Have sanded floorboards; now what?

[navyeyelasH]

We've just sanded the floorboards in the bedrooms, front rooms and the entrance hallway.

What do I do now? Just varnish? Online advice is conflicting! Also how do you make sure the colour isn't too orange/red?

PS> Have lala and sorentto name changed haven't seen either for a while!

I just varnished mine with 3 coats of Ronseal Quick Drying Floor Varnish. Quick and easy and stayed wood coloured

You could paint them, varnish, lime, wax, stain or a combination, what do you what them to look like?

Don't forget to work towards the door.

haha good tip; I would have forgotten!

I want them not to look like pine basically. And to be quite dark but not too dark and not too red/orange. Not too shiny. Not too slippery. Oh and hardwearing as the hallway will have lots of traffic due to work.

I would use a satin varnish then, just choose the colour you want, you could try a tester pot first, though they are quite pricey. You might want to give the hallway an extra coat if it a very high traffic area, I would also consider putting a cheap rug down if it is busy in the day(or night obv. I have no idea what work you mean).

Post sanding you need to sweep. then hoover, then go round with a lint free cloth wiping and shaking it out of the window, hugely faffy but worth it to not have a bumpy finish.

You might want to consider staining them, then varnishing. I've found with coloured varnishes that when if it chips/gets scratched, the paler wood underneath is very obvious - you wouldn't have that problem with a clear varnish obv.

Matt varnish is generally tougher as well...

Dp (is profesional) says 'Ronseal Diamond Hard Floor Varnish' in matt not satin as is tougher apparently (as GrapefruitMoon said) is the best thing to go for, very hardwearing.

Happy hours and hours and hours of brushwork.

hmm good thinking about staining it first - is oak too dark? And will it look stupid as we have thick oak kitchen worktops (kitchen floor is slate but hallway which will be varnished leads into kitchen IYSWIM?)

Wherethe WTW, I'm just looking on Ronseal now and I can't find a matt ronseal diamond; only gloss or satin?

I'd recommend Osmo wood stains which are also waxes and protect the floor.
They are pricey but if any damage is done to the boards you dont need to remove the varnish and start again, you can simply touch up the marks as needed.
www.osmouk.com/osmocolorinterior.cfm?page=0&chapter=1

thanks pannacotta, how pricey is pricey?

Looking at these, would brown mahogony be too dark do you think? The area isn't exceptionally light but the walls are light.

Some prices on here
www.agwoodcare.co.uk/index.php?app=gbu0&ns=catshow&ref=osmo&count=10&offset=0

We've just had our floors done in a similar colour to that brown mahogony. We had a man doing it and he thought we were mad. Apparently 99.9% only ever want their stripped floor left the natural pine colour.

Oh well. I can live with that. It looks very nice I must say.

Before you do any of that, make sure you have filled in the gaps between the boards.

Otherwise you will be covering up your boards with carpet in the near future when you can't stand the howling drafts blowing up from the foundations any longer. (Voice of bitter experience.)

It's refreshing though.

what should we fill them with some some of floor filler? A pva sawdust mixture? Or paper!?

guadalupe, I really don't like the look o clear varnish! I should really have just got engineered flooring but it's too ££ in comparison!

I don't have the answer, navy: we failed to do it and regretted it. I think, if the gaps are big, you are supposed to cut slivers of plank to fill the gaps, but really, who has time/skill for that, unless you are a professional floorer?

Our gaps were so big that DS as a toddler had a great game posting any loose change he could find through the floor. Any future archaeologist is going to have a field day!

haha avenging your DS dounds sweet; at least he posted it there rather than in the DVD player!

We have about 2/3 1cmish gaps the rest seems ok my DP could maybe try chopping up a board from the landing (which will be carpeted) didn't think of that.

Might get some wood filler too. Think we're going with a natural mahogony colour. They don't seem to sell sample and plus I want it this weekend so just taking the plunge!

Is a wax top coat better if the stain you use will raise the grain do you think?

Ok I think I've decided I've gone for the stain from the link I gave above in natural mahogony and then the top coat is going to be that osmo oil in matt that Pancotta linked too.

Mixing the comoanies should be ok right?

Hi. I did not want to create my own thread, so posting here..
I am buying a house and after all will remain with very little money for doing up. My priority No.1 will be to sand and varnish wood floors in downstairs before we move in. I will be doing it myself due to £££ issue and have been reading and watching loads and loads of information. Here is the plan, please tell me if I am missing something:

• clean the floor (water or mineral spirits?),
• take out skirting boards,
• fill in gaps with wood filler (how do I know which gaps to fill in?),
• hire universal sander + edge sander from HSS for a weekend,
• sand the floor with rough, medium rough and fine sandpaper (three times?) along with hoovering the dust,
• clean again,
• varnish three times with Ronseal Diamond Hard Floor Varnish gloss finish,
• hand-sand between the second and third varnish,
• put back skirting boards.

Does it sound OK? Please bear in mind that I am complete amateur but I have some general sense and really interested in DIY, while my husband is completely useless in this and I would not allow him until I finish (cos he might spoil!).