"Adam" wrote in message
om...
Hi All,

Time to seek your collective sage advice again...

We've decided to have a wooden floor in the lounge - easier to clean
and (IMHO) better looking. We've pulled up the very cheap carpet that
was down when we arrived, but the floor underneath doesn't look to be
in particularly good condition. In several places, presumably where
they've had to lay pipes, boards have been cut with a circular saw,
damaging the boards on either side. There are several large (~5mm)
gaps, although the majority of the boards seem to be well fitted. Many
of the boards appear to have warped upwards in the middle, and there
are a couple of places where there are 'steps' of 2-3mm between
boards. There is lots of paint splashing, the outer edges appear to
have a very old black varsh on them and, lastly, the boards appear to
be softwood.

Is it worth trying to renovate them? Our other options appear to be
relaying boards, possibly recovered ones, or laying a laminate floor
on top - what would you suggest?

Cheers - Adam...

Get a new carpet!

Seriously, any other solution will involve a lot of work. At the very least,
you'll need to remove the paint splashes, punch down any proud nail heads
and then hire an industrial sander to restore a clean flat surface. You may
or may not then have something which you can varnish, and use as your final
surface (not sure what to do about the gaps).

If you get a flat surface, but it's still doesn't look good enough, you
could then consider covering it with laminate or - preferably - engineered
board with a *real* wood surface. The previous work won't have been wasted -
because you need a flat surface on which to lay laminate etc. If you do do
this, remove the skirting board and undercut the door frames so that you can
hide the expansion gap round your new floor without needing to use any
horrible beading.

One thing to be aware of is that, once you have covered the floor with
laminate or engineered board, it is much more difficult to take bits up to
get at pipes and wiring. Putting down a new carpet - with some thick
underlay to hide the uneven surface - might yet be the best option!

Roger