Flexible filler for original wood floorboards please

[EarlyInTheMorning]

We have very strong smells coming into our house from next door (semi-detatched) and as we also have large uneven gaps between our original floorboards, I thought I'd try tackling the gaps in the first instance. I hope this will get rid of the smell issue. If nothing else at least it will serve to stop some of the drafts that I can feel are coming through the floorboards.

I'm just not sure what product to use and would appreciate any recommendations.

thank so much

[betterwhenthesunshines]

You might want to look at stop gaps. They won't be completely airtight but an awful lot easier than filling with sawdust and glue (which always cracks).

[EarlyInTheMorning]

Thank you better. I have had a look at that product, problem is, the gaps on my floorboards are very uneven and also, you can tell that someone's gone over them at some point in the past, so the gaps are filled in some areas but not others.

[SoupDragon]

A friend had her boards sanded and the company used bog standard brown mastic. She was doubtful but, once done, it just looked like gaps in the floorboards only they were filled.

[whoopwhoopbib]

I just used a brown caulk until I was told that there was no point in filling the gaps in as there was a solid base underneath so wouldn't be any draughts coming through.

The area I did looks fine and is barely noticeable.

[PigletJohn]

if it is a suspended timber floor, you might consider insulating it from under neath. A grimy job but it will block draughts and make the room warmer as well as muffling airflow up through the floor.

While you're down there you can fill and cracks or gaps in the party wall with mortar or expanding foam.

It is very unusual to smell neighbours through the floor. Do you mean from a lower room, or do you mean sewage or dead rat smells? Clean out the airbricks.

[EarlyInTheMorning]

No piglet, nothing like that! We smell their cooking. And if they're painting or varnishing, we smell that too. Really really strongly, as if it was in our own house.

[FannyBazaar]

I have the problem of smells, usually only cigarette smoke although occasional cooking smells.

I was told that using black silicone sealant was the way to go, not that I have done it. When the smells aren't bugging me, I forget about it.

[PigletJohn]

how do you know it's coming through the floor? it's very unusual.

how many airbricks have you got on each side of the house, and when did you last unblock them?

[EarlyInTheMorning]

Piglet I have no idea really. We moved to this house only a few weeks ago, I'll have to look at the airbricks. We think the smell is coming from the floor because there are massive gaps and we can actually feel a draft coming through the gaps, so assume the smells must get in that way. It is most certainly NOT through a window.

[PigletJohn]

more often, there are cracks or gaps in the brickwork, especially where it has not been plastered over to hide them, e.g. above ceilings, or where fireplaces have been taken out.

gaps are especially common where timber like staircases or joists go into the wall.

interior brickwork is usually very shoddily done because it won't show

[EarlyInTheMorning]

You could be so right piglet, but how would we get to even check without knocking the wall down and starting again?

[PigletJohn]

if the gaps are plastered over, it blocks airflow. So you would be looking for cracks and gaps that are not plastered over.

if you can take up a floorboard in the room over the kitchen (or the room adjacent to their kitchen) it might be there, as there will be no plaster on the wall between the ground-floor ceiling and the first-floor skirting.

Or if your stairs are on the party wall, sniff along the string and in the understairs cupboard.

If any fireplaces or chimneybreasts have been removed; or if you and they have fireplaces back to back, it may be leaking there.

[greyvix]

Draughtex is fantastic stuff, and will sort your gaps and issues out. I think that's what it is called. It will fit any size gap, as it stretches.

[greyvix]

This is it. We used medium.
www.draughtex.co.uk

[FannyBazaar]

My smells definitely come through the floor, the smell of smoke is much stronger down there, a quick sniff of the floorboards near the neighbouring wall confirms it. My neighbours also have stripped floorboards in the area the smell comes from. There is probably a gap under the floor boards in the area where originally there was a hearth in both houses. Both hearths have been removed during my time here as the layout of both houses has changed.