Flooring experts - WWYD

[ChristopherTracy]

So our current dining room flooring (Victorian semi 12x10) is exposed original wood. Lovely BUT it is that horrid orange colour, has big gaps between the boards and sections that move when you tread on them.

I would like to cover the board over - but with what and how tricky is it/how costly is it?

We saw some hardwood flooring in B&Q that looked amazing but we are a hardwearing family - does it get marked and scratched immediately? What happens when builders need to investigate gas stuff etc?

Plus does it look out of place in a Victorian place with the chimney breast and fireplace still in situ. Are there other alternatives I haven't thought of? Thoseconcrete tiles that look like wood? Vinyl?

We had floors like this in our Edwardian place. I went traditional - sanded back the wood and refinished with a nice, dark Osmo oil, then covered 90% of it all with huge rugs to stop the draughts.

Btw sections that move might mean you have some joists that need replacing. I’d get a joiner to have a look.

Wood would be much better than concrete (cold, hard) and vinyl (can't see that working in a dining room)!

Yes I was worried about that but it might be that they have been pulled up so many times for gas leaks. Its that sort of house.

Has anyone got any experience with this sort of thing or does it only look any good in new builds? It isn't an expensive house so I don't want to over do it but equally I hate the floor how it is now.

@WinterAndRoughWeather did you get someone in to fill in the gaps and sand?

Sorry, meant ot add a link but got distracted: www.mandarinstone.com/product/jakob-lime-parquet-porcelain/

Restore. We had someone do ours over two days for less than £500. Took to a lovely oaky colour, filled al the gaps and it was much smoother and warmer.

The beauty is even with wear it still looks good!

Wow, I can't even get shelves put up for less than £500! A whole floor? How did you find someone to do that? We are in London sigh.

Yes we had that sort of house too - lots of cut up boards. It was part of the - ahem - charm.

I didn’t have someone fill the gaps, no, because we were primarily using log burners for heating in the dining and living rooms, and we wanted the draw of air through the floors to prevent damp and rot problems. I can’t pretend we didn’t have any draughts though, we just didn’t mind them.

If your under floors are well ventilated and dry, with no rot problems, I dare say you could fill the gaps (maybe leaving some strategic vents in out of the way places).

@ChristopherTracy

Wow, I can't even get shelves put up for less than £500! A whole floor? How did you find someone to do that? We are in London sigh.

We did the sanding and finishing ourselves - you can hire a floor sander for cheap.

We had a joiner do the necessary repairs, but did all the relatively-unskilled stuff ourselves.