Victorian Pine Flooring Restoration

[J_Ashley]

I’m looking for a bit of advice on restoring Victorian pine flooring in the house we have recently moved in to. Downstairs the floor has been an exposed wood floor for a long time and looks to have been previously treated, whereas the majority of the floors upstairs have been under carpet.

Unfortunately, the gaps between boards downstairs have been are filled with some horrid silicone type filler, whilst the upstairs floorboards gaps are either empty, filled with dirt, or a brittle substance. Presently I’m just trying to scrape this out.

Since several boards are likely going to have to be replaced with reclaimed stock, and other works to the house will likely damage a few more, I’m wondering what the best way forward is. Do I want to:
- Leave as much down as possible, and then progress more rapidly to sanding/treating etc.
- Use this as an opportunity to ultimately raise all the boards, condition them better and then replace all nails with flooring screws to reattach them? If this option is better, would it also be advisable to slightly reposition the boards to close or the gaps or just try to preserve the existing layout?

We’ve looking into a few flooring companies but most seem to give the impression that they’re focussed on sanding, whereas I think getting the fundamentals right should probably be the greater focus. Happy to tackle as much as possible ourselves, but obviously don’t want to dig ourselves into an increasingly bigger hole.

 

[MikeG.]

Hi J Ashley, and welcome.

You may find more expertise at Period Property UK, a small forum for those with questions about old buildings. It's a bit clunky to join, with your first few posts taking a while to appear as they go for prior approval to the moderators, but if you can get through that there is a wealth of experience and knowledge there. You'll find me there under the same or similar user name.

I think the general principle of any answer you receive should be "the minimum necessary". Do as little to original fabric as you have to do to make it suitable for the 21st century. Taking a sander to an old floor, for instance, can be ruinous, taking away the history and interest, and leaving you with effectively new boards. As often as not, restoration of old buildings is about removing earlier "modernisations" and bodges, and so it is sensible to try to avoid making work yourself for future generations.

Oh, and nails are better than screws in floors, as they allow more seasonal movement. Screws will cause splits as they hold so firmly, and besides, they don't look great.

 

[J_Ashley]

Thanks for the tip about the Period Property UK forum - I'll get signed up.

I take your point about "the minimum necessary" and preserving the "original fabric". The problem is the house has had well over a hundred years of varying ownership for people to do things without much thought or care (i.e. the floorboard filler).

Flooring screws have an unthreaded section to allow for movement, but I think you're probably right with nails still being the better and more traditional way to go. Less holes to fill in and new ones to make too.

I'd say the floor upstairs desperately needs a sand - having been under carpet (probably for decades) the surface is immeasurably darker than the pine flooring that's been uncovered, and there's also painted boards in random places. Previous occupants seem not to have bothered putting a rug under the dining area either so the floor is hammered with dents.

I appreciate that sanding can lose character, but with some restoration the floor can then dent and discolour from uniform position. Furthermore, I imagine a good amount of wear and tear will still be retained post any restoration as the floorboards are well used, so it'll avoid looking brand new.

 

[MikeG.]

Floors don't need to be uniform to utilitarian or attractive. In fact, lack of uniformity is usually the most attractive aspect of them. Here's some of mine:

 

[AndyT]

Filling gaps between boards is not easy - as you know from your old mastic filler. Producing suitable sized wedge shaped strips would soon get very tedious. If you do want to close up the gaps, I noticed recently that our local diy shop sells a long v-section plastic strip which just wedges in place and adjusts to the size of the gap. I don't know what it's called but it can't be too hard to find.

 

[J_Ashley]

Here's some of mine:

Nice looking floors - certainly looks characterful and original.

I noticed recently that our local diy shop sells a long v-section plastic strip which just wedges in place and adjusts to the size of the gap. I don't know what it's called but it can't be too hard to find.

I think that sounds like a product called Stop Gap, which looks to be a decent solution. When fitted it seems fairly well concealed within the gap itself and so, I'm lead to believe, is barely visible. Best of all, it doesn't use any adhesive so can be removed easily.