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Do these floorboards look shite?

106 replies

GreengrassofW · 21/10/2024 20:54

Days and days of sanding but i think they still look grubby and shite. Would you paint or varnish? I think if i sand them anymore I'll lose my mind

Do these floorboards look shite?
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mathanxiety · 25/10/2024 01:37

What did you use to clean them?

Oxalic acid might work.

GreengrassofW · 25/10/2024 08:37

@mathanxiety A biologic agent - washing powder and white spirit - the white spirit definitely lifted the bitumen but it was hard work wire brushing it off. Thankyou for the tip

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endofthecorridoor · 25/10/2024 19:07

The other question I would have is wether air is blowing through them ? Our floorboards are similar to yours but it blows a gale through them in winter so we could not leave them as they were . They will probably look ok with a stain and a rug. Ours were worse than that and very dark Stained and people used to compliment me on them

AutumnLeaves24 · 26/10/2024 00:29

AlpacaMittens · 25/10/2024 01:00

So glad it's not just me! I really like them. They look warm and cosy and cute. I wouldn't paint them.

@AlpacaMittens

God no - not paint 🙇🏻‍♀️

User28473 · 26/10/2024 13:42

We did our downstairs living room and dining room before we moved in about 4 years ago. I love it but DP refuses to entertain doing any other rooms as he hated it and it was a hard job, plus the curing time for the varnish was about a week and we don't have the space or time to have a room empty for over a week.

I hired a professional sander by Bona, as the reviews I read said tool shop hire ones are rubbish and go through too many sanding disks. It was around COVID time and we couldn't find a professional who didn't have a long wait list, but I found one who was willing to hire us his spare/old professional sander, though he didn't advertise that service. Unfortunately we can't use him again, as he warned us not to sand through the wire as many customers had, and DP sanded through the wire on the very last board (we did pay to replace 🙈). So my advice since you are so far into it, is see if you can hire a Bona, might be worth asking around sanders if they have a spare they will rent.

But alternatively, since we don't have the time or money to do it again in the other rooms, I painted our bedroom floor in an oil based light green eggshell and it's held up remarkably well despite us being a shoes on household and me dragging heavy furniture across it regularly. I know others are saying don't paint, and I think you should see the sanding through at least in one room for your efforts! But the paint cost me £3 from a paint recycling place, and is Johnstone's trade oil based eggshell, any oil based eggshell would be hard wearing, but it takes forever to dry, which is why I haven't managed to do other rooms or the halls yet. The tin says 12-24 hours but it took daaaays. We were sleeping in the living room, it was a nightmare. If you go for this option, I'd recommend running a 20l dehumidifier to speed it up.

I'm currently looking into painting our hall floor. I've seen that Little Greene do a fast drying acrylic floor paint. I'm tempted to try this, though I'm worried it won't be hardwearing enough. However, if it's as fast drying as it claims (4 hours) then top ups wouldn't be a problem.

Do these floorboards look shite?
Do these floorboards look shite?
Do these floorboards look shite?
Kidspartytroll · 08/01/2025 15:25

@GreengrassofW how did you get on in the end...!? I've got my abrasives from danny_sandhouse and am hoping for the best!

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