My Floor - Repair, Replace or Cover

[chuckalicious]

My kitchen has a suspended wooden floor (not 100% sure on wood type), of Victorian age, thick planks in tongue and groove fixing. Room is about 7m x 4m.

Thing is, it's a bit of a mess. It has had quite a few planks attacked by woodworm, some are split or cracked and most have next to no varnish left on them.

So my question is, what should I do to fix this?

Getting it sanded and varnished would be the cheapest option, but that wouldn't sort the splits or other damage. Could I fill these bits before sanding? The gaps between the boards would obviously still exist and let in drafts.

I guess I could put a new floor over the existing one, probably using engineered wood flooring of about 14mm thickness, I think my doors could cope with that extra depth of floor.

Or, is it possible to lift the boards and lay new ones? I imagine these would also need to be sanded and varnished. I have no idea how much new floor boards would cost.

Untitled

• chuckalicious
• 18 Nov 2009
• 1

Untitled

• chuckalicious
• 18 Nov 2009
• 1

Untitled

• chuckalicious
• 18 Nov 2009
• 1

 

[Chri5]

You could:-

Lift all the boards, turn them over and replace the odd damaged one with a new board (seasoned for a few weeks, store indoors).

Remove the floor completely and replace with 22mm engineered or real wood flooring.

Remove the floor completely and replace with 18mm+ ply and then top with a thin laminate or engineered board.



Sticking new board over a poor floor is likely to need a plywood base before the new board, laminate is done.


Something that 'bothers' me, is you mention "woodworm"- what's the status with that issue?

Have all the joists been treated, is the woodworm gone ?

 

[chuckalicious]

Thanks for the reply. So would you say that filling, sanding and varnishing are out?

Woodworm - as far as I know this is historical. The survey done 3 years ago suggested that was the case. It hasn't got visibly worse since then.

 

[Chri5]

I'd urge against it, it will look ok, but will return to what it looks like in a few short years.

The gaps between boards are large and filling them tends to be a continous labour of love, since bits will fall out due to footfall, virbration and fluid cleaners.

Not a problem if you just want a basic floor, but if you want something that looks good and works as an asset for the property your in for more work.

Cheapest is pulling the boards up, turning them over (having cleaned the old filled edges), clamping them together and fixing down. You will find that the other side of the boards will be nice, clean and require hardly any sanding effort.

Woodworm doesn't just stay on the surface, you need to lift the boards and check the joists for old damage and any recent munching, treatment is spray / and or wood replacement.

 

[chuckalicious]

Thanks again for the replies.

Regarding the woodworm, I had another look this morning and although I guess I have no way of knowing whether or not it's still active, it would make sense to replace the affected boards as this would ensure there would be no larvae in the new wood.

I haven't measured up, but assuming these are the same size as the existing boards, can I use these: http://www.wickes.co.uk/PTG-Flooring/invt/124419

As it's tongue and groove I understand I'll need to cut on either side of one board in order to lift (using a shallow blade of course!).

Should I give the new boards a good brushing of woodworm treatment so that they won't get munched in the future?

 

[ladylola]

Without seeing the rest of your property it's not possible to give a definate answer, but if it's a Victorian house leaving the boards down may be a better option, estate agents and thus buyers just love "period features" such as an original floor.
As to the problem of the woodworm I would suggest lifting some of the boards to spray underneath. Get a firm in to do this, you'll then have paperwork to back up your period floor. If any of the the boards are in a very bad state they could be replaced an stained down and dstressed to match in with exsisting.
Turning the boards over is an option but this would give you a newer looking floor, I'd relay them the same way and retain the original patina. Use the correct fixings too, cut nails look so much better and if you do have to put in access holes use slotted screws. If you lift the whole floor you may also consider insulating at the same time.
To lift the boards you will need to cut the tongues, a cordless circular saw is ideal as they have very thin blades and then punching the first few nails though the board to loosen it enough to be able to get a thin bolster type of tool into the joint and prise it up. Try not to use crowbars as these damage the boards, use instead timber wedges.
If you are just replacing the odd board it's probably better to use square edged machined to the correct thickness, victorian boards are liable to be thicker than their modern counterparts. Bear in mind that the tongues willmost likely be different too and won't match up without some playing around.
Timber looks to be pine by the way.

 

[mointainwalker]

I would be very careful about using any woodworm treatment.

Firstly because these chemicals are very persistent and if you happen to be one of the people who is sensitive to them, you might have to move out, Do a search on this if you want more info.

Secondly, I have read numerous times that woodworm and their larvae cannot live in wood that is dry ( meaning in a centrally heated house) so if the worm-holes are historic and dormant, treating the boards risks wasting your money and creating a very unhealthy environment.

 

[ladylola]

Mountainwalker is correct on some of the points he says.
Woodworm treatment is after all a poison. There are nowadays treatments that are less likely to have an effect on us, most are water based BUT they are still poisons. Checking with a treatment firm would be a good starting point. Some of the older treatments contained arsnic and copper salts and were very dangerous. We used to have a mayonaise paste (called that and looked just like it) that we don't see so much nowadays that was said to be very good but dangerous, only good for hidden timbers though as it took weeks to soak in. Even with the modern "safer" treatments I wouldn't treat the exposed top surface.
It is true about the moisture content having an effect many species prefer damp timber but in practice they will attack dry timber, and for this case timbers under the floor will be in the range that is accecptable to them.Equally most prefer the sapwood of the timber but will eventually eat the heartwood if there is nothing else left.
There are other ways woodworm is treated. I've explained in another post how at the Bodlien libary in Oxford spiders were placed in the roof to simply eat the beetles and stop reinfection. Pallets are "roasted" in large oven to kill the larvae and I've done the same with some wooden bowls and a microwave.Ok so not really useable for a floor. I've also heard of the use of sulpher candles being used. This is done in the summer when the beetles are emerging and would need repeating for several years to kill all the generations.
The easiest thing to do is try to see if it is still active. Not easy this time of year mind most beetles emerge in the summer. Check then for new flight holes , dead beetles and the presence of fine sawdust which is really nothing more than woodworm dropping that come out of the holes when they emerge.
To be honest looking at the pictures you have posted the wood worm problem and other issues do not seem to warrent that much work, certainly not replacing or overboarding.

 

[ladylola]

opps double post and can't delete

 

[gregers]

oh how i remember that mayonase paste remeber treating a complete thatched house with it,hardwood.we wernt allowed to use the spirit based woodworm fluid.
when i used to do preservation,many moons ago,you had to allow 24 hrs before the owners were allowed back in,but with the new treatment/fluids its now down to about 8 hrs.

 

[chuckalicious]

Wee update

Went for the sanding and filling option.

Finished just over a week ago. Extremely pleased with the result. The floor has come up so much better than I thought it would.

Will try and post some pictures that do it justice.