Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Jul 26, 2010 11:33 pm Hi All, We're renovating an old weatherboard house in Perth which is half concrete slab and half floor boards, we're putting boards over the slab but keep getting conflicting opinions about whether to use recycled jarrah boards to match existing or new jarrah, which is apparently very pinky/red in colour. But we've been told the recycled boards, which believe it or not are more expensive! will have gaps... so confused, does anyone have any advice on this one??? Has anyone put recycled boards down? and how did they turn out? Re: Recycled versus new jarrah floorboards 2Jul 27, 2010 7:17 am In our old house we used 2nd-hand boards that we bought from a demolition yard. There were extra holes here and there that needed to be puttied up but once the floors were sanded and polished it wasn't an issue. We ripped up the old ones that were in the room we were redoing and then muddled them in with the 'new' ones. This way differences in board width and colour didn't stand out and look odd. It was a fair bit of work as some of the new boards had tongue/grooves that didn't match with the existing boards and we had to chisel out new grooves, etc. All in all, a lot of effort but the results were great! If you have a large area to do it could take a bit of legwork to find the quantity of boards you need. I can understand floor retailers charging more for 'recycled' boards (if that is what you're talking about) as they would have to source boards in quantities to suit the majority of their customers, rather than one specific project. HTH Kylie Re: Recycled versus new jarrah floorboards 3Jul 27, 2010 8:48 am ... whether to use recycled jarrah boards to match existing boards ... Any chance you could post a pic of these existing boards? If they are really in a "rustic" state, then using recycled would probably make sense, and of course, if these 2 floors are adjacent. If the floors are not adjacent, and if the old floor can be rejuvenated (resanded), I would go for new floors. I've seen some recycled floors and they are not very attractive to me, unless you are after that specific rustic look. Also, I think they would have a bit of a "smell" ... or maybe it was just this showroom I've been to My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Recycled versus new jarrah floorboards 4Jul 27, 2010 5:23 pm I would spend some time matching them in. Sand an area first in the old floor. If it is truly old Jarrah then it will be quite a darker colour, new Jarrah will be lighter and pinker. Whilst it probably wont be such a drama to mix the new and the old, it is generally much safer to find the older floor to match in. If your in WA then just scout through ebay, classifieds as digging up old Jarrah is not so hard Cheers Re: Recycled versus new jarrah floorboards 5Jul 27, 2010 7:06 pm The only problem in mixing them will be if the boards fit together or not. Variances in machining between different mills and times etc makes it impossible to fit different production boards together sometimes. If they are 80mm boards the new ones will be machined in 'secret-nail' profile whereas the older ones definately won't be Re: Recycled versus new jarrah floorboards 6Jul 27, 2010 9:22 pm Thanks for that feedback everyone. If we do go with recycled does anyone know if cracks are are an issue, where T&G don't quite match or something. One contractor told us we will have gaps between the boards... this is concern. Re: Recycled versus new jarrah floorboards 7Jul 27, 2010 10:00 pm If you can get hold of a decent installer to assist then matching in the new and the old shouldn't be a problem. That is why colour is important to match, because if it is cut in well it should become seemless. If the tongue and groove doesn't match then it can still be trimmed to fit (first board only needs to be cut down). Aside from colour, maybe also check the thickness of the boards Re: Recycled versus new jarrah floorboards 8Jul 28, 2010 4:35 pm namtrak If you can get hold of a decent installer to assist then matching in the new and the old shouldn't be a problem. That is why colour is important to match, because if it is cut in well it should become seemless. If the tongue and groove doesn't match then it can still be trimmed to fit (first board only needs to be cut down). Aside from colour, maybe also check the thickness of the boards I would almost lay money they won't fit together as the profile will be different. Jarrah (like all timbers) darkens quite significantly with age, the old and new wil always look very different Building Standards; Getting It Right! 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