Timber floor

Hi all,
I am currently renovating a residence at the back of a shop in a country town (imustbecrazy) There are timber floors througout the house, I have no idea what the timber is. The floors are generally in good condition. I have been told that they can not be sanded as the nails can not be punched. If this is in fact the case I am wondering what I can do ... the floors are reasonably smooth ie you wont get a splinter in your foot.. Can I seal the floor with something ?? is tung oil a good idea?? Is there something I can clean the floor with ?? I really dont just want to paint the floors as I would like to maintain the timber if I can. Unfortunately there has been a yellow boarder painted around the edges and I am thinking I could possibly sand this off with a hand sander. Any suggestions ?cheers

don't think you can't punch your nails in untill you've tried,give it a go first and you may be surprised and find they will go in further.then you might want to think about hireing a floor sander to do the whole floor.if you only do around the edges you'll end up with high and low ridges all over your floor(not a good look).as for tounge oil,thats nice stuff and gives a nice look but it will rub off on your socks if you walk around in them.what you need is a good floor sealer and any hardware store will advise you best on whats good for wear and tear.9 times out of 10 floors are made of hard wood or pine lining or baltic, either way all the above is accurate for any wood floors.hope it helps.

I would NOT however recommend tongue oil as this can lead to splinters in the mouth. Tung oil on the other hand is fine and dries to a nice hard finish.

Very funny .. gotta tell you I couldnt stop laughing. So is "toungue" oil going to stick to my socks or not. This is serious stuff... given that I cant punch in the nails and dont want to go to the xpense of a floor sander trying should I give tung oil a go or not
cheers

We did our bedroom floors in tung oil. It smells GOD AWFUL at first. The smell lasts for about a week-10 days but when it's gone, the floors are fine. Great stuff for bedrooms but we didn't use it in th efamily room. We wanted a high gloss finish there. Tung oil does not rub off on your socks when it has cured. Yes, it does when it's wet but more fool you, for walking on it then! Punch the nails in, sand lightly, oil it. Why not try a small section firts in an hidden spot. Then if you don't like it you can do the polyurathane.
Cass

Why can't the nails be punched in? Unless somebody used flathead nails then I don't see why they cannot be punched.