Victorian/Edwardian floorboards- how practical is my plan?

[Joolz]

Hi, I live in a 1900 semi in South London, & several decades of pets & kids have left my hall carpet in such a state it has to go, upstairs & downstairs (plus an additional small landing). I don't have the money to get a pro in to sort it out so I want to do it myself. The actual staircases are fine so I plan to leave the carpet down there. I plan to pull up the carpet & underlay, & the spikey wood trim at the edge, seal the spaces between the floorboards and then paint them. Obviously I'll need to remove/replace some nails & fill cracks & sand the boards. I've been planning on doing it for a while and this week finally finished tiling round the bath, so finally pulled the old carpet up a bit and had a look. I have to say, I'm feeling a little daunted. The boards are not rotten or cracked at the edges, so that is good. There are lots of old suiper-chunky Victorian nails sticking up, and some boards have been cut. A couple have been replaced. I haven't looked recently, but I know the boards upstairs aren't great either, one is split I think. The downstairs boards have an 'underfloor' directly below them, straight into the foundations.

Can I seal gaps with PVA glue mixed with newspaper? I've also sent off for some sample 'draftex' filler which was recommended, it is a sort of puffy gap filler on a roll. Would that do a much better job? How to begin? Should I just rip up the carpets & chuck them out? Will it be really cold even if I do it well? Will I freeze in winter & get eaten by spiders?

All advice very welcome please, facebook told me this was the place to ask!

 

[mardinor]

Fantastic that you want to do this yourself. It's not difficult. Search for posts and website by Toby Newell for all the info you need.
But...
It will be far easier, faster and less costly to just buy cheap carpet.

 

[DaveG]

I think the boards look pretty good. A bit of elbow grease and you could get a nice rustic look. They’d look even better if they were running lengthways but I love original floorboards although I’ve only ever done this in a bedroom where there’s no worries about draughts.
I’d consider hiring a decent sander to get through it quick but be warned you’ll have a phenomenal amount of dust everywhere. Mask up well.
Oakum is the traditional stuff you would use as a filler. I wouldn’t personally go with newspaper as it will have a certain degree of absorbency. At best it may discolour and come out in bits and at worse it might get a bit damp and attract pests.
I’d say go with trial and error. See how draughty it is without first. It would be different if this was your lounge but it’s only a walkway after all.
I wouldn’t expect the floor to feel particularly cold. Provided the wood is nice and dry it’s a reasonable insulator

 

[Joolz]

Fantastic that you want to do this yourself. It's not difficult. Search for posts and website by Toby Newell for all the info you need.
But...
It will be far easier, faster and less costly to just buy cheap carpet.

Thanks, will check out Toby Newell

 

[Joolz]

I think the boards look pretty good. A bit of elbow grease and you could get a nice rustic look. They’d look even better if they were running lengthways but I love original floorboards although I’ve only ever done this in a bedroom where there’s no worries about draughts.
I’d consider hiring a decent sander to get through it quick but be warned you’ll have a phenomenal amount of dust everywhere. Mask up well.
Oakum is the traditional stuff you would use as a filler. I wouldn’t personally go with newspaper as it will have a certain degree of absorbency. At best it may discolour and come out in bits and at worse it might get a bit damp and attract pests.
I’d say go with trial and error. See how draughty it is without first. It would be different if this was your lounge but it’s only a walkway after all.
I wouldn’t expect the floor to feel particularly cold. Provided the wood is nice and dry it’s a reasonable insulator

Thanks for the tips. Yes, the dust is defintely a bit of an issue!

 

[housewinnie]

Clean them up. Bang in any raised nails and live with them they look great to me.

 

[Zebra]

I have made a cheap and very well camouflaged filler by mixing PVA with sawdust from cutting or sanding the same colour piece of wood.

 

[Zebra]

A word of warning if you're thinking of adding any nails or screws: though it can't be guaranteed in all cases that past trades have followed the rules, it normally is the case that any pipes or cables run beneath the centre of any given floorboard, and not beneath the edge. So it *should* be OK to bang nails in along the edges but never put them in the middle (not without checking first anyway).

 

[Zebra]

facebook told me this was the place to ask!

I think that might have been me. Glad you made it.

 

[Joolz]

A word of warning if you're thinking of adding any nails or screws: though it can't be guaranteed in all cases that past trades have followed the rules, it normally is the case that any pipes or cables run beneath the centre of any given floorboard, and not beneath the edge. So it *should* be OK to bang nails in along the edges but never put them in the middle (not without checking first anyway).

Thank you! Hadn't even thought of that.