Floor Coverings for Historic Buildings: A Pride Continued

Although most historic buildings already have an existing floor, at times they do not. When they are already made of wood, it is quite acceptable to refinish the wooden floors, and thus floor coverings for historic buildings are often in the realm of having to protect wooden floors after they are refinished.

Interestingly enough there are many historic buildings that have the vestiges of their old flooring. Thus, one might run into wood floors that were adorned with pile carpeting, some of them made from rags, and others that were actually embroidered. In addition, one may find floorcloths, hooked or braided rugs, linoleum, marble, mosaics, tile and even brick. The trick is to try to match the old linoleum, tile or brick if the floors are not made of wood. Often those dealing in such historic buildings will have to turn to preservationists, engineers, and designers as well as architects and craftsmen that specialize in such restorations. As expected locating just the right floor coverings for historic buildings encompasses creating a period look, and thus it is quite a challenge to do so. What is not a challenge however, is protecting the period look once it is done. For example, let’s say that a wood floor has been terribly damaged by water intrusion, what must be done from that point on?

Of course, the damaged floor portions will be taken up but “new” wood is not going to look accurate next to the salvaged old wood. This is where restoration companies which specialize in rescued wood come in handy. These companies arrive at the tearing down of old homes, barns, churches, and anywhere where old wood was utilized, and purchase the antique wood. They then maintain these old pieces of wood in storage until floor coverings for historic buildings are needed once more.

But, once matched, the second trick is to protect said flooring of course. Assuming that the wood floor is now completely well repaired and matches the remains of the existing authentic wood, this is the point where most restorers call on Silikal. Why Silikal? Because Silikal’s products are the very best as sealing not just old wood but new wood as well putting on a sealed coating that enables everyone to admire the flooring.

Silikal’s work is absolutely perfect, even if the floor was brick, tile, marble or something else that needs to be shielded from modern scratches, dampness or other punishment. In effect, Silikal floors are so durable that they never develop wear patterns because of foot traffic over time as the old floors in the historic building did. Silikal flooring installed over the matched historic floor will not only stand up to traffic through the building, but it will constantly maintain its strength as well as its beauty.