Flood Filling Cypress Pine

[kiwirich]

Hi all,

We have old cypress pine floorboards in our 40 year old house and we're about to remodel the kitchen and want to have floorboards, but the existing ones are really gappy food collectors and the wife won't have it!

So... we had a flooring guy in today who gave us two options -

1. To flood fill the gaps with a putty mix, sand and lacquer
2. to reboard over the top of the existing boards.

I've not seen flood filled boards and wonder how this method stack up over the long term with movement / cracking etc?

Cheers

Rich

[Larry McCully]

Kia ora bro,
Filling the floor is fine if a resin mix is used and not a powder mix. The powder mix will crack during seasonal changes and will eventually fall out. With a resin mix it tends to be more solid and durable. Some old wether beat floors look good renovated.

[The Bleeder]

Kiwirich, Welcome. Filling with a resin mix is the best. Since the floor boards have been down for a long time the shrinkage phase has well and truly finished. So as long as there are no boards with movement (if there are then fix that part first) the resin is the way to go. It creates a really nice look and yes a very slippery surface. Had our kitchen done that way but the rest of the house still has all the gaps and everything get caught up in them. (will have to get them done soon - kids are grubs at the best of times).

Steve

[Larry McCully]

What happened to your finger dude, it looks all messy

[The Bleeder]

Larry,

First one to notice. Lovely pic isn't it. That was taken 4 days after surgery. I think there is someone on this forum who has a saying on the lines of animals with teeth eat meat. Saws have teeth.

It was a lapse in concentration (got distracted) and table saw took it's opportunity for revenge. 2 weeks in hospital and a years physio and a bit of metal hold it all together. Anyway I've stiil got it and yes I've still got the table saw.

Steve

[BigCal]

eww your finger looks lovely... you'll have to get 1 back on the saw...

Any tips with brands/types of resin mix to use...? and anything to know about applying it... I'm restoring a cypress floor thats about 30 years old at the moment and it has a few gaps in it that this might be a good option for, the tops of a couple of grooves are cracked, couple of knot holes and a couple of boards that aren't as close as they could be...

Cheers

[The Bleeder]

BigCal,Yes I got the saw back. I made it work ten times harder with all the remilling I had to do. (That was after a 18 month layoff). I can't remember the name of the resin (I'll try and find it I think its on the invoice, 10 years ago) as the floor sander guy gave it to me. You might like to get in contact with some floor sander people and they can point you to what they use now. He said the more I do the less the job will cost. I was into that.The most important thing was making sure there was no movement in the boards as the resin is there to fill the holes not stop movement. Any knot holes (ones that go all the way through) plug them up with either cypress pine or cork (from wine bottles) and use a 2 pack adhesive. Don't use any waterbased glues. Don't worry to much about the closeness of the boards it gives it character. Hope this helps, anyway it looks great once it's done.Steve

[kiwirich]

Thanks for the tips guys. Our boards creak a lot so we also have some movement issues to deal with. Oh, and your finger looks sick.