How to repair, sand and seal old floorboards?

[John10]

Pulled up the old carpet in the spare room to reveal these floorboards. House is >100 years old and I assume floorboards are the same. Friend said they could be kauri pine. Some areas are OK with not much gap but some not so good with roughly 1-2mm gaps between a couple of the boards. The worst are 4 areas near the walls which have real holes or cracks roughly 5-10mm wide going right through the floorboard. 

Is it worth sanding and sealing this old floor? And is there any way to fill these larger holes without replacing the boards? I am OK with some flaws or inconsistencies but probably not with actual holes in the floor.

[EricL]

Hello @John10 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. Its sensational to have you join us, and thanks for sharing your question about your timber flooring.

Your timber floor shows great promise and will probably look amazing should you decide to sand and seal it. Filling and covering the gaps will take time, but I think it's worth investing into it as it has the potential to be an asset to your home. I propose trying to look for timber offcuts of the same type and use it to fill the larger gaps on your floor. If that is not possible it will be necessary to stain the filler pieces so that it matches your timber flooring. 

I recommend using a router with a straight guide to cut the sides of the gap to make them straight. This will allow you to cut straight filler pieces and not bother with having to cut custom curved fillers. For the smaller gaps I suggest using Timbermate Wood Filler in the appropriate colour. Once you've patched the entire flooring area you can then begin sanding the floor and decide on the type of sealer you would like to use.

Let me call on our experienced members @Dave-1 and @Nailbag for their recommendations.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[Dave-1]

Good Evening @John10 

I would think that the floor would come up pretty nice if sanded, tho I would recomend a company with a fair few years experience to do so. 100yrs is worth doing well

Finding pieces of similar floor boards may take some time but as @EricL has mentioned it would be worth it. Id look for some secondhand timber places or recyled timbers. There is one place in Canberra that has a large range I know of. And they will ship all over. (I know there is also a nice one up Brisbane way but thats a little far for me (I live South of Sydney) Melbourne Definently has a few and I would almost go for a trip just to see what timbers they have.

When working out which pieces need to redone I would also suggest to remove the skirts from the rooms, it shows an extra 2cm is and also when fixing the boards down it would be far easier.

Dave

[Nailbag]

Hi @John10 

Kauai will produce a very impressive grained floor if properly prepared and finished. I would avoid filling gaps with any type of filler as this will show up considerably once sanded and polished.

I would get a few quotes to sand and polish the boards and get the advice of those who might be doing the work. A good floor restorer will have far better solutions to ensure a blended result.

Nailbag.

[John10]

thanks Eric, appreciate the advice

[John10]

Thanks Dave! That's a good tip re recycled timber places. Do you have the name of the one in Canberra by any chance? I'm in Sydney but get down there from time to time

[John10]

Thanks Nailbag. Yep, I think you're right, worth getting some professionals in to get their advice

[Dave-1]

Good Evening @John10 

The recyled timber place is called "Thors Hammer" and their Facebook page is a good place to have a stroll through I havnt yet manage dto get down there but its "on my list"

Dave

[Nailbag]

Hi @John10 

A great source of matching the floorboards is from the home itself. On jobs I have had to patch hard to find boards, I pinch them from places like wardrobes where they are not noticed. These will be exact matches and age and save a lot of wasted time searching for what may result in wasted time. Replace the wardrobe board with the old board and just patch the difference. If it's under carpet even easier!

Nailbag.

[John10]

Thanks Dave 😀