overpainting old floorboards

[kingcod]

I'm hoping to apply floor paint to Victorian pine floorboards.

There is some very old black paint - possibly pitch? - round the room. It gunges up the belt sand, is a b*gger to burn off with a heat gun, and I can't waste money on 10 litres of Nitromos!

If I get off any loose material do you think it will be okay to leave it if I then apply a decent aluminium based primer before the floor paint?

Also there are some very small gaps between the boards - 2-3 mm. Any point in filling with resin and sawdust (neither of which I have) or will the paint cover it?

 

[gavinda]

well you could test patch it with some paint and see how in looks, but tbh you'll probly need to do it properly. i used 'international floor paint' proper hard wearing. as for th gaps, i used twisted strips of newspaper squeezed in the gaps.