Kitchen floorboards

[zunetunes]

Late Victorian house.
The floorboards in the kitchen were sanded and varnished by previous owner about 12-15 years ago. The boards themselves aren't in great condition (some severe old woodworm) They look pretty orangey now.
Some steps down from the kitchen that were covered in lino I recently sanded back and varnished and look much nicer than the rather tired looking kitchen floor. So thinking of re-sanding the whole room and then re-varnishing.
The boards are tongue and groove but have fairly wide gaps (around 2mm) between the upper surfaces. This means that there is 10-15 years of assorted muck, crumbs etc in every groove.
In some places some kind of masticy stuff has been used as a filler.

I'm not wanting to take all the boards up, but is the 2mm wide gap normal? Any other suggestions as to what to do.

 

[plasticpigeon]

I would imagine the gaps are normal. I have much bigger gaps between my boards (which are not tongue and groove). Floor boards shrink quite a lot after being fitted as they are not perfectly seasoned. The mastic might gum up the sandpaper in the sanding machine so it might be a good idead to scrape it out if possible.

 

[zunetunes]

As the floorboards are in the kitchen the gaps get filled with kitchen detritus. Do you think it viable to fill the gaps with something?

 

[plasticpigeon]

I imagine slips of wood would be best. I'm not sure what else. maybe others might have ideas. Epoxy filler might work.

 

[88v8]

Not if you are going to stain them. I think whatever you fill with will take the stain differently to the wood, zebra effect.
Lino may be your friend.
There is some pretty good wood-effect lino.

Or you could just have dimmer lighting. Too much light is not conducive to the appropriate ambience of a period house.

Ivor

 

[TheRoost]

We have original tongue and groove downstairs, gap is generally 2mm but much larger in places. At least it allows for some expansion of the boards, i'm not keen on old floors where the boards are butted up tight and creak against each other.

Perhaps clean the dirt out of the grooves with a credit card, refinish with your varnish/floor oil etc. then use a vacuum cleaner tool to keep them clear every now and again?

 

[noj]

Perhaps clean the dirt out of the grooves with a credit card

Do you mean pay someone else to do it?

 

[Zebra]

I think whatever you fill with will take the stain differently to the wood, zebra effect.

I like the sound of that.

 

[Borderer]

An old boy I knew who had been sanding floors for years used to collect some sawdust and mix it up with wood glue to make a stiff paste and then fill gaps with this. After it had gone off a light sand and it took a passable stain

 

[TheRoost]

Perhaps clean the dirt out of the grooves with a credit card

Do you mean pay someone else to do it?

ha ha I like that, probably would be preferable.