Who uses their floorboards as their actual floor (I.e. no carpet, no laminates etc.,)

As above, unless you are willing to rip them all up and put a barrier/insulation layer under them they will be dusty, draughty and make the room cold they look great but not at all practical inmy opinion.

I've also sanded a couple of rooms for people in the past and to get a good finish takes many hours of prep and hard work graft sading with multiple grades of paper to make it look half way good even when the boards are in good condition.
 
I do but luckily my original floor is 50mm wide maple boards with nice tight joints, just gave them a sand with a floor sander and they were as good as new, I also managed to get a bit of reclaimed gym floor to patch in a bit where I took a wall down
 
As above if they are decent boards well fitted then it can work well still a bit cold and noisy if on a second floor but wil look great. If they are your standard Victorian pine they will look decent if you put in a lot of effort but will always be drafts and dusty
 
I have pine floors throughout my flat.
Can confirm; dusty, cold, drafty, loud....but they look the nuts in the setting they are in. They do need a refub to bring them back to life.
I lifted them up last year to put in some natural wool insulation and its much better.
 
I did this in my teens when living with my parents! As others have said it looked awesome but blimey was it cold. It probably didn't help that my bedroom was over the integral garage making it doubly problematic but no matter what happened in Winter it made the room freezing cold. We didn't stay in the house that long but unless you can insulate under the floor boards prepare for the drop in temperature.
 
Had this in a house previous and despised them, they were rubbish to walk on in bare feet due to the gaps, cold, noisy (and the noise travelled through the house and likely into next door), fear of damage. It made the acoustics of the room quite echo'y (is that even a word!?) as well.
The only benefit was easy to keep clean.
 
Bes said:
My entire maisonette is like this.
Yes it is a bit cold, but what helps is using rubber draught excluder between the gaps like https://www.draughtex.co.uk/ (This is what I used) then GapMaster between the skirting and floorboards.
Much better!
Click to expand...

I can vouch for Draughtex doing a very good job tempoary job to fill in the larger gaps in floorboards, however, it increases the air flow/draft in the places which are difficult to fill. Nothing better than lifting them all up and filling the floor joists/voids. Just make sure that you fill with the correct material.
 
kiteloopy said:
I can vouch for Draughtex doing a very good job tempoary job to fill in the larger gaps in floorboards, however, it increases the air flow/draft in the places which are difficult to fill. Nothing better than lifting them all up and filling the floor joists/voids. Just make sure that you fill with the correct material.
Click to expand...
Hmm I always thought doing that could lead to condensation? How do you do it in a way that prevents that happening? Or is that a total myth?
 
We have an Edwardian semi, downstairs has the hallway and dining room as sanded floorboards. Looks great, and has the gaps filled so isn't draughty. Can be a bit cold on bare feet, but I don't walk about bare foot much anyway (also the kitchen is tiles on a solid concrete floor, that *is* cold!).
Upstairs we had lovely floorboards in the master bedroom, but having had laminate in the bedroom of a rental property I was keen to have proper carpet put down. So upstairs we have only have bare boards in my office now. I haven't noticed massive problem with draughts or dust.

wrt insulating under the floors - but very careful doing that on ground floors, suspended timber floors *need* ventilation and by insulating them you may end up just trapping moisture in there and rotting them.
 
Looks best if you have good, tight-fitting boards but if you don't you can use sealant between the boards and still get a great finish.

If anyone proposes to fill the gaps between boards with any filler that sets hard show them the door - it'll last less than a couple of years before it drops out due to expansion/contraction of the wood.

You can buy specific products as above like DraughtEx, but I used cheap flexible sealant in brown from B&Q to seal my old flat floorboards - pump it in the gaps and wipe with a wet sponge to get a clean finish. It looked amazing, completely stopped draughts and didn't fall out unlike the previous filler that the company who sanded/varnished them originally had used
 
I have original floorboards throughout my Victorian house. They look great and really compliment the period of the property.
I agree with whats been said above, it will feel cold in the winter, so make sure you have good radiators, windows, and a rug or two.
 
Bes said:
Hmm I always thought doing that could lead to condensation? How do you do it in a way that prevents that happening? Or is that a total myth?
Click to expand...
GeX said:
wrt insulating under the floors - but very careful doing that on ground floors, suspended timber floors *need* ventilation and by insulating them you may end up just trapping moisture in there and rotting them.
Click to expand...
Agreed, not allowing it to breath can cause problems however reading up about it, its the type of material that’s the issue. Anything man-mad (like fibreglass insulation) is a no-no in the eyes of building preservation. Historicengland recommended natural fibres like hemp or sheepwool; I used sheep wool as it was easie to work with. I also left lots of crevices and avoided insulating where power cables run so its not 100% cover; for the purpose of allowing the heat from the flat downstairs to rise into mine/prevent build up of condensation.

https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/eehb-insulation-suspended-timber-floors/
&
https://www.blackmountaininsulation.com/products/natuwool#
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom