Historic Wood Flooring and the Use of Substitute Flooring Materials

A companion training webinar, Historic Flooring and the Use of Substitute Flooring Materials, provides additional and detailed information related to this topic, including many different examples for replacing historic wood flooring as well as other historic flooring materials.

Wood Flooring as Character-Defining Feature/Material

Wood flooring, where it remains, is often important in defining the overall historic character of a historic building. Historic flooring can be considered both an important element of a character-defining space as well as a distinctive historic material itself that should be preserved. The flooring type, material, finish, and appearance may be closely associated with a particular building type or even the use or function of the space, such as hardwood strip or plank flooring in textile mills, apartment buildings, and gymnasiums. Historic flooring can be highly decorative like parquet floors with inlaid wood in a parlor of a rowhouse or a hotel ballroom or more utilitarian in design and finish such as in industrial and agricultural buildings.

The relative importance of the flooring to the significance of the building and the property’s overall historic character should be carefully evaluated, taking into consideration the following:

Is the flooring in a primary space or a secondary space? Is it an element of an important sequence of spaces or circulation path?
Is the flooring a particularly distinctive feature? Does it represent a distinctive finish, construction technique, or example of craftsmanship?
Is the flooring indicative or characteristic of the building type, period, or style or closely associated with the significance of the building or the use or function of the space?

The physical condition of the flooring should also be carefully considered as part of this evaluation. Is the flooring in good or repairable condition or is it mostly missing or deteriorated beyond repair? Does the space retain its physical integrity? The significance and condition of historic flooring must be evaluated based on why the specific historic property is significant and the building’s specific historic character and integrity.

Identifying Primary and Secondary Interior Spaces in Historic Buildings and Preservation Brief 18: Rehabilitating Interiors in Historic Buildings—Identifying Character-Defining Elements provide additional guidance on identifying character-defining spaces, features, and finishes. This guidance provides additional information about evaluating historic wood flooring for possible replacement and when it may be acceptable to use a different material than the historic one for replacement.

Repair and Replacement of Wood Flooring

Consistent with Standards 2, 5, and 6 of the Standards for Rehabilitation, character-defining and distinctive features and materials should be retained and preserved. Deteriorated historic features and materials should be repaired rather than replaced if in repairable condition and, if deteriorated beyond repair, replaced to match.

How close the match of the replacement must be in material and appearance will depend on how important the space and historic material are to the historic character of the building. In the case of historic wood flooring, every building has to be evaluated individually, and the importance of the flooring to its historic character will vary depending on the specific building and specific space.

If the existing wood flooring is beyond reasonable repair, or if the amount and distribution throughout the building or space of deteriorated flooring makes limited repairs such as patching unreasonable, total replacement may be acceptable.

Generally, the more important and the more intact the space or the flooring itself as a feature is to the historic character of the building, the more important it is to more closely match the material and its visual characteristics such as dimensions, design, pattern, and appearance. The more secondary or less important the space or feature and the less intact its condition, then the less important it is to the historic character of the property and the less important the quality of the match of the replacement flooring material may need to be. In such instances, a substitute flooring material may be an acceptable replacement material for deteriorated or missing flooring.

In addition to an evaluation of the historic significance and physical condition of the flooring, factors that might be taken into consideration include the condition, amount, and location of remaining historic flooring; how reasonably it can be repaired or how much material is missing or irreparable; and the extent the flooring may have been contaminated by hazardous materials such as asbestos mastic or oil residue.

The use of a substitute flooring material may also be acceptable when taking into consideration economic and technical feasibility, such as when needing to level out the floor for accessibility reasons or to meet code, fire separation, sound attenuation, or other cost, practical, or programmatic requirements or limitations. In such cases, justification of the proposed treatments and any alternatives that were considered should be provided.

The Use of Substitute Materials for Replacing Historic Wood Flooring

Once it has been determined that replacement of the historic wood flooring is acceptable, an appropriate replacement must be selected. The characteristics that should be considered when selecting a replacement flooring material include:

the board or parquet tile width and length,
the edge characteristics, and how the units connect,
the overall design, pattern, and orientation,

the finish, texture, and color, including the prominence and pattern of any grain, and

the surface continuity and uniformity of appearance.

Common replacement flooring materials for historic wood floors include new or salvaged wood, engineered wood, “wood-look” Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP)/Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT), and “wood-look” porcelain and ceramic tile. Each of these substitute wood replacement materials can vary in available width and length options, grain pattern, surface quality, board edges, finish, and authenticity of appearance.

Engineered wood is a manufactured wood product made from raw wood sawdust, wood chips, and resins that uses heat and pressure to compress the mixture into board form, with a real wood veneer layer on top.

“Wood-look” LVP/LVT is a manufactured synthetic product using multiple layers of PVC vinyl, a photographic print layer to give it the appearance of a natural wood flooring material, and a protective coating. LVP and LVT are different types of products, although the acronym “LVT” is commonly used to refer to both. LVP comes in planks or boards, while LVT is a square or rectangular tile, LVP/LVT cannot be refinished like a wood or engineered-wood floor and has a shorter product lifespan. “Wood-look” porcelain and ceramic tiles are fired-clay products also with a glazed printed wood design.

For highly significant or distinctive wood flooring, or in primary spaces where the material is closely associated with the historic character and significance of the space or building, wood-for-wood replacement flooring may provide the best or only close possible match to the historic flooring.

When considering a substitute replacement material, engineered wood can often provide a good visual match for many types of historic strip wood flooring where the authenticity of material is still important, such as when historic wood flooring remains but replacement is warranted or otherwise justified for other reasons.

LVP/LVT flooring is generally more limited in manufacturer options of available dimensions and other characteristics, therefore, how close a match may be possible to a specific historic flooring material makes this option more limited and the potential applications more limited. Porcelain/ceramic tile is similarly very limited in manufacturer options as it pertains to available dimensions, and the presence of grout lines can impact how visually compatible it is.

Nevertheless, these “wood-look” materials may be appropriate as a substitute flooring material, depending on the available dimensions and other visual characteristics, as well as the historic character of the specific property, in secondary areas or potentially in primary spaces where the historic flooring is missing or has lost all integrity.

Every attempt should be made to match the board width and pattern of historic wood flooring, including looking at different manufacturers as well as considering other options such as custom-cut planks in the case of LVT, when possible, for the specific product. For “wood-look” flooring materials, exaggerated or pronounced grain patterns and texture, finish, or color that would generally not be compatible with the character and appearance of a historic wood floor should be avoided.

When Historic Flooring is Missing

When no historic wood flooring remains, any new flooring must be still be compatible with the historic character of the property. Physical evidence such as material or structural remnants like wood sleepers on a concrete floor can indicate a prior wood floor when the historic flooring itself is no longer extant. Documentary evidence including historic plans or photographs can also provide clues to historic flooring materials. Identifying what flooring material(s) would be compatible with the building type, period, and style of the building and the use or function of the space can otherwise help guide the selection of a compatible replacement flooring material. Flooring materials other than just wood may have also been typical, in which case this may offer additional options for selecting a compatible replacement material.

When historic flooring is missing there is generally greater flexibility in the type of possible replacement flooring and how close the match to historic flooring needs to be to preserve the historic character of the property.

Even greater flexibility is generally possible in the incidental use of substitute flooring materials, such as in kitchens and bathrooms or tertiary spaces, as the amount of flooring involved, and the character of the spaces, is generally less important to the overall historic character of the property.

Wood or “wood-look” flooring products are not compatible with the historic character of buildings or building types and spaces where wood flooring did not exist historically or is not compatible with the building type, period, and style of the historic building. In such instances, its use should be avoided, for example, a mid-century school that had asbestos tile flooring or a hospital with terrazzo floors. In these cases, a material more compatible with the character and appearance of the historic flooring should be selected.

Applicability to Other Historic Flooring Materials

The same principles discussed in this guidance can generally be applied to the replacement of other types of flooring materials beyond just wood. The decision framework established in this document should be followed, starting by evaluating the historic significance and physical condition of the historic flooring; evaluating possible replacement materials when replacement is justified, including substitute flooring materials when appropriate; and, finally, evaluating appropriate replacement flooring options when no historic flooring remains. Replacement flooring materials, with few exceptions, should always be compatible with the historic character of the building and space.

As with historic wood flooring, the more important and the more intact the space or the flooring itself as a feature is to the historic character of the building, the more important it is to more closely match the material. As with replacement wood flooring, consideration can still be given to the standardly-available characteristics of other replacement flooring products in determining how closely the replacement material must match. For example, 9-in x 9-in asbestos tile can be replaced in a different material and a slightly larger size of tile, such as a 12-in x 12-in compatibly-colored LVT, that otherwise maintains the historic character of the space and overall visual effect of the flooring. Similarly, concrete may be replaced with a resilient flooring or larger format vinyl tile that is able to achieve the monolithic character and appearance of a concrete floor.

Summary

Factors to evaluate regarding the appropriateness of wholesale replacement of existing historic flooring:

Importance of the space and the importance of the surviving historic flooring to the historic character of the building
Physical condition of the flooring and whether it can be reasonably repaired
Amount of flooring requiring replacement
Structural, code, or other economic and technical feasibility issues

When replacement is appropriate, evaluate possible flooring replacement materials based on:

Importance of the space to the historic character of the building
How intact the space remains
The amount of historic flooring remaining and its condition
Visual characteristics of the historic flooring and possible replacement materials, including

If no historic flooring remains:

New flooring should be compatible with the historic character of the building and the space
Surviving physical or other documentary evidence or knowledge about typical flooring materials for the building type, period, and style of the building and the use or function of the space can help inform decisions on compatible substitute materials
Flooring materials that never existed historically and are not compatible with the historic character of the building should not be used
Greater flexibility may be possible when flooring is completely missing, as well as in secondary and tertiary spaces less important to maintaining the historic character of the building
Spaces with a finished character should retain a finished character and not have flooring materials that give such spaces an industrial or otherwise raw or unfinished appearance.

Preservation Brief 16: The Use of Substitute Materials on Building Exteriors provides further criteria and a decision-making framework for the appropriateness of the use of substitute materials that can be useful and transferable to the replacement of historic flooring, as well as other interior elements and materials, as does Evaluating Substitute Materials in Historic Buildings which also provides additional guidance on this topic.

Additional Guidance

Last updated: July 30, 2025

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