Making Art from History.
This post comes from my friend Jerry Copan Jr., who writes, “When I gutted the kitchen in our 140-year-old house, I removed four layers of flooring to reveal the original hardwood, which we just had refinished. The bottom layer was a linoleum ‘rug’, likely from the 1920s or 30s. We saved four pieces of it before taking the rest, along with all the other layers of modern flooring, off to the dump. I just picked one of the saved pieces up from the framer! Really neat that we can keep and display this piece of our home’s history.”
Although largely displaced by vinyl flooring after WWII, linoleum is now enjoying a resurgence as an all-natural, biodegradable, and sustainable flooring option. A number of historic patterns are back in production.
In 1890, “The Furniture Gazette” included a detailed description of the production process at an English linoleum factory. The seven-month-long process started with boiling resins and gums in linseed oil, then pouring the oil on cotton cloth repeatedly for several months, resulting in a stiff jelly which was then ground and boiled. The resulting liquid was cooled in tins and then mixed with fine cork flour. The resulting combination was applied to a strong canvas backing and passed between rollers, then dried slowly at 100 degrees. A pattern was then printed on the linoleum using hand presses.
Jerry’s linoleum rug was too damaged to keep in use on the floor, but he creatively saw how to keep a memory of it in the house.
Linoleum is one of many historic floorcoverings included in “Restoring Your Historic House, The Comprehensive Guide for Homeowners.”
Signed and personalized copies of the award-winning and bestselling 720-page hardcover book are available from the author in our shop at YourHistoricHouse.com/shop/.
Our shop also carries select preservation and restoration titles by other authors.
© Scott T. Hanson 2024.
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