Screwing Victorian pine floorboards back down - what about gaps ?

[wwwebber]

Hi all, not posted in a while - could do with some help on this please. In an upstairs room I have pulled up all of the original Victorian pine floorboards so that I could sister the joists etc. So, I'm nearly ready to put the boards back down and screw them to the new more level joists - my question is does each board need a minimum gap between them ? or can I just butt them up against each other as tight as I can ?. I am wary of squeaking etc. They had gaps before I pulled them up and as the floor space is now slightly smaller I can afford to butt them up now.

Opinions please.

Thank you.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

When laying new boards you normally butt and pull up tight with flooring cramps, if that helps. You can achieve the same result with blocks and wedges (block nailed/screwed to top of joist, two opposing wedges hammered in opposite directions, towards each other, to press the boardd together)