Repairing gaps between timber floor boards?

Brow · Sep 02, 2006 3:44 pm

G'day,

We have timber floor boards, nothing special but the gaps between boards have been filed with putty that is breaking up and coming out.

The house was built 40-50 yrs ago by a builder who appears to have used a whole lot of different timbers. There are different widths, some butted together, some tongue and groove and some tongue and groove but not tightly fitted together.

The floors were done up by the previous owners but I now see it was done to look good for selling and not long term.

We too are looking at selling and I would like to go over the floors but try and do it right this time. I do not want to sand back the whole floor and it is mostly the higher traffic areas requiring work. I looked at the Selleys coloured No More Gaps but it said not to use on tongue and groove floors. I have gaps up to 3mm wide.

Can anyone help with a solution?
Would No More Gaps flex enough? (It is supposed to flex up to 20%)

Thanks for any help.
Brow

Dukekamaya · Sep 02, 2006 10:10 pm

You shouldn't really fill gaps between T&G floorboards. Timber is a natural product and therefore effected by tempurature and humidity etc. You will find the boards will expand and contract due to the amount of moisture in the air. A gap that wide is due to the poor original laying of the boards, or laying boards thas weren't properly seasoned to the house.

EGGENZ · Sep 02, 2006 10:10 pm

Hey "BRO"
In my eyes you cant do much (do not use the sellys caulking for the main reason it wont stick to the clear you put on the floor and it will make a damn mess) the only thing i can suggest is to re nail down the floor boards to minimise the movement in them then get tome timbermate wood filler and re fill them (do not water it down it may be easy to apply this way but shrinks to much when it drys) so apply the filler then wipe it down with a damp cloth so the only filler visable is the one in the cracks once that has dryed lightly sand (#320) the floor to get rid of the shiny spots and to smooth out the filler then apply minimum 2 coats of clear ( cabots C.F.P. or Feast Watson floor seal) Good Luck

EGGENZ 2006

Testedbytime · Jul 26, 2011 2:00 pm

Dukekamaya

You shouldn't really fill gaps between T&G floorboards.

does this apply to both butt joins as well as "length-wise"?

HarryDE · Jul 26, 2011 7:41 pm

You can get an elastic foam that is pushed between the floorboards (Draughtex). This product expands and contracts with the floorboards