the groundwork for that decision. We'll review what we are looking for and how we make these determinations. While the Standards do require deteriorated features to be retained and repaired, there may be times that it is acceptable to replace the existing historic flooring, but how does that determination get made? The factors on the following slides can be used as a framework for that decision.
The importance of the space should be evaluated and flooring in primary spaces should be prioritized for retention. In this example, a downtown building constructed for a large insurance company, the main atrium in the building is a grand space retaining original and caustic floor tiles. As a primary space, this flooring is certainly character-defining and should be retained. However, as you move outward from this space and up into the building, individual office spaces afford more flexibility in the types of flooring possible, as these spaces are secondary. You can see the use of carpet in the office spaces, which are now hotel rooms.
We can use a similar thought process when looking at other building types as well. Looking at simple shotgun houses or small apartments or flats, generally the primary spaces are at the front of the building and these should have their historic flooring retained. As you move through the space, towards the rear and more secondary and often utilitarian spaces, greater flexibility to the flooring would be considered. Finally, rooms such as kitchens and bathrooms would be considered secondary and afforded more flexibility as well. One caveat being that putting a kitchen in a primary space does not mean that you can necessarily alter the flooring. These decisions are based on the historic use and significance of a space, not the newly designated use.
The next factor is the importance of their surviving flooring to the overall space and building. In this example on the screen, a formerly well detailed wood frame duplex has seen many finishes removed including plaster walls and coved plaster ceilings and some wood trim throughout the space. The surviving flooring therefore takes on more importance. It should also be noted that wood flooring would be considered character finding in a building type such as this, a wood frame building with wood floors and wood trim. It is still clear that the wood floors were an integral part of the original historic finishes and added to the overall historic character of the spaces.
The amount of flooring needing to be replaced should be evaluated. Are there whole rooms that require replacement or intermittent patching? Is patching even reasonable, or is it infeasible to patch the necessary amount? Can matching material be found to easily patch in? If the amount and disbursement of damage makes patching unreasonable, then total replacement may be acceptable. In this slide, you can see where the flooring could be patched without having to replace the whole section, while still maintaining the historic character.
There will be instances where it's obvious that the historic fabric is not able to be brought back to a usable condition, whether it's a wood floor that's saturated with oils or adhesive, or if it's been sanded and refinished too many times already, or tile or concrete that is broken or cracked. Evaluations of these materials for replacement are decisions that are already being made in most projects, and additional documentation or justification may not be needed beyond the photographic documentation like you see here. Often contamination issues are combined with visible deterioration. So, documentation of testing for contaminants is usually not going to be necessary.
There may be structural or code-driven issues that are preventing flooring from remaining in place. Fireproofing and soundproofing that may require covering of historic floors, ADA issues with uneven flooring, such as seen in the historic barn on the screen, or seismic upgrades such as adding diaphragms, or the removal of flooring that's contaminated with hazardous materials, these can all be reasons to consider the total replacement of historic flooring material.
Once the decision has been made that it is okay to replace the flooring. Now what? There are several factors that should come into play when evaluating specific products and materials for compatibility as a replacement for the existing historic flooring. Again, this is for situations where there is historic flooring remaining, and we've already gone through the evaluation process to determine whether it was acceptable to replace the historic flooring. Standard six tells us when replacing a distinctive feature, the new feature will match the old in design, color, texture, and where possible, materials. When determining what replacement flooring material meets the Standards, we look at building spaces individually and pay attention to their historic hierarchy. A more important space, or one that has a high level of integrity, should receive a higher level of quality in replacement material.
A gymnasium is an important space in a school or YMCA and if replacement flooring is warranted then the new flooring needs to be able to convey the same character as the historic maple strip flooring. In this example the flooring had been covered for years and suffered from severe deterioration. The proposal to install a 6” wide maple wood-look luxury vinyl plank product did not meet the Standards. While replacement of the existing historic flooring was reasonable, the proposed 6” wide plank was too wide to approximate the characteristic narrow maple strip flooring common in gymnasiums and a more compatible replacement was needed.
When there is very minimal fabric remaining or an extremely deteriorated condition, there is more flexibility in selecting a replacement material, though the general character of the floor is the most important thing to maintain.
There's no one answer that fits all situations. You should consider the building, specific space, and individual flooring importance and condition in the process of arriving at the treatment for that building. The more important the space and the better condition the historic flooring is in, the higher quality of match is needed.
Here's a basic list of material characteristics for each flooring type. The list is not definitive, but a starting point for considering what visual aspects are important about a specific flooring type, and that can inform how we evaluate replacement materials. You should be looking for a material that can convey the overall character of the historic material and most of its details. Depending on the material and specific building conditions, authentic materials will generally offer the best opportunity to match visual characteristics and should be considered first.
What should you do if no historic flooring remains? What is acceptable new flooring? How is this determination made? What are the considerations? Well, here are some thoughts.
First, any new flooring needs to be compatible with the historic building. To be compatible, it should be consistent with the historic function, period or age of the building and its historic character. When no historic flooring remains, we can look to historic documentation such as a national register nomination, or historic photographs or drawings for inspiration, though specific materials do not have to be restored. This historic drugstore, built in 1918, had not historic large-format ceramic tile at the start of the project. A historic photograph from the 1950s shows that there was resilient flooring like linoleum. While we would not expect an applicant to match something that is no longer in place, this documentation is helpful in informing what would be a compatible replacement for the non-historic tile. As always, an applicant can keep what is there now, restore a known historic material, or install a material that is compatible for the historic character of the building. If a material is being proposed that does not seem generally compatible with the historic building type, period, and style, historic documentation could be used to justify a seemingly incompatible material. If you do not happen to have helpful historic documentation, you can still rely on general information for the building type and age.
For example, the fact that wood flooring would have been common for a 19th century rowhouse, even if the existing floor and flooring structure is gone. Wood or some kind of wood-look product could be a compatible replacement material in this rowhouse.
In this example, a flash flood demolished the interior of the building and the historic flooring and floor structure was a complete loss. In this case, there would be additional flexibility for a substitute material in the text of the factors we've been discussing. Given the circumstances of the building, we did know that it formerly had wood floor prior to the flood. While we would not require the applicant to put wood back, a compatible substitute such as engineered wood or even a luxury vinyl plank with an appropriate size and appearance would be acceptable. And in this case, given that no historic flooring remained, Additional flooring materials that are not wood-look, but are also compatible with the building type, style, and age would also be acceptable.
If a space was historically finished and it has a finished character at the start of the project, even if the specific flooring is not historic, it should have a finished character after rehabilitation. The project illustrated here is a 1930 mid-rise bank building that had not historic carpet covering most floors at the start of the project. Historic drawings indicated that hallways likely had terrazzo as well as other significant portions of the building and that tenant areas had a cement base finish and the final flooring finish would be applied by the tenant. In most areas of the building, there was no historic flooring left beneath the not historic carpet. The applicant proposed polishing the existing concrete and leaving that as the final finished material. Polished concrete can often end up with a very industrial character which would not be a compatible finish with this former bank building and office building. The applicant polished a sample of the existing concrete seen on the right which illustrated that it was able to have a finish similar to terrazzo which was compatible in this case. The bottom line is that when historic flooring is missing, we're looking for compatibility, not restoration. Our understanding of what is compatible can be informed by historic documentation, information about property types, and pre-rehabilitation conditions.
In this next example, a concrete subfloor was left exposed and polished as the new finished floor surface. Unlike the previous example, this floor had extensive scarring and damage that was highlighted by the high gloss polish, and it does not give a uniform compatible appearance for this formerly finished interior.
And finally, if we know a floor was not a specific material, the substitute material should not replicate that material. For example, a wood-look LVP would not be an acceptable new flooring in this postmodern office building that did not have wood floors historically. We recognize that many historic office buildings are undergoing residential conversions and often the desired aesthetic is a warmth frequently achieved with wood or wood-look materials. I'll illustrate later in the presentation some successful examples of products that are able to provide a similar warmth without being actual wood-look.
In 2023, our office released the updated preservation brief on substitute materials. The webinar is now also posted for on-demand viewing on our website. While this brief and the webinar are aimed at the use of substitute materials on historic building exteriors, the general ideas from the brief can be applied to all substitute materials, including flooring.
The original preservation brief noted four distinct considerations for using substitute materials while also referencing general ideas of several others. The update formally includes four additional considerations. These are not new concepts, but the result of formally bringing current practice and prior direction in line. Combined, we have illustrated eight considerations or situations where substitute materials could potentially be appropriate for use. We recognize there may be other unique situations that warrant consideration of a substitute, but these eight are the most typical in our experience. These concepts for determining when it would be acceptable to use a substitute material and specifically flooring are useful both when we have existing historic flooring, but also when no historic flooring remains at the start of the project.
Let's look back at what we've covered so far. We covered the factors we used to evaluate wholesale replacement of historic flooring, starting with the importance of the space, the importance of the surviving flooring, the amount of material requiring replacement, the ability to reasonably repair the flooring surface and any structural or code issues that may be involved. Once we've determined replacement is acceptable, we'll evaluate the proposal based on the importance of the space, how intact the space remains. We'll look at visual characteristics of the historic flooring material and the replacement, and we will consider the amount of flooring remaining and its condition. Finally, we just looked at some examples of what can be appropriate when no historic flooring remains. We know that new flooring should be consistent with the historic character. We discussed situations when certain materials may not be compatible. We discussed that spaces with a finished character should retain a finished character, and that surviving physical evidence should be informing these decisions.
To understand what's possible with replacement materials, we have to first understand the characteristics of the historic flooring and then the specific replacement materials. This next discussion will focus just on wood flooring and the options available. Looking at traditional historic wood plank flooring, we can identify some standard characteristics and we'll compare these various characteristics for each material. Starting with the width, it can vary by species and time period. For example, oak and maple in the 20th century varied from 2”-2 ¼” up to 3 ¾”, while pine in the 19th Century ranged from 3”-5” and in the 20th Century it ranged from 1 ½”-3 ¼” in width. Regarding the grain figure and species, edge grain is seen in better applications, particularly early ones, while flat grain is seen in utilitarian buildings and particularly later applications. For surface quality, pine or maple often have a bare surface that ages to a gray color. Some floors get painted, usually pine, and applied surfaces can be Clear with a high gloss finish such as Shellac or varnish or a Low sheen finish with Oil or Wax and finally stained finishes can vary from light to dark and can vary depending on the species and how well they take a stain. The length is random up to 12’ or more. Planks have sharp square edges creating uninterrupted flat surfaces and planks are generally planed or gauged to be flat and uniform.
There are times that for code reasons or others that we've discussed that the removal and salvage of historic wood floors to be reinstalled would be appropriate. This is a great option for retention when specific issues require the flooring system to be modified. In this example salvaged wood plank flooring is being reinstalled in the building that it was salvaged from.
Modern solid wood planks will still have some differences when compared to historic solid wood floors, because new wood just looks different. This former shoe factory used a combination of salvaged flooring interspersed with modern wood. The image on the right shows modern solid wood planks in the foreground with the historic salvaged wood floor in the distance. New wood can come pre-finished or unfinished. Modern wood flooring can have width for oak and maple from 2 ¼” to 3 ¼” up to 6”. Pine is generally not available below 5” in pre-finished planks. Grain figure and species has less edge grain than early material in all species and pine lacks the density of the earlier material except in re-milled products. The authenticity in this material is high because it is actual wood. Regarding the surface quality it may have a hand scraped texture which generally did not exist historically. The length is random, usually 7’ is the maximum length for boards and the planks have eased edges distinguishing each board.
Engineered wood is a popular option as well due to cost and availability. The standard characteristics for engineered wood are width generally coming in a 3”, 4 ¼”, up to 5” or more in width. Grain figure and species options are generally equal to pre-finished solid wood, those surface quality can vary. Regarding authenticity, it's medium. It has real wood surface veneer, though the thickness of the top real wood layer can vary and this limits refinishing options. For surface quality, it may again have a hand scraped texture or open grain. Length, we see 9” up to 48” coming in random or single length options, though some brands like the one on the screen do offer longer boards and boards have eased edges distinguishing each board.
Pre-finished wood as well as engineered wood can come with a hand scraped finish that has grooves and a texture that is not as smooth as traditionally finished wood floors. This is often a finish on wider plank options as well. These are not compatible replacements for narrow plank wood floors because of the width and texture.
Both engineered wood and pre-finished wood planks can come with a beveled or eased edge. The traditional square edge of the top left would be seen in most historic wood installations, where you would install the wood and then plane and sand before any finish to level the floor. Modern pre-finished wood flooring and engineered wood often has a micro bevel that is advertised as allowing for uneven subfloors and imperfections. This difference can be noticeable at the joints and seams of each plank though. The planks on the right have a micro beveled edge and end. While this might not drastically change the character, it can highlight characteristics such as plank length as it will be much more noticeable with the beveled edge. The Surface texture, presence of bevel or square edges, grain pattern, and color are all visual characteristics that we look at when evaluating proposed replacements. It's important to remember that there's not going to be a perfect match, and that's okay. We're going to weigh the various characteristics and options to find the most compatible solution for the building.
In this residential conversion, the historic flooring was proposed for replacement due to deteriorated conditions. Sound and fire separation requirements for the new use could be met by covering the floor with a sound mat and gypcrete, leaving the wood ceiling and structure exposed. The proposed engineered wood flooring matches the variable width historic floors, the grain pattern and color, and it will be laid in the same direction as the historic in a diagonal pattern.
This is a manufacturing building where the existing wood flooring was too deteriorated to be repaired and the uneven and sagging floor structure were caused for replacement. Engineered wood with a good visual match was proposed and installed. Both of these past two examples also illustrate the goal of keeping surfaces exposed in industrial buildings to retain historic character. In both projects, code and comfort issues were addressed by covering the floor surface and retaining the exposed walls and ceilings, while also installing compatible replacement flooring.
As with any proposed replacement, engineered wood should attempt to match the historic width as well as other visual characteristics of the original wood floors. Product specifications or better yet, side-by-side comparisons are very helpful. The authenticity of engineered wood as an actual wood product may add some flexibility to accept certain differences. We just want to point these varying characteristics out as facts and not necessarily saying they're good or bad features because specific compatibility is going to be based on each project's starting point and historic character.
Luxury vinyl has gained popularity in the last several years, and the options can vary greatly in their ability to match historic materials. It's important to note that LVT and LVP actually refer to different things, though the acronyms are often used interchangeably in applications. LVP refers to luxury vinyl plank, while LVT refers to luxury vinyl tile. When we are talking about wood-look products, we're generally going to mean LVP, as wood is generally represented in plank form. In the wood-look category, LVP can be found with plank widths from 3”-4” from a few manufacturers, and 5” and up from several more. Some planks can even exceed 7” or 9” in width. Grain patterns repeat which is more noticeable in highly figured patterns. Most wood species are represented as options. Authenticity is considered low as it is not a wood product at all. The surface quality is usually smooth and glossy but some products have a slight embossed grain texture. The length ranges from 36”-60” with some manufacturers offering extra-long planks up to 72” or longer. Many of the longer lengths are for the wider plank options. Edges of planks have sharp square edges. An important note on all these substitute materials. These product characteristics are just based on our recent research and what is available will always be changing. We encourage everyone to stay up to date on what is readily available. Guidance on the use of substitute replacement flooring materials including LVT and LVP flooring to replace damaged or missing historic flooring is now available on our website.
In this project example no historic flooring remained, but we knew it was wood originally. Manufacturers’ information from their website was not sufficient to relay the actual character and visual qualities of the proposed material. The image of the proposed material on the right looks like it's computer-generated rather than a photo of the product in place. It's not a realistic view or understanding of how the product will look in real life. The applicant used a similar building in age and style that had extant wood floors to do a mock-up. They mocked up custom-sized luxury vinyl plank as seen on the left. The plank width and color were good matches, especially considering there was no historic wood that needed to be closely matched.
This LVP product has a weathered gray color and pronounced grain pattern with an obvious repeating plank design, making it an incompatible visual match for traditional wood plank flooring.
Here is another LVP product that is unlikely to be compatible in most projects due to its inauthentic look up close. The faux wood grain pattern appears printed on the surface and has a very noticeable repeating pattern of grain and knots, which highlights that it is not actual wood.
While the color may be more acceptable in this example, the planks are actually wider with three smaller planks ganged together. It's very noticeable where the ends of the planks meet. On the right you can see one full plank highlighted in yellow. The repetitive ganged planks are not a good visual match for traditionally laid wood planks. You see the same characteristic in laminate flooring with wider ganged planks, though laminate seems to have fallen out of favor for LVP in the marketplace.
This LVP product is a better-quality match for historic wood. This building had some historic wood flooring remaining at the start of the project. Gypcrete was laid down for fire and soundproofing. The installed LVP has a plain finish, not overly weathered, but not too fine a finish for this manufacturing building either.
In this similar building there was no historic flooring at the start of the project so a compatible LVP was proposed in this industrial building where specific flooring details were not known. The LVP doesn't have a heavy texture though it does have some visible grain pattern. No high contrast among the planks and the overall effect is of a traditional wood floor.
While this is considered a higher quality LVP that has some more visual texture, it still has heavy graining, both visually and texture, and the color may be too gray for most applications.
There are many LVP options with a wood-look, but it seems like the majority are wider planks, 5” or more. Most applications that we see them proposed for are the more traditional narrow plank floors, such as schools or industrial buildings. One solution we've seen is to take the wider 6” or 7” planks and have them factory cut in half to better approximate the narrow historic planks. And this is a good solution when there's actual historic flooring that you're working with.
In this school building being converted to affordable housing, the persistent level of deterioration throughout the school, as well as a change in use led to a solution to replace the existing wood flooring with LVP in a compatible size and color in both the hallways and classrooms. There may be times when additional factors may be considered outside of what we've discussed so far, such as technical and economic feasibility, as well as the new use. When all these factors are weighed against each other and the overall reasonableness considered, it may tip the scales for some projects, like this one, for full replacement with the substitute material.
There are times when wood-look LVP is not a compatible material for a space that never had wood, but that's still the desired look. In these cases, we can look at alternative LVP options that can still provide the desired aesthetic but without giving a false sense of history. We're actively looking for flexible alternatives that meet the Standards and rehabilitation goals, and in these next couple of slides I'll illustrate some examples and considerations. In this example on the screen, the building was rehabilitated for apartments. The final flooring has a general striated texture but does not really have the appearance or character of a wood plank floor.
Here are a few alternative LVP options when looking for non-wood-look products. These images show them compared to traditional oak-stripped flooring and you can see how they cannot easily be mistaken for traditional wood flooring.
Here we have two types, each in a light and a dark color way, neither of which look much like wood up close, though the striated That may evoke wood graining. While these are not quite wood-look as they do not mimic historic wood exactly, there may be a time when these could be selected as a compatible alternative. However, this will depend on the size of the planks or tiles, the direction laid, and the facts and circumstances of the specific building and space. We are focusing on the visual qualities and the appearance of these products, and we will look to the specifics of the project when considering them as an alternative to wood-look.
One place where the funkiest luxury vinyl planks can usually be installed would be bathrooms and enclosed kitchens. These incidental uses are acceptable as part of an overall project that meets the Standards. The limited room size and secondary or really tertiary nature of the spaces allows for greater flexibility.
Switching away from wood-look for a moment, this plow manufacturing complex had new concrete floors poured as part of the project. Surface imperfections led to the applicant requesting to cover the non-historic concrete in large format luxury vinyl tiles with a concrete finish. The final product installed, as seen on the right, gives the same character as the poured concrete with minimal seams and a monolithic surface.
The details do matter, and we want to know all the details. For example, is the flooring going to be installed in any sort of pattern, especially if what is proposed is different than what was there historically? Applications should make clear how the flooring is to be installed. As you can see in these images, the way the floor is installed impacts its visual character, and the character shown here might not be compatible for a specific space or building, which is why it's helpful for you to let us know how any flooring will be installed.
So, to be clear, when replacing traditional plank wood flooring, new flooring should be installed in the same pattern or orientation as the historic. There are times when wood flank floors were historically installed on a diagonal, and this distinctive treatment should be replicated with any replacement flooring to maintain the historic character.
Here are a few manufacturer's examples of installation methods. Sometimes the product materials will have a suggested installation method. Depending on the specific flooring, the various installation methods can alter the character of the flooring, so Being clear on what is proposed is important.
No matter the historic flooring type, when proposing replacement of historic flooring with new materials, providing photographs of both the existing and proposed replacement as a side-by-side for comparison is very helpful in confirming a good match. We don't typically need physical product samples or pieces of historic fabric sent to us for in-person review, as long as we have quality photographs or product specification sheets, we can make an assessment.
Here's another example of product samples in comparison to historic flooring. These are far more useful than many online representations of products. And finally, we want to be clear that when considering substitute materials such as LVP and engineered wood that there may be some instances when a compatible replacement material just cannot be found and, in those cases, it may be necessary to replace the historic wood floor with real wood plank flooring.
We hope that the factors and considerations we've discussed help you understand when it may be acceptable to replace existing historic flooring and once that determination has been made propose a compatible replacement material, and finally, propose acceptable flooring when no historic flooring remains.
Thank you for listening to this recorded webinar on replacement flooring materials and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation. We hope that you found the information helpful. Contact information for our office as well as the guidance itself and how to subscribe for new updates from our office is all available from the main page of our website.
Description
This webinar is a companion to the new guidance Historic Wood Flooring and the Use of Substitute Flooring Materials on evaluating historic flooring for possible replacement and when it may be acceptable to use a different replacement material consistent with the Standards for Rehabilitation. The webinar includes examples for replacing historic wood flooring, including engineered wood and Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT)/Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP), as well as for other historic flooring materials.
Duration
49 minutes, 43 seconds
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