cheap fix for tatty floorboards??

[swottybetty]

hiya - we're in rented accomadtion and have floorboards in dining room. they're not in great nick and when i have the cash to hire a sander (and the time and energy to use it...) i am going to get round to a proper sand and varnish.

i do want them to look a bit nicer in the short term and wondered what would work. does waxing sound like madness? or just a proper scrub with a decent cleaner and if so which one? any other thoughts...?

tia

When you say they are not in great nick, what do you mean by this? Are they just dirty, or are they loose, large gaps etc?

If just dirty, I would scrub them first - Milton comes to mind, because I scrubbed a filthy table with this and it came up great and didn't spoil the grain.

Ikea do some great, reasonably cheap rugs, which could lift the room a bit.

Make sure you have written consent from your landlord if you do intend to sand them - I own rental property, and would be extremely pissed off if someone did this without my knowledge.

You could do a quick fix of a bit of wood filler and then paint them if this interests you? I've painted floorboards before and it looked great - very New England beach house style

Second what TYOTC said though - please do check with your landlord first.

hiya - the floorboards are original boards that have been varnished by a previous tenant and ignored for quite a while. no gaps, but scratched varnish patchy and some larger splintery bits coming off wood. we live onsite at a school and maintance know what we'redoing (and would never get round to doing it .)

painting would be a bit too much i think - i like the look (have always fancied white floorboards) but am basically trying to avoid having to get a proper sander and they realy could do with a rub down.

i will try milton before i think of waxing - where can i get it from? a b and q type place?

Milton fluid - ie the stuff for sterilising babies bottles - any supermarket or chemist will stock it.