Flooring replacement

The original 1883 flooring in the servant's areas- the butler pantry, back hall  and upstairs linen closet was a patterned linoleum. Over time, the pattern  rubbed off  and it  looked like brown leather. In the heavily trafficked places, the  movement of the wood floor  caused the linoleum flooring to wear out completely. It had became a trip hazard. Those places had been patched by  a red linoleum pieces and a turquoise linoleum rug. These were nailed in by millions of small square nails., no glue!

 In May 2021, Hank Dunlop located a manufacturer Mark Spicher who recreated historic patterns on vinyl. Through Facetime from PA. he fell in love with the house and he decided to copy the original pattern.The replica is the first picture you see.

Kitchen restoration

During the pandemic we were not using the kitchen for events and we took advantage of the time to clean, top to bottom, and paint.

We also uncovered the original 1883 brick range and fixed the 1926 gas range. There were layers of flooring over the original wood floor which  was painted red. It was covered with linoleum next. in the 50s  asbestos vinyl  was glued down. 

We had to have professionals remover the asbestos, which cost $2,000. This photo below shows the underlayment plywood with the Sparks stove on rollers,  before the linoleum is placed. The replacement material is linoleum like the original. The linoleum is made from linseed oil, pine sap and cork or sawdust with a jute grass backing. It is totally compostable.
 The linoleum can be found at Floor Dimensions in Albany. The product is manufactured by Marmoleum. We chose to install the pattern called Himalayan.