Cracks

EDHC

Well, I'm refinishing a T&G pine floor in an old farm house. Problem is, the wood has shrunk so much in places that there are cracks as wide as 1/8" and even a few at 3/16" between the boards in places. Of course, they have filled up with hard packed soil and whatnot which I guess I have to pick out by hand (any suggestions there?) but what I really need to know is how to fill those cracks before I stain and seal the floor. How would you do it. What would you use? Jim

Big Dave

Hemp rope after you finish

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Teetorbilt

You can make a reefing tool out of a file tang and use a wet/dry vac to take away the dirt. Not a bad job but a lot of knee time.

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Donedat

If you start digging that stuff out then where do you stop? I don't even bother with it. It's old and that's the look. I just sand'em flat and add an extra coat of finish.

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J DoubleD FLoor

gotta agree with donedat as usual

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TheChronicOne

How does that eliminate big 0l gaps though?? I doubt they want pretty,flat floors but with big gaps in the boards everywhere.. I'm curious as well.

house bldr

Have never done it myself, but have heard stories of people adding a tint to drywall mud to match the stain and troweling it in to the cracks before the clearcoat.You may want to research this a little before actually trying it!

troubleseeker

This a typical of old pine floors, and I consider it part of the character of the floors. Just sand and refinish over it for me, hopefully with a satin, not high gloss. Digging it out to refill just creates new problems, because I have not seen a filler yet, that will not crack and look like hell in wide gaps, when the floor moves. If the customer expects a perfect, super high finish floor from old pine, I'd think about passing on the job. Floors in an old farm house should reflect their pedigree, not look like something in a decorater show house.

Leo G

This would be my choice also. Dig it out, vac it up and put in the hemp. Stain everything and clearcoat it.

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Donedat

You could always tear up the old flooring, clean it up and then relay it. That one sure fire way of getting rid of the gaps cause the flooring is already acclimated to the home so it won't shrink any more.

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rservices

Im also refinishing my floors (110 yr maple) at some time in the past they glues a floor over it trowling glue in to the cracks.

If I leave it will the poly stick to it?
I've had to use a heat gun and scrape every inch just to be able to see the floor

Grainywood

I took over a job for a GC who fired his other floor guy who was sanding an old fir floor and he had trowel puddied to fill the gaps. First of all it looked like hell. White lines everywhere. Second, I got called back a few months later because it was starting to come out in places. I had to remind the homeowner I wasn't actually the one who put it there. He said, "Oh yeah."

And we're talking really picky customer.

I just tell them the floor will have gaps. If they want perfect, take it out and start over.

Probably the key is to make sure your client knows what to expect and give them choices (with prices of course).

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