Now into the sixth month of the big kitchen overhaul and there is light
at the end of the tunnel (probably a torch I bricked up in the wall).
Have completed steelwork, slapping, brickwork, leckie, plumbing and
plastering. Next job is the floor.

The kitchen floor is mostly original 100 year old imperial floor boards
with one smallish area redone in newer 136mm boards. It has been sanded
and varnished thought this needs redone now.

As the kitchen is now bigger, there's a whole new area to one side that
will require flooring with new boards, hopefully macthing.

Overt the years the existing floor has been hacked about a bit for
access and in most of these holes the removed sections damaged by the
initial and repeated removal. I'm not sure about sourcing matching
boards to repair these holes so intend to lift a whole board (or two)
from the edge, next to the new bit anyway, and use those to make
replacement parts for the holes.

So, the questions:

Where sections of boards have been lifted noggins have been nailed to
the joist to all.In some placed the noggins have sagged a bit. I
thought I could use a router to cut back the existing (fixed) board
halfway over the joist so as the replacement board sits on the joits at
each end. Worth the effort - I'll be cutting new sections to fill
anyway so the change of length ois no an issue?

Secondly, how to fit them in. The obvious way seems to be to cut the
bottom lip of the groove (and maybe sand the tongue a wee bitty) so
that they'll slot in. Any other/better suggestions.

There may be one long joint where I have to tongue/groove old and new
boards together. I can get the right thikness, but if the
tongue/grooves don't match what's the best way to acheive a good join.

Should I treat new boards with anything before fitting. The underfloor
area is (thankfully) dry as a bone?

Any hints on making the new boards match the old boards?

Soryy for the long post, thanks for all your help.

"urchaidh" wrote in message
ups.com...
Now into the sixth month of the big kitchen overhaul and there is light
at the end of the tunnel (probably a torch I bricked up in the wall).
Have completed steelwork, slapping, brickwork, leckie, plumbing and
plastering. Next job is the floor.

The kitchen floor is mostly original 100 year old imperial floor boards
with one smallish area redone in newer 136mm boards. It has been sanded
and varnished thought this needs redone now.

As the kitchen is now bigger, there's a whole new area to one side that
will require flooring with new boards, hopefully macthing.

Overt the years the existing floor has been hacked about a bit for
access and in most of these holes the removed sections damaged by the
initial and repeated removal. I'm not sure about sourcing matching
boards to repair these holes so intend to lift a whole board (or two)
from the edge, next to the new bit anyway, and use those to make
replacement parts for the holes.

So, the questions:

Where sections of boards have been lifted noggins have been nailed to
the joist to all.In some placed the noggins have sagged a bit. I
thought I could use a router to cut back the existing (fixed) board
halfway over the joist so as the replacement board sits on the joits at
each end. Worth the effort - I'll be cutting new sections to fill
anyway so the change of length ois no an issue?

Secondly, how to fit them in. The obvious way seems to be to cut the
bottom lip of the groove (and maybe sand the tongue a wee bitty) so
that they'll slot in. Any other/better suggestions.

There may be one long joint where I have to tongue/groove old and new
boards together. I can get the right thikness, but if the
tongue/grooves don't match what's the best way to acheive a good join.

Should I treat new boards with anything before fitting. The underfloor
area is (thankfully) dry as a bone?

Any hints on making the new boards match the old boards?

Stain the new boards with antique pine wod dye otherwise they will be too
light.
I should test the effect on a spare bit of wood first. Otherwise, the main
problem with
the new boards is their pristine condition ( I presume the old boards were
not
sanded back to a perfect finish? ). I can only suggest somehow beating them
up a
bit for that old floorboard look.

Andy.

In article . com,
urchaidh wrote:
Any hints on making the new boards match the old boards?

Try and get re-claimed boards. The sort of wood the originals are made of
is difficult and expensive to get these days.

--
*If we weren't meant to eat animals, why are they made of meat?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"urchaidh" wrote in message
ups.com...
Now into the sixth month of the big kitchen overhaul and there is light
at the end of the tunnel (probably a torch I bricked up in the wall).
Have completed steelwork, slapping, brickwork, leckie, plumbing and
plastering. Next job is the floor.

snipped
Any hints on making the new boards match the old boards?

Soryy for the long post, thanks for all your help.

It might be a good idea to take the opportunity of lifting all the old
boards, carefully of course, and re-lay them all at one end / side of the
room to make the new boards fit at the other end of the room. It can make
the transition between the old and new boards a decorative feature, as well
as keeping the area for the new boards all in one place. If you see what I
mean.

We lifted all the old boards in this old flat, and laid them back starting
at the entry and working back through the whole house. When the good
undamaged ones had all run out, we found that the only room not to have
original boards was the kitchen. Now the kitchen has a nice new shiny floor
all of its own and the transition point between old and new is at the
kitchen door.

It might work for you too.

BigWallop wrote:
It might be a good idea to take the opportunity of lifting all the old
boards, carefully of course, and re-lay them all at one end / side of the
room to make the new boards fit at the other end of the room.

All of the new boards will be at one side of the room anyway as I've
slapped through a wall to enlarge the room. What needs reflooring is
the new space and a small area of the old space where I had to lift
some boards.

The exceptions are the small sections that have been cut out (not
always very well) over the years for access under the floor and then
stuck back down onto noggins. I hope to replace those with sections of
a pristine old board I'm going to remove from the edge, routing back
over the batten to get a solid fit.

These access points were made in three or four places across ths floor
- it did occur to me to lift everything and start again but the only
thing I'd really gain would be removing the evidence of these access
holes completely, which would be great and very tidy, but maybe not
worth the effort. God forbid I might even need them again.

"urchaidh" wrote in message
ups.com...
BigWallop wrote:
It might be a good idea to take the opportunity of lifting all the old
boards, carefully of course, and re-lay them all at one end / side of
the
room to make the new boards fit at the other end of the room.

All of the new boards will be at one side of the room anyway as I've
slapped through a wall to enlarge the room. What needs reflooring is
the new space and a small area of the old space where I had to lift
some boards.

The exceptions are the small sections that have been cut out (not
always very well) over the years for access under the floor and then
stuck back down onto noggins. I hope to replace those with sections of
a pristine old board I'm going to remove from the edge, routing back
over the batten to get a solid fit.

These access points were made in three or four places across ths floor
- it did occur to me to lift everything and start again but the only
thing I'd really gain would be removing the evidence of these access
holes completely, which would be great and very tidy, but maybe not
worth the effort. God forbid I might even need them again.

You could always raise the noggins slightly to fit new boards on. This
takes up the small difference in thickness quite well. Once the floor is
sanded back you shouldn't notice the new boards that much.

BigWallop wrote:
Once the floor is sanded back you shouldn't notice the new boards that much.

Which reminds me...

The existing floor was sanded and varnished by the previous owner and
really only needs re varnishing. The boards are nice and flat and in
resonable condition.

Do I need to attack it again with one of these drum sanders? That seems
a bit extreme as they remove a lot of wood, so would a smaller hand
sander do the job better - it would certianly be cheaper? If so, belt,
orbit or random orbit?

* Don't worry about speed as I have a very patient and dedicated wife
who excels at this kind of long, tedious job. I just don't have the
patience myself.

BigWallop wrote:
Once the floor is sanded back you shouldn't notice the new boards that much.

Which reminds me...

The existing floor was sanded and varnished by the previous owner and
really only needs re varnishing. The boards are nice and flat and in
resonable condition.

Do I need to attack it again with one of these drum sanders? That seems
a bit extreme as they remove a lot of wood, so would a smaller hand
sander do the job better - it would certianly be cheaper? If so, belt,
orbit or random orbit?

* Don't worry about speed as I have a very patient and dedicated wife
who excels at this kind of long, tedious job. I just don't have the
patience myself.

"urchaidh" wrote in message
oups.com...
BigWallop wrote:
Once the floor is sanded back you shouldn't notice the new boards that
much.

Which reminds me...

The existing floor was sanded and varnished by the previous owner and
really only needs re varnishing. The boards are nice and flat and in
resonable condition.

Do I need to attack it again with one of these drum sanders? That seems
a bit extreme as they remove a lot of wood, so would a smaller hand
sander do the job better - it would certianly be cheaper? If so, belt,
orbit or random orbit?

* Don't worry about speed as I have a very patient and dedicated wife
who excels at this kind of long, tedious job. I just don't have the
patience myself.


A good idea is a low grade belt on one of those industrial jobs of a sanding
machine. The grade of roughness on the sanding belt determines the job on
these things, and you don't need to remove loads of surface to make the job
of re-varnishing easier for you. But if you don't want to, then fine. It's
probably me being lazy anyway. :-)

An industrial sander is the easiest way to go with finishing something like
the job you have. It really makes light work of smoothing new to old boards
a lot easier anyway. Trying to remove even a few millimetres from the
difference in the thickness can be a real chore with a hand sanders, no
matter how patient you are.

It also leaves the difference in the flooring colour at a point were a
little light staining and varnishing is all that's needed to match
everything up again.

My preferences on all this you understand, but just trying to make your life
easier. :-)

BigWallop wrote:
A good idea is a low grade belt on one of those industrial jobs of a sanding
machine.

Low grade == fine? Any suggestions on what grade. I've never used one
of those big floor sanders but always assumed they came with belts
rough as Gerry Halliwell to remove a hefty layer of wood.

The grade of roughness on the sanding belt determines the job on
these things, and you don't need to remove loads of surface to make the job
of re-varnishing easier for you.

I don't want to remove a load of surface, I really just need to remove
the old varnish as the boards are in pretty good condition.

An industrial sander is the easiest way to go with finishing something like
the job you have. It really makes light work of smoothing new to old boards
a lot easier anyway. Trying to remove even a few millimetres from the
difference in the thickness can be a real chore with a hand sanders, no
matter how patient you are.

Now that's a good point, I hadn't really considered sanding as the way
to level the new boards to match the old. 90%+ of the new boards go on
an area where I've to put in new joists, so I was planning to mung the
joists to fit rather than the boards.

My preferences on all this you understand, but just trying to make your life
easier. :-)

Thanks for all the advice, it's a big help and I do appreciatte it.

urchaidh wrote:
BigWallop wrote:
A good idea is a low grade belt on one of those industrial jobs of a sanding
machine.

Low grade == fine? Any suggestions on what grade. I've never used one
of those big floor sanders but always assumed they came with belts
rough as Gerry Halliwell to remove a hefty layer of wood.

The grade of roughness on the sanding belt determines the job on
these things, and you don't need to remove loads of surface to make the job
of re-varnishing easier for you.

I don't want to remove a load of surface, I really just need to remove
the old varnish as the boards are in pretty good condition.

An industrial sander is the easiest way to go with finishing something like
the job you have. It really makes light work of smoothing new to old boards
a lot easier anyway. Trying to remove even a few millimetres from the
difference in the thickness can be a real chore with a hand sanders, no
matter how patient you are.

Now that's a good point, I hadn't really considered sanding as the way
to level the new boards to match the old. 90%+ of the new boards go on
an area where I've to put in new joists, so I was planning to mung the
joists to fit rather than the boards.

My preferences on all this you understand, but just trying to make your life
easier. :-)

Thanks for all the advice, it's a big help and I do appreciatte it.


Sounds like youre making a whole lotta work for yourself for nothing.
Unless the old boards are a serious state, theres no reason to sand
them. There is no hope of new wood matching, if you dye it the colours
will change over time etc.

Easy solution: get old boards of similar colour, fit, wash em all and
varnish. end of story.


NT