Re-laying used pine floorboards

[dbfalls]

Hi All,

Well you may have seen my reno in the go to whoa forum and have probably seen that I am making some progress again, which prompts my question. I have pulled up all the old pine floorboards (circa 115 yrs old) in the course of my renovation and relayed the floor with structural yellow tongue. I would like to reuse these floor boards in the house a) because I like the idea of keeping them and b) why waste money buying new if old will do. Having cut a couple of the boards they look pretty solid to me but do seem to be slightly cupped (maybe 4mm in a 130mm board) is this going to cause me issues and how would you proceed in relaying this on top of a yellow tongue floor. If Dusty is reading this I would particularly like your input.

Cheers Dave

[Armers]

I went with reused pine floorboards. I went with the... why waste money option and they've come up very very well (http://ww.renovateforum.com/f203/issue-flooring-work-99230/) I do admit... 60% of the fame goes to dusty as he worked his magic on them. I only layed them.. :D

So yeah i am a major believer in reusing!

Cheers
Armers

[dbfalls]

Hi Armers,

Yes I've been following your reno and was mildly envious when I saw that you already had your floors down. Did you have any cupping in the boards you used or were they remilled or just flat to start with. I'm just concerned that I will be letting myself in for problems in the long run if I get this wrong. Face nail or secret nail, should I also glue down to the yellow tongue flooring?

Dave

[dbfalls]

Has anyone else done this, and if so can you share the method used and the results?

[Dusty]

G'day dbfalls.

I just saw this thread now.

From what your describing I'd like to see them glued and face-nailed. They might be all over the shop as you're laying them, but, I'm pretty certain who ever comes in to do the sanding and finishing will be able to sand them fairly flat and with a bit of luck they'll stay that way.

I think trying to secret nail these million year old boards might give you a head-ache later on, particularly into something like particle board - which is a bit like nailing into weet-bix.

[dbfalls]

Hey Dusty,

Thanks for the reply, really do appreciate all suggestions here as I want to get this right. I agree particle board does have a similar consistency to weetbix! I think I will face nail through directly over the joists only and use a longer nail than I otherwise would. So flooring is 22mm, paticle board is 19mm, would a 68mm nail be the go, and what style of nail would you use screw shank, ring shank, dome head etc? Glues, is there a particular brand adn type that you have found works best? Finally I am intending to run these boards throughout the house including in the kitchen, would you recommend fitting of the kitchen first and laying around it or lay the whole floor first and then install the kitchen over the top? Sorry for all the questions but floorboards is an area where I admit I am currently clueless!

Cheers Dave

[Armers]

I went with top face nailing with a t-nailer right into the joists. In hindsight i should have layed down yellowtongue before i put the boards down but then again this was my first reno (living in it and still going). We've not had any issues with cupping but they're not that wide as it is.

All in all i am so happy that i went with reclaimed and reused boards, it looks soo much better. If you're ever in the area Dave you're more then welcome to come check them out!

Cheers
Ben

[dbfalls]

Hey Ben,

Thanks for the info, why do you wish you put yellow tongue down first? I thought it would be good for reducing draughts, maybe provide a little insulation and gave me a floor I could walk on in short order after getting sick of balancing on joists. Consider the invitation recipricated, must admit I dont get over that side of town very often though.

[Armers]

I wished i put it down for those reason plus the face that my bathroom / toilet / laundry all sit ~ 20mm higher then the floorboards. At first i wasn't going to pull up all the boards hence the justifications for not laying yellow.. but I ended up pulling all boards up save for ~ a 6m2 section so i should have pulled all up and layed down yellow. All these little things you think off once the house is finished hah!

Cheers

[dbfalls]

Hey Ben,

When you say you used to t nails what exatly are you referring to, are these a gun nail or did you pre drill and hand nail? Does anyone have any comments on glue to use, I think I'm slowly firming up the method to go with but would love to use tried and tested products. On another note managed to pick up 70 sqm of baltic pine flooring for $300 of Ebay, very happy! Even happier after I arrived and was loading it when the owner asked if I would be able to give him a hand for half a day and we would call it quits, didn't spend more than a few seconds thinking about this! About 40 sqm is in great condition and the rest is destined for the tip but for the price (nothing) I'm not complaining.

[dbfalls]

Oh and finak thought, is there any benefit in running the boards through a thicknesser prior to laying and getting them more or less flat?

[Armers]

The T nailer was/is a air gun that shoots out nails that look like a T. Make smaller holes when it goes through the wood, but since i recycled there was going to be a whole heap of holes to patch anyway (old nails holes) so it didn't worry me too much. As for thicknessing, your floorsander type person will do that when he sands your floor.

The only thing i did differently was make sure i always started with a freshly cut end to make sure it was a right angle all the time. I was pretty finicky when the end of board met, so most if not all of my joints are good and aren't separating.

Cheers