transform existing floorboards into nice wood floor?

kev225

Hi,

Wondering if this is possible and if so what's the best way to do it.

We've just moved and the house had no carpets just boarded floors and magnolia walls, so we've put carpets down. But rather than carpet the living room I'm hoping there's a way to make nice the beaten up floating wood floor as this will better suit cleaning up the mess my soon to be toddler will make.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Pic:

jc808

nice cat!!

take up all the floorboards (might want to chuck some insulation in the gap while youre at it) pull all the nails and stuff out, then run an electric plane and/ or sander over em then refit the boards with new clout nails

not a small job

(you can sand them in situ, but its more difficult, easier with a drum sander tho)

BlueC

jc808 wrote: »

take up all the floorboards (might want to chuck some insulation in the gap while youre at it) pull all the nails and stuff out, then run an electric plane and/ or sander over em then refit the boards with new clout nails

I can't decide if you're taking the !!!! here? Taking them up and sanding them individually would be a ridiculous thing to do.

Just sand them in place (hire a sander) then finish them, or even better pay a professional to sort it out. They'll sand, fill, repair, and then finish them. Probably a day or 2 work for that size room so won't cost the earth.

A floor like that will come up looking great.

Jaynne

Hire a decent sander and edger. Your room looks exactly like mine and it was really easy to do and looks great.

You need a punch to make sure that any nails are flat and nail or screw in any loose boards first. It'll take a day to do tops.

milliebear00001

Yes, hire a sander. It's messy (and I found it surprisngly hard work actually!) but the results are great. Strip them, them wax them/oil them/stain them/varnish them to your taste/colour.

BertieUK

My choice would be, as others have suggested, to hire a sander, wear the protective clothing, face, mouth and hearing and go for it. Choose a time when the noise that it will create will be less of a bother to others.

Important first to punch down the nails before sanding.

We all have our own ideas, but to remove all the floorboards would not really be the practical thing to do, you would split many areas trying to remove and ruin much of the tounge and groove. Only in my opinion though.


Regards

BobUK

abwsco

They'll come up lovely. We've done all of ours bar stairs, landing and kitchen.

We fill all gaps with a mixture of damp sawdust and PVA glue prior to sanding. I find using one of the big sanders really easy - same as hoovering:) Mess is unbelievable though but worth it.

Quick pic of our lounge floor although we did this years ago and there are some bits where the "filler" has come out over the years and it needs some more in again.

kev225

Thanks for all the posts, really encouraging and helpful. So basically:

1. make sure any nails/screws are punched/screwed flat.
2. fill in any gaps with wood mush.
3. open the windows, mask and goggle up and sand away.
4. give it a few coats of stain/varnish, etc.

And should only take a day or two tops, far cheaper and more hard wearing than carpet. I hope I can get mine looking something like yours abwsco

Jaynne

Not quite, you do need to punch any nails/screws that are protruding but you can get away with sanding any ones that are flat.

You sand a number of times, first with a corse grit then a couple more times with finer grits. If I remember correctly it was the second finest grit of sandings that you save and then mix with resin to fill the gaps let dry then do the final sanding. If the gaps are bigger than a few mm or have no board tongues beneath them then you need to glue something like twine in first otherwise it will fall out. I have to say we didn't do this and slightly regret it.

Finally you varnish or stain then varnish. You need three coats at least but this goes on with a roller and a brush at the edges and takes no time at all to do. I'll try to post a before/after shot of our floor later when I can get them off the camera as it was very like yours.

abwsco

kev225 wrote: »

Thanks for all the posts, really encouraging and helpful. So basically:

1. make sure any nails/screws are punched/screwed flat.
2. fill in any gaps with wood mush.
3. open the windows, mask and goggle up and sand away.
4. give it a few coats of stain/varnish, etc.

And should only take a day or two tops, far cheaper and more hard wearing than carpet. I hope I can get mine looking something like yours abwsco

Thanks Kev, we love all of ours.

If you've a timber place anywhere near you I'm sure they'll happily give you sawdust. Ours do anyway and to be honest we found filling the gaps the most time consuming bit as DH is a bit a#al about every gap being filled. We always get the mixture so it looks like a tuna mayo consistency and then squash in it with fingers and wipe off any excess. Do this the night before we are going to sand. We've done it this way in every room prior to sanding. We've also always used a water based stain and diluted that down as well as we don't like dark floors but that's personal preference. It's a good ides to test the colour on on inconspicious piece once you've sanded imo.

Just be aware that you'll be finding sawdust everywhere for days afterwards-lol

Good luck and I'll hope you'll post back with pics when you've done it.

robatwork

I am planning doing this and bookmarked this link
http://www.thehomedr.com/floorboards.htm

Useful tips like sanding diagonally