Oak Flooring Joint

[Mark A]

Hi chaps,

I recently picked up a load of used T&G oak flooring which I intend to lay in our living room. The faces of the boards are absolutely pristine, though many of the tongues have snapped off in the corresponding grooves when it was taken up. The individual boards are about 5" wide, so ripping off the edges and re-routing new tongues and grooves will reduce the width too much for the look I'm after.

Would ripping off only the damaged tongues, cutting slots all round the boards and reassembling with 6mm plywood or MDF loose tongues glued with D4 adhesive be a viable option? This way the existing grooves would simply be enlarged by the router and I could avoid narrowing the boards too much.

The subfloor is currently in a state, on account of the incompetent pineapple builder we got to pour the new screed... it's quite a large area so thought it best to pay a "professional". Before any flooring goes down I need to grind the numerous high spots down (again!!!!) and redo the self levelling myself. Arrgh :x

Cheers,
Mark

 

[LBCarpentry]

Take all the boards that have the tongue broken off and rip them and re-machine. the ones that are good - keep them.

Then lay the floor randomly with 2 (or even 3) different widths of flooring. honestly It looks great especially with Oak.

Sit back and enjoy your creativity and the ease of the solution.

 

[deema]

The traditional method of laying floor was to taper the boards towards the edge of the room, widest in the centre. It gives a fantastic illusion of making the room appear wider than it is. If you look in most stately homes you will see this done.

As suggested rip and remachine.

 

[Mark A]

That's a good idea, LB. The flooring is currently jumbled up in the back of my van so when I have time I'll sort through it and see what can be done.

Instead of machining proper T&Gs, would my idea of ply or MDF loose tongues work? The joints were originally glued, so some boards have missing tongues while others have jagged remnants stuck in the grooves. Ripping of both edges and re-routing will reduce the width by at least 1".

 

[Mark A]

Some pictures

 

[cedarwood]

Are you going to glue these down to the new screed floor if so why the need for tongue and groove just clean the edges and lay or if you need to have tongues then groove and use loose tongues

 

[novocaine]

can't you use the router to cut out the old tongues from the groves? then you only have to cut the tongue in meaning you loose 10mm rather than 20.

 

[LBCarpentry]

Ah I see, They previously glued the T & G's which is why they are stuck in there. Bloody idiots. No wonder its had to be ripped up

 

[Mark A]

LB - The flooring is actually third-hand; apparently the floor was initially down for only a couple of months before they had to take it up. They sold on, but the buyer decided it would be too much work, so after storing it for six months he sold it on to me. If the T&G joints were glued, that implies it was fitted as a floating floor? Maybe they didn't allow room for expansion?

 

[Mark A]

Novocaine - I've considered that, but if I don't match the existing T&G's exactly it won't fit properly. I'll sort through the boards to find tidy examples of the joint and measure. Wealdens provide clear dimensions of their cutters so I'll be able to compare.