Timber Flooring for Hawthorn Period Homes: Restore or Overlay?

In a Victorian or Edwardian home in Hawthorn, restore the original boards if they are sound and you like their character. If they are patched, gappy or have been sanded too many times, lay engineered oak plank or herringbone over them instead. Whichever you choose, check the stumps and the subfloor ventilation first. Old floors often dip because the house has settled, and damp under the floor causes cupping. A new floor follows whatever is underneath, so that work comes before any boards.

Start with what you have

Hawthorn has a lot of Victorian and Edwardian housing: terraces, villas and bigger family homes, most of them renovated at least once. Under the carpet in the front rooms and hallway you will often find the original floor. The boards tend to be narrower than modern ones, and they may be pine or hardwood depending on the house and what has been replaced over the years.

Before you decide, it is worth inspecting them closely. Lift the carpet in a corner, or inside a cupboard, and check:

• whether the boards are firm underfoot or move and squeak
• how wide the gaps between boards are
• whether there are patches where walls, fireplaces or plumbing have been moved
• whether the edges of the boards are raised, which can mean damp underneath
• whether the tongues are showing at the joins, a sign the floor has been sanded thin

Our Hawthorn timber flooring page covers the suburb’s apartments and terraces more generally. This guide is about the decision you face in a period house.

Option one: restore the original boards

If the boards are sound, sanding and recoating them may be the most authentic floor you can have. It keeps the house’s own timber and its history, and there is no added height at the doors.

Restoring does have limits. Softer boards dent more easily under heels and furniture than a modern hardwood or oak surface. Wide gaps can be filled, but old boards keep moving with the seasons and filler often cracks out. Patches from old renovations stay visible even after sanding. And a floor that has been sanded several times may not have enough timber left above the tongue for another full sand.

Sometimes the right answer is less work than you expected. One customer asked us about sanding and coating their floor, and we advised them that it didn’t need it. If your original floor is in good condition, you may only need a light refresh.

Option two: lay engineered oak over the top

If the old floor is firm and reasonably flat but you don’t want to live with its gaps, patches or wear, new engineered boards can often go straight over it. The original stays in place underneath. It is quicker and far less dusty than removal, and a new floor also closes up the draughts that come through gaps between old boards.

Our engineered oak is 15 mm thick with a 4 mm oak wear layer and a matte brushed surface. For period front rooms, the standard 1900 × 190 mm plank usually suits the proportions better than the 220 mm wide board. Warm mid tones like Natural Oak and Caramel Sundae sit comfortably with original joinery. In a narrow, dark terrace, a paler board laid along the length of the house makes it feel bigger.

The new floor raises the room by the thickness of the board, so doors usually need trimming, and the floor has to finish neatly at hearths, bay windows and any step down to the rear of the house. New boards are also often laid across the old ones, which can limit direction in some rooms.

Option three: herringbone in the hall and front rooms

Herringbone suits the halls and formal rooms of Victorian and Edwardian houses. Ours is 900 × 150 × 15 mm engineered oak with a 4 mm oak wear layer, in six colours. Over an old timber floor it needs a very flat, firm base, which can mean more preparation than plank, so ask what your floor needs at the measure. See the herringbone and parquetry range.

There are a few things to plan for. The pattern points one way, usually down the length of the hall towards the back of the house. It is set out from a centreline so the cut pieces at each wall come out even, which helps in old rooms where walls are rarely square. It produces more offcuts than plank and takes longer to lay, so it costs more. It also needs a flatter base than plank, because a dip shows as a lip at every point of the pattern.

All six herringbone colours, such as Natural Oak herringbone, also come as a standard plank. A common layout is herringbone in the hall and plank in the rooms off it, in the same colour, so the change reads as deliberate.

Hearths, doorways and skirtings

Period houses have more edges than new ones, and each one needs a decision before the floor goes down. Fireplace hearths are usually tiled or stone and sit proud of the floor. New boards can be cut neatly around a hearth, or finished with a border that frames it. Bay windows need the boards cut to the angles of the bay, which takes time but looks good when done well.

Skirtings in Victorian and Edwardian houses are often tall and moulded. They can stay in place with a scotia added to cover the expansion gap, or come off and go back on above the new floor, which usually looks better against a tall skirting but takes more work and some repainting. Doorways between rooms built at different times often sit at slightly different heights, and the join is planned so it falls under the door.

The three options compared

	Restore originals	Engineered oak plank over	Herringbone over
Keeps the original look	Yes	No, but originals stay underneath	No, but originals stay underneath
Added height	None	Board thickness plus prep	Board thickness plus prep
Gaps and draughts	Remain, can be partly filled	Covered	Covered
Flatness needed	Works with the existing floor	Firm and reasonably flat	Flatter again
Relative cost	Usually lowest if boards are sound	Middle	Highest of the three

Uneven floors: fix the house first

Many period floors slope or dip, particularly in the middle of rooms or towards the back. Usually the cause is the house settling: stumps sinking or rotting, or joists sagging over a century. A new floor won’t fix that, because it follows the subfloor.

Small dips can be packed or planed during preparation. Larger movement means restumping, which is a builder’s job and needs to happen before any flooring. Signs to look for are doors that stick or swing open by themselves, cracks above door frames and a noticeable roll when you walk across a room. If you are unsure, we recommend having it assessed before choosing boards. Our subfloor preparation page covers what we do on our side.

Subfloor ventilation

Old houses depend on air moving under the floor. Over the years vents get covered by garden beds, paving, decks and extensions, and the space underneath gets damp. Timber over a damp subfloor cups, with the edges of each board rising, and a new floor laid on top will cup too.

Walk around the outside of the house and check every vent in the brickwork near ground level is clear. Musty smells inside, cupped boards and white powder on the brickwork below the floor are warning signs. The cause should be fixed before the new floor goes in. We recommend keeping vents clear rather than blocking them to cut draughts; a new floor over the old boards does that without trapping moisture.

Most period houses in Hawthorn also have a rear extension on a slab. Our guide to matching a floor in an extension covers how the old and new parts meet.

Next step: let us look under the carpet

The simplest way to decide is for us to see the old floor. Book a free measure and quote. We lift a corner where we can, check for movement, cupping and damp, measure the rooms and doors, and give you our recommendation on whether restoring, overlaying or herringbone makes sense for your house. You can call us on 1300 690 160 or visit the showroom at 2/1386 Toorak Road, Camberwell.