replacing woodworm-ridden floorboards: with what?

[tanimbar]

Predictably, the woodworm guy has just called to say it's far worse than he anticipated, and we can choose either to patch things up as far as possible, or to replace the entire floor. Obvious painful escalation of costs aside, what options do we have, if we decide to replace? The existing floorboards are around 150 years old and are currently exposed. Chipboard really therefore not an option. They have quoted for softwood tongue and groove boards, which are the next most economical option. But will these look rubbish in an old and fairly grand room? Are there any alternatives that are not stupendously expensive? Need to decide by tomorrow!

Reclaimed floorboards of similar era? Probably expensive tho...

the old floorboards will have been softwood square-edged, so modern softwood T&G will be a fair replacement.

If you leave them bare for a few months and trample dirt into them, then paint black round the edges, they will be not unlike the old ones.

Chipboard is a loathsome material fit only for the bonfire. If necessary, you can use ply.

After the old boards have been taken up and the joists sprayed, take the opportunity to clean the subfloor, open out all the clogged or blocked airbricks or add new, insulate the pipes, and do all the underfloor plumbing and rewiring you think you will need in the next 50 years. Remove the skirting first and replace afterwards.

If there is crawl space, consider fitting a trapdoor at each end of the room, preferably in a corner where there will not be much foot traffic.

Good point about the plumbing - we probably need an additional radiator in there, so I'll get onto that.

We had planned to get the floor sanded and finished in the next few weeks, but am I right that we'd need to leave new boards longer to allow them to shrink before we did that?

Reclaimed boards might be great, but I'm doing this from a distance and can't manage the logistics of sourcing, even if I could afford them.