The Proper Floor for the Small House 
WHAT WOODS TO SELECT TO BE IN. HARMONY WITH THE STANDING WOOD-WORK 
AND THE FURNISHINGS — FINISHING AND TAKING CARE OF FLOORS — COSTS 
by Louise Shrimpton 
Photographs by the Author and Mary H. Northend 
T HE hardwood floor in the small house is a 
modern development, largely due to the de¬ 
mand in recent years for sanitary furnishings. 
Carpets that covered a whole floor have been 
condemned as unhygienic. The rugs used 
instead expose much of the surface of a 
floor, and a durable and interesting 
treatment is necessary for the exposed 
section. Small Oriental rugs in 
living-rooms, small rugs of Ameri¬ 
can make in sleeping rooms, are 
taking the place of the center rug 
that brought into existence the 
hardwood border and soft wood 
center for floors. Hardwood, 
with perhaps brick, tile or cement 
used for inglenook, vestibule, or 
other special locations, is now the 
accepted flooring for the small 
house as well as for the large one. 
The selection of woods is the 
first task of the home builder 
about to install hardwood floors. 
Llere the impulse is often to re¬ 
vert to the “best room” idea, lay¬ 
ing, for instance, quartered oak in 
living-room and halls, and other 
and cheaper woods in dining-room 
and sleeping rooms. In the small house two or more rooms are 
usually seen together, through wide doorways, and a more con¬ 
sistent and unified effect is gained by using, except in service quar¬ 
ters, the same wood throughout. If oak is preferred because of 
its sturdy, vigor¬ 
ous grain with sil¬ 
ver flake effect, it 
might be used for 
all floorings, espe¬ 
cially if the rooms 
are large. If 
economy is neces¬ 
sary and a cheap¬ 
er wood than oak 
must be used, or 
if, as often hap¬ 
pens after living 
with different 
woods, the home- 
builderprefers an¬ 
other flooring to 
the oak, then ma¬ 
ple, birch, beech 
or comb-grained 
pine are employed 
throughout the 
liouse with excellent results. Maple permits a fine finish 
and is uncommonly pretty in grain. Georgia comb-grained pine, 
being quarter-sawed, does not sliver and is suitable with pine 
trim or with other woods, while birch and beech make handsome 
and satisfactory floorings that wear well. 
The kind of wood having been decided 
upon, the quality is the next point for 
consideration. Here economy is usually 
found out of place, and a good grade is if 
possible selected. Quartered white oak in 
the best grades is clear—that is, free from 
sap—showing the refined silver edge 
grain, and is without defects. Plain oak in 
the inferior grades has a rather coarse 
grain and worm holes and knot 
holes are admitted in certain pro¬ 
portions, a condition that pre¬ 
vails in the cheaper grades of the 
different woods. A good grade in 
so-called inferior wood is thus 
often preferable to an inferior 
grade of an expensive wood. Knot 
holes and other defects also re¬ 
quire great care in the finishing. 
The prices current among Cen¬ 
tral New York lumber companies 
for the best grades of several 
woods for flooring are as follows: 
24 in. widths, per 1000 feet: 
Clear Maple, $42.00, $45.00 and 
$47.00; No. 1 Maple, $35.00; 
Clear Birch, $42.00; Clear Beech, 
$40.00; Clear White Oak, $52.00; Clear Red Oak, $52.00; Clear 
Quartered White Oak, $70.00. 
13-16 in. widths, per 1000 feet: Clear Maple, $51.00 to $54.00; 
No. 1 Maple, $47.00 to $49.00; Clear Birch, $54.00; No. 1 Birch, 
$46.00; Clear 
White Oak, 
$65.00; Clear 
Quartered White 
Oak, $110.00; 
Comb-grain Pine, 
$40.00 to $42.00. 
For the vesti¬ 
bule of a small 
house, or, if there 
is none, for a few 
feet of space 
around the front 
door, brick or tile 
laid in cement 
forms a desirable 
flooring, appreci¬ 
ated by the house¬ 
wife, since it is 
easily cleaned, 
and muddy rub¬ 
bers can be left 
on it with safety. Hardwood floors throughout a house are con¬ 
siderably protected by this entrance treatment, used also to ad¬ 
vantage in kitchen entries. For an inglenook, or for the whole 
fireplace end of a room, a flooring of brick or tile matching the 
When shellac is applied to the floor it is essential that it be evenly 
distributed. If necessary, thin out with wood alcohol 
Quartered oak was chosen in this living-room on 
free from rug covering. 
account of its size and the amount of surface 
The finish is shellac 
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