can this antique douglas fir floor be saved?
It is totally feasible to do this. Just a lot of hard work.

We redid a laundry room that had a worn painted outdoor porch floor (the house is from 1869 and has been organically growing for 150 years). Tongue in groove. Fir, we think. We pulled up the boards carefully, removed the nails, hand scraped the edges, (which had been coated with paint and would prevent close reassembly), put in a subfloor and then reassembled the porch floor over it. We then sanded it down (no drum sander -- too small an area and too hard to control). It is finished with a good satin poly, three coats. We left it a bit rustic.



You do need a subfloor for strength, to prevent flex and to minimize airflow from below.

You are likely to have a few damaged boards, so you may need to rearrange the pieces to compensate. This will leave you short several board feet, so you may need to use a border of new wood around the edges to fill in. Small holes can be left open or filled, depending on your taste.