About to sand floor - what to do about screws?

[WastingMyYoungYears]

Should they be removed and replaced with nails? And the hole filled in?

If its nails you use a nail punch and hammer to push the nails further into the floor so that they don't catch on the sander. I then filled ours with wood filler, sanded then varnished.

With screws I'd try to screw them in further although you'll need to be careful as the pressure may cause the wood to splinter. iirc you can get screws that are designed not to do this. Sorry to be not much help!

no

you can tighten them down a bit if you want.

If you have any that are too high and won't tighten down, take them out (one at a time) and use a countersink to slightly deepen the recess, then tighten down again.

Thanks , so screw in a bit more then fill in?

no need to apply filler.

Sand it and see if there is still much of a gap. Ideally countersunk screws should be level, or just below, surface of wood. It is possible to tap in wood pellets but preferably find a skilled chippy to do that.

If screws are brass, and you use new ones, use steel ones for now and only replace with brass afterwards. Brass screws are liable to snap if you try to drive them hard into a new hole that has not previously had the same size of steel screw in it.

So, the screws are steel ones, that have been added randomly over time . I just wish they weren't there TBH.

if they weren't, the floorboards would wobble, squeak and lift.

They ought to be all along the joists, at about 600mm spacing.

It may be that the boards were originally nailed, and either have come loose, or have been taken up for plumbing or wiring.

Well, yes .

This is the last time that I sand original floorboards . I'm going to get something more hard wearing downstairs.

Thanks for your help everyone.