Wood floors and water don’t mix, but wood floors and repurposed indoor pools can go together swimmingly—if this project is any indication. This 3,500-square-foot former pool house at The Baldwin School, a private school for girls in Bryn Mawr, Pa., was renovated into an interdisciplinary education center, complete with reclaimed prefinished solid red oak and white oak flooring installed by Pottstown, Pa.-based Franklin Flooring. The pool itself was mostly filled in, with a center portion turned into a sunken seating area. The flooring was glued over concrete using a two-in-one adhesive/vapor barrier. The wood floor took about a week to install with a five-person crew, according to Franklin Flooring Project Manager Kevin Cleary. The trickiest part was sorting through the different reclaimed board thicknesses, but seeing it completed was worth diving in. “It struck me because the rest of the room was all this clean maple finished wood, so there was a big contrast between the reclaimed floor and everything else,” Cleary says. The new center is a testament to the power of repurposing materials and buildings, and makes clear that wood floors can really make a splash.
The Baldwin School
SUPPLIERS: Adhesive: MAPEI 995 | Wood flooring: Pioneer Millworks
