Restoring wood floors

[Laure]

Hello,

We are looking to restore our old wood floors (Victorian terrace), took out the carpets, and this is what we found (picture attached). Do they seem in good enough condition to look nicely if restored? Or would replacement be recommended? Thickness is about 18-20mm. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Looks like they will sand up OK. What makes it difficult is when there are sections which have been lifted (generally by a plumber or sparkie - often badly) and replaced or a plywood/chipboard patch has been used to replace stuff

 

[Laure]

Thanks very much! This is reassuring as replacing everything would be quite expensive.

 

[Laure]

Also, to what extent are nails a problem when it comes to sanding? We pulled out hundreds (literally) but a few remained, well hammered in, as they were impossible to remove without huge damage.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Do you mean carpet tacks and the like? Nails, which should be 50 to 80mm long, actually hold the floor boards in place! So tacks, etc you remove but nails you knock almost flush with a hammer then punch under the surface a millimetre or two using a nail set (often wrongly called a nail punch these days) such as these. The biggest size is normally the one you use on nails, the smaller ones are for panel pins etc.

Nail sets are not punches - they have slightly hollowed ends so that they won't slide off the nail head when struck with a hammer

 

[Laure]

I meant the nails which held the carpet underlayment boards in place, about 2.5 cm long. A few remained because the head snapped, so we left them in. Thanks for the advice re the others!

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Just checking!

 

[Tigercubrider]

Basically use (as suggested) a punch to get both fixing nails, and “headless” tacks below the surface.
unless you do, any sandpaper will be shredded.
if DIY, use a vacuum on the sander or you will be clearing dust forever

floorboards can be a cause of draughts

 

[Laure]

Great, thanks! We’ll get a firm to do the sanding but they don’t offer the rest, so floors need to be ready to sand.

 

[Laure]

A quick update and a question: the floors look wonderful after sanding, thanks again for your advice regarding the preparation work! What would you recommend to fill the gaps between the floors and the skirting boards? I have attached a picture.