Solid wood flooring over old floor boards?

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Hi all,

Got a bedroom in my old terraced house where the floor boards are not so neat (fairly cut up from re-wires, central heating pipes etc), not all fixed and slight gaps. Nice old boards and would look great cleaned up, but...

I'd really like to lay some kind of new solid wood flooring in there.

So, should I remove them all , buy new and just go into joists with nail gun?
Or is it easier to go over the top with the new flooring?

I am not a big DIY'er so please explain what I might need and any tips you recommend, also what problems might I encounter? Places to buy etc I probably am doing it myself.

Thanks in advance

Jem
 
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I've seen it done by putting one floor on top of another although I wouldn't recommend it.
The simplist solution would be to replace any damaged boards assuming it's not too many , otherwise it may be more cost effective to lift and replace the floor.I'm assuming that you want the floor to be visable so I'd go with the first idea and stain in any new wood afterwards if they need it.
If you replace damaged boards you may find you have to use oversized boards and cut them to fit to avoid gaps. Depending on the size of gaps you have now lifting and relaying is also a possibility but a lot of work if the gaps aren't too big.
Whatever you do if you have a loose board don't just nail or screw it without first lifting it to see what's underneath, there could be a pipe or cable in just the wrong place.
 
I've seen it done by putting one floor on top of another although I wouldn't recommend it.
The simplist solution would be to replace any damaged boards assuming it's not too many , otherwise it may be more cost effective to lift and replace the floor.I'm assuming that you want the floor to be visable so I'd go with the first idea and stain in any new wood afterwards if they need it.
If you replace damaged boards you may find you have to use oversized boards and cut them to fit to avoid gaps. Depending on the size of gaps you have now lifting and relaying is also a possibility but a lot of work if the gaps aren't too big.
Whatever you do if you have a loose board don't just nail or screw it without first lifting it to see what's underneath, there could be a pipe or cable in just the wrong place.

Agree with the above. If you're "not a big DIYer" I wouldn't start ripping up the floor unless you really need to; it's a major faff. Take up any loose ones to check what's under them. Anything too damaged can be removed by cutting out the tongue with a floorboard hand saw, or a circular saw - set carefully to only the depth you need!

You can also use the circular saw to cut across a board if you just need to remove a section, or you may be lucky enough to find both ends of a board if it's short or has already been cut. If you end up with one end of a new board that stops at a joist that's fully occupied by the end of an old board, screw a batten to the side of the joist and fix the new board to that.

If you're fitting a few small replacement boards I'd fix with screws; drill pilot holes first.

If you can find reclaimed boards, you shouldn't need to stain them. Or are there other floors in the house that you don't need to expose, so you can swap some of the boards around?

Hope some of this is useful.

Cheers
Richard
 
Also, if it's a small room and you do decide to go with cleaning up the existing boards after replacing and fixing as necessary, I'd be tempted to do what I've done in this circumstance, and use a belt sander rather than hiring one of those big floor sanders. A belt sander is more controllable.

Then use finish of choice. Again a personal matter, but I'd use varnish on a pine floor. Matt varnish looks a bit more natural and less in your face. I use Ronseal Mattcoat (although it's not sold as a floor varnish it seems to hold up very well).

The only experience I have of new flooring was helping a friend fit random oak planks, T&G on all sides. These were designed to be fitted to a flat surface rather than to joists, and I suspect that's true of most similar products. We secret nailed it to chipboard. So if you used something like that, you'd need something to fix it to; the existing floor might be suitable if it was flat and properly fixed. The disadvantage in my mind is that you can't get easily under the floor to deal with plumbing and electrical issues. Then again that obviously isn't a problem in a lot of cases.

If you do decide to take the floor up and replace with new floorboards (ie boards designed to fix to joists), then inmy opinion pitch pine looks absolutely brilliant. I've done my bedroom in pitch pine boards that were cut from old joists and it looks great.

Would be interested to hear what you do and how it goes.

Cheers
Richard

Cheers
Richard
 
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Richard have you ever tried an edge sander when you've done a floor? I did once but wouldn't recommend it .They can be very difficult to control and it was very easy to leave circular marks even with the finset grade of paper. I used it for a very small amount of time before giving up on it and doing as you did to use a belt sander (at least around the edges as we hadf a full sized floor sander for the majority of the floor).
 
Many thanks for all the answers, I appreciate it.

I am just worried that with them being pretty ancient floor boards I may not find an exact size to replace just the damaged ones.

Also, can you tell me how it is possible to just get one old board out and replace with a new one? Won't it damage the tongue/groove on both edges getting it out?

Thanks
 
Simiplist way is a circular saw (I use a cordless , less faff and a thin blade) set to no more than 20mm cutting depth and run it down the join and cut the tongue off completely. I f the board is scrap then you can destroy it when removing without having to lever on the other boards and dent them.
As I said it will most likely be neccessary to purchase wider timber to replace the damaged boards and cut it to suit.
 
Richard have you ever tried an edge sander when you've done a floor? I did once but wouldn't recommend it .They can be very difficult to control and it was very easy to leave circular marks even with the finset grade of paper. I used it for a very small amount of time before giving up on it and doing as you did to use a belt sander (at least around the edges as we hadf a full sized floor sander for the majority of the floor).

No, I haven't. I've used a belt sander as far as it would go, and one of those pointy detail sanders where it wouldn't. I do tend to use tools that are smaller rather than larger, which means my jobs tend to take longer but are more controllable.

Cheers
Richard
 
Simiplist way is a circular saw (I use a cordless , less faff and a thin blade) set to no more than 20mm cutting depth and run it down the join and cut the tongue off completely. I f the board is scrap then you can destroy it when removing without having to lever on the other boards and dent them.
As I said it will most likely be neccessary to purchase wider timber to replace the damaged boards and cut it to suit.

Or if you don't have a circular saw, or don't fancy using one, you can use a floorboard saw, or veneer saw. The have a curved section on the top edge of the end, with another set of teeth. You can use this between the boards, to cut into the tongue, then when you're through, turn the saw the right way up and cut out the tongue.

Cheers
Richard
 

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