Sitting room floor

The last major project before we moved into the sitting room was the floor. I had always planned a wooden floor, preferably oak, but this was proving expensive. So we looked at carpets but I just couldn't do it. We've a large dog, a wood burner and I don't like housework very much.

After trooping round some local suppliers we found some really good quality t & g pine floorboards at a reasonable price. Getting them in the house proved quite farcical -particularly as we ended up doing it twice. The only way in was through the window. Now as the boards were 5.7 metres long and bound together we both went outside and lifted them onto the window frame, Andrew rushed back inside and take one end and I gently fed them through until the last few inches balanced on the frame. Then I dashed inside and we stacked them on the floor. Here they sat acclimatising until Andrew was ready to lay them. He then realised that they were the wrong way round - something to do with the t & g - and there was no way to swing them around inside. So the whole 'get them into the house procedure' was reversed. Once outside I had to perform a natty pirouette manouevre to turn them and then back in they went. My right shoulder has still not recovered.

First down were the battens which had to be screwed into the concrete floor and form a level platform. By the end Andrew's right shoulder matched mine.

Battening

The floorboards themselves didn't put up too much of a fight (particularly for me as I wasn't involved:)) but they did take a lot of planning to avoid small slivers in obvious places. And we got through 5 kilos of brads.

New floor

Once down each brad had to be slightly recessed to allow us to sand the floor. Next on the list was staining. Now we're not big fans of ready mixed wood stains as they tend to be very unnatural colours - either too orange or too yellow. On previous floors we'd succesfully used Van Dyke crystals. These are completely natural as they are made from ground walnut husks. You soak some overnight in equal quantities of water and then they are ready to use. The lighter the colour, the more water you add. We wanted a rich walnut colour so diluted our mix with 50% water.

Staining

 

 

 

Next was one coat of varnish, then a gentle de-nib followed by another two coats. And voila - a new floor.

Dog proof floor

Lastly we put the new skirting boards in and a final coat of gloss paint and at last the furniture can go in.

Until next time


Sharon