Laying reclaimed pine floor boards?

[pieman]

Hi All,

In our new extension I am going to lay 7" reclaimed pine floor boards.
When laying them should I butt them up against each other to allow for any shrinkage (central heating etc), or should there be a small gap between each.

Thanks all.

 

[Penners]

The first thing is not to be in too much of a hurry to lay them. Stack them in the room where they'll be laid with small strips of wood between them, so that the air can circulate freely around them. Leave them in there as long as you can, using the central heating in the way that it it will generally be used. That way the boards get used to the ambient temperature and moisture in the room, and adjust themselves to it.

Try and leave them for at least a couple of weeks - more if you can.

Then lay them tightly up against each other, and make sure that you put fixings through both sides of every board at every joist.

 

[Nemesis]

It's worth thinking about making one or two easy to lift - screws rather than nails, and removal of a tongue.

You never know when it might be needed, if you have pipes and cables under the floor.

 

[GeoffP]

I replaced a floor with new 8” pine boards last year and invented an ingenious device to tighten them together. This was made from a car jack and a couple of chunks of 3 x 2. Although I expected shrinkage, there’s still no gap between them.