We’ve been wanting to rip up the awful carpet in our mudroom for ages, but we weren’t sure what we were going to find underneath.
The mudroom used to be the back porch, which had been enclosed many, many years ago, and because of that, it has a pretty severe slope to it: 3 inches over 7 feet.
We were hoping that maybe we could figure out how to level the floor and put in tile – but if that turned out to be too large of a project, we could at least put in vinyl or something a bit more mudroom friendly than carpet.
We knew there was chipboard under the carpet, but we assumed that was just laid over the old joists.
What a surprise to discover the old original porch floor underneath, and in apparently solid condition:
And the awful green tile even came up easily. It had been laid over some sort of plastic mesh stuff, with thick paper on the bottom – so it didn’t even damage the floor.
But now we have a dilemma. Do we refinish the old floor and continue to deal with the slope, or rip out the floor, level it, and replace it with tile? Or of course, we could lay some other sort of flooring over the old wood. Decisions, decisions!
The slope wouldn’t be that big of an issue except that we have a refrigerator in the room, which is currently propped up with 1×4 strips on one side to make it reasonably level. It would be nice not to have to do that.
CabledSheep 
I’m sure you can guess what I’d do. Refinish it!!! I like the look of it painted, too.
Aw, that looks like gorgeous wood – it would be sad to rip it out. 😦
Love the old wood floor!
Could you remove it, level the sub-floor and replace the old wood?
Either refinish it and keep the fridge level with the strips you’re using now or rip the whole shebang out and start over.
And I would obsess over those two decisions until sometime in the middle of the night when I’d either start stripping or ripping.
I wonder if you could lift the low part of the sloping porch with house jacks and then refinish the old porch floorboards. Just a thought. Aren’t old houses fun?
How wonderful to find such beautiful timber flooring underneath
Would Cookie’s suggestion work? If not, can you build the floor up over the old wood, and lay something flat and easy to clean over it?
I would keep the floor, strip it then seal it. Then have a platform wedge shaped platform built to go under the fridge that would make it level. If it was done in wood that was stained to match the floor it would barely be noticeable!
I LOVE the look of the wood, but knowing me and my dislike for having to constantly futz with stuff, I’d probably rip the entire thing out, level the floor and put in tile with a drain in the floor, so you can just hose the mr off occasionally.
Oy! You’ve got some big decisions ahead. Good for you two for taking this on as a DIY project.