The San Francisco Bay Area’s unique climate gave rise to a peculiar wood flooring product in the early 1900s—“toothpick floors.” The flooring was so narrow, typically measuring 7/8 inch, that it did not shrink and swell in the face of constant moisture changes caused by the ocean, says Eugene Stone, a veteran floor man in the Bay Area. Toothpick floors were made from the leftover trimmings produced during the manufacture of the region’s 5/16-inch-thick, square-edged flooring. Installing the slim material was a pain: Contractors had to face-nail hundreds or thousands of these thin strips, depending on the size of the house, and sometimes they had to hand-bevel the edges on a grouping of strips to create a plank look. The process was costly, even when labor was inexpensive, but the look was beautiful, Stone says. The toothpick floors remaining today are full of charm. A Bay Area home owner, Bob Floyd, sent HF photos of his toothpick floor after hearing excited comments from the crew at Belmont, Calif.-based Stuart Floor Company, who had recently refinished his home. Floyd was told, “Whatever you do, don’t get rid of this floor.” Floyd says it’s definitely there to stay.
Updated Aug. 8 to clarify the floor thickness.
