The Floors of the House 
HOW TO FINISH FLOORS OF NEW WOOD—HOW TO BRING BACK THE BEAUTY OF 
OLD ONES — PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR HARMONIOUS FLOOR COVERINGS 
by Margaret Greenleaf 
Photographs by Waldon Fawcett, L. V. Browr.ell and others 
W HERE the floors are new and of hard wood, to stain and 
finish them properly should be a very simple matter, but 
even under such apparently easy conditions they are frequently 
so wrongly treated as to be a continual trouble to the housewife, 
and to present an irregular and unbeautiful surface showing 
either a too high gloss, or a stickiness and a tendency to hold the 
dust. 
One important point to bear in mind when selecting the color 
for floors is that it should be uniform in all rooms directly adjoin¬ 
ing. This will be found to make for spaciousness of effect. The 
door-sill is more frequently omitted than not, and the unbroken, 
softly polished surface of the floor extends from room to room 
without break, save that supplied by the rugs used in the different 
rooms. A good plan, where the general color scheme of the house 
will permit it, is to leave the wood in the natural cdlor or un¬ 
stained; with the passing years this will darken most agreeably. 
If the floor is of oak or any open-grain wood, a paste filler 
should be used to give a perfectly smooth surface which will not 
hold the dust. In laying the floor the boards, of course, should 
be perfectly fitted and made from well-seasoned lumber to avoid 
any shrinking. Three coats of the best floor finish obtainable 
should be applied, allowing each coat to dry thoroughly before 
putting on another. The final coat may be of wax applied over 
the tough elastic surface produced by the two undercoats, or 
the same material may be used for the final coat and rubbed to a 
dull or semi-gloss surface with powdered pumice and crude oil. 
This latter treatment supplies a floor finish which is beyond 
compare the best as it has the full beauty of wax but is not slippery 
and does not spot with water. It can be wiped up with a damp 
cloth and does not require the polishing and constant attention a 
wax finished floor demands. Another method is to use over the 
first two coats a finish which shows a soft polish like wax. Such 
a finish gives very satisfactory results, though it is not so enduring 
as the one above recommended, requiring renewal at least once 
a year; otherwise it is entirely satisfactory. This treatment 
is recommended, however, where the first cost is an item, as the 
labor of rubbing brings up the cost of application. 
The same method of finishing should be employed where a 
stain is used. The filler must be colored with the stain and when 
the floor is filled, the coat of stain is carefully applied; this 
should be allowed to dry thoroughly before the first coat of 
finish is put on. Forty-eight hours is not too long a time to allow 
between each coat. While the wearing qualities of the best floor 
finishes are unaffected by the use of stain, footprints and dust 
marks show much more readily on a dark floor than on a light one. 
In determining upon the stain the general color treatment 
of the rooms must be kept well in mind. Ordinarily a light stain 
of brownish tone is found effective with the greatest variety of 
standing woodwork, decoration and furniture. This stain should 
be deep enough to remove all crudeness of color from the wood, 
supplying such a tone as it would nat¬ 
urally acquire with time. 
Southern or yellow pine is a wood 
very generally used for floors in houses 
of moderate cost. This wood does not 
require to be filled, as its grain is close. 
If stain is desired (and owing to the 
strong yellow tone it frequently must 
be used) the specification should be: 
one coat of stain applied to the bare 
wood, followed by three coats of the 
finish selected; the final coat to be 
rubbed or to be of the material which 
will produce a semi-gloss surface. 
In the treatment of old floors there 
are very many difficulties to overcome, 
but with patience, labor and good 
material, surprisingly satisfactory re¬ 
sults are often obtained. If the floors 
have been previously finished they must 
be thoroughly cleansed from the old 
stain, wax or varnish, using for this 
purpose some one of the varnish re¬ 
movers now upon the market. These 
are of varying degrees of efficiency, but 
if one secures the best, and carefully 
follows the directions for application, a 
good job may be depended upon. Where 
the floors are of oak or any other wood 
which has been filled, it is well to use 
a brass wire brush in applying the re¬ 
mover, as this will greatly facilitate the 
With white woodwork the floors look best when little or no coloring matter is used in tho 
filler and finish. Incidentally they show less dust than dark floors 
