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Hi all.

Please have a look at these pictures below. They are of my flooring in my living room. I have torn away a section of underlay and carpet. I cant work out what wood it is. Any ideas? Pine? Oak?
Im looking at sanding and restoring the floor to achieve a great natural wood looking finish.

And...

If have you have any suggestion on the best sand paper/treatment/varnish and methods to use when I start. Im looking at hiring a belt sander and orbital sander to give a good finish.

Thanks

Nick

More examples...

More examples...

More examples...

By the way... I think the darker shading is old varnish/coating. The lighter I think is the natural colour more or less.

Thats standard softwood (pine) floor boards.

Looks like you've got some fairly large gaps to contend with there, and a small damaged section.
One way to fill these gaps is to cut strips to fit in between the boards to stop drafts, then sand flush.

Youll best off hiring a proper floor sander for that job. It may take sometime to sand out the stained section back to the same as the rest.

hello nickcopplestone,

Hitch is right they are pine, easily identified by the amount of knots in them.
i would say they were white pine or more possibly pitch pine which was very common many years back.
Difficult to tell from photos.
You are correct in what you said that the darker markings are where the floor has been varnished.
My guess would be that the dark markings would be all around the perimeter of the room as was the the fashion many moons ago when carpets were fitted in centre of room leaving a 2foot or so space short of the wall where this would expose a nicely varnished floor board type border.
As hitch says an industrial floor belt sander would be perfect for this job with the edges being taken care of by a small random orbit sander.
make sure that when using the big floor sander to keep it moving as they can tear off a lot of wood in no time at all.
The gaps between floorboards are not that much of an issue really provided that the existing tongues are still present on boards.
i did notice from one of the pictures though that there was a noticable gap on one board where the tongue had been removed, probably as a board had been lifted for services.
these as mentioned could be filled with small thin sticks glued into place or even simpler would be to carefully fill with expanding foam or a coloured arcrylic mastic prior to sanding.
couldnt advise on any particular make of floor varnish but as long as it said suitable for wooden floors on the tin you'd be ok.

Reply as a DIYer here!
I have identical flooring in my current house - and in my previous house (both 1930's build), down to type of wood, varnish round perimeter gone black and light bits between planks.
I suspect that these are not T&G planks but plain planks with the gaps between each filled with a sawdust/resin mix. Those gaps will be VERY drafty if left open and will suck the heat out the room
There are a few posts on this forum with suggestions on how best to deal with the gaps.
Got a fairly big job on your hands, but should look great when done

I didnt think they are Tongue and groove, looks like what might be silicone between some of the boards?

And there was me thinking it was just years of dust and muck fallen between boards and lying on the tongues

I would like to thank all of you for your expert advice. It is a great help.

So... im now going to look at hiring a drum floor sander from HSS. They recommend a floor edging sander as well.

I am a bit daunted by using one of these machines (I've used a mikita belt sander before) by the fact that they strip alot of wood at a time.
I'm sure to get some tips from HSS about safe and effective operation of this type sander.

Please see
http://www.hss.com/cl/1014403/Sanding-and-Fixing.html

Is there a specific heavy duty sander I should use?

Again all your responses so far have been GREAT!

Don't forget to knock all the nails below the surface of the wood before you sand.

Having checked out the hss link i suggest that you go with the floor and edge sander hire pack code no. 05429.
this will remove a decent amount of material from floor boards helping to flatten out any cupped boards and also tear away the old varnish.
the edge sander speaks for its self really. but you will need them both unless you got arms like popeye on you.
Any internal corners of room will still need need to be finished by hand though.

Many thanks. I shall post on any further questions I may surely have. Once Ive completed this project I will post some pictures once finished. Hope it will turn out well.

Nick

Wood Magnet wrote:Don't forget to knock all the nails below the surface of the wood before you sand.

Good point, do all the prep work like that and filling gaps first, then hire it when you are sure you are ready. You dont want to not get it finished and have to extend the hire.


Get enough belts/discs for the machines, not sure on HSS policy, but a most places will refund for any unused blades/discs etc.

Some local independant hire shops may do you a deal- worth a phonecall