Temporary living on raw floorboards...

[vGolfer]

We have moved back home after our new 130x19mm Sydney Bluegum floorboards have been laid. The floors are being polished in early January and I am a little paranoid about staining the wood before it gets polished.

Already the cat has crapped on the floor...a bit of wet mortar has fallen and the wife has some 'frying oil splatter' that has made a few drop stains in the kitchen.

Just wondering whether these will sand out and what sort of things I should try and avoid at all costs getting on the floor.

Thanks

[rick_rine]

I had the same problem and ended up getting some free old carpet and putting that down until the time came to finish the floor .

Regards
Rick

[glock40sw]

G'day.
Cardboard, hessian, carpet, carpet underlay, Drop sheets.

Anything you can lay your hands on.

Cooking oil will be bloody hard to remove.
As soon as it hits the floor, use some paper towel with a hot cloths iron.
Place the paper over the oil spot and place the iron on top of the paper. This will draw the oil out of the wood and into the paper. You might want to do it a few times. Don't get the wood too hot.

It may be a good idea to take the "Dear Old Soul" out to dinner more often rather than her spraying cooking oil everywhere :D :D :D ...

Hooroo.
Regards, Trevor.
Grafton.
P.S. Not Lismore. Future home of a brand new Lismoron...G'day Bruce :D

[vGolfer]

G'day.
Cooking oil will be bloody hard to remove.
As soon as it hits the floor, use some paper towel with a hot cloths iron.
Place the paper over the oil spot and place the iron on top of the paper.

Unfortunately it had been on the loor for about half an hour before it was noticed. Quite a few spatters. I'm bloody worried it won't come out now...

[glock40sw]

It's never too late to try.....

[Gumby]

Bunnings have really cheap plastic drop sheets. I'd be buying a few of those and taping them down straight away.

[glock40sw]

Umm.... Don't use plastic.
It will cause the timber to sweat and thus cause severe cupping and shrinkage problems. It needs to be covered by a breathable material.
Calico drop sheets. Never plastic.

Sorry. I should have been clearer in the previous post.

Hooroo.
Regards, Trevor.
Grafton

[maglite]

Umm.... Don't use plastic.
It will cause the timber to sweat and thus cause severe cupping and shrinkage problems. It needs to be covered by a breathable material.
Hooroo.
Regards, Trevor.
Grafton

How about plastic with holes in it?
Seriously, we had heavy black builders plastic laid on our boards(jarrah) for the best part of 9 months and we suffered no ill effects.
Perhaps we were lucky

Just my 2c worth
Steve

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

You haven't said what sort of finish you were planning.

If it's going to be a Tung, Danish or similar oil, I'd recommend laying a coat down now on the unsanded floor. When the time comes it'll sand easily and in the meantime it'll help penetrate/seal the surface enough that "immediate mop-ups" will prevent stains or damage. Unless you spill an acetone or something, but more fool you if ya do. BTW, I've also found that when doing the final sanding a prior coat of oil makes it easier to see any "low spots." ;)

I really wouldn't recommend trying this with a PolyU.

As already mentioned, sheets are a good idea. I use those cheap blue Bunnies tarps, I use them for near everything, and haven't noticed any problems. Yet.

[glock40sw]

G'day All.
I've seen the result of people using plastic to cover floors.
Severe cupping (like walking on corragated iron).

Severe shrinkage (drop a biro between the tongue and groove of boards).

Subfloor ply and/or battens pulled from the slab.

bearers and joists lifted 60mm up fron the stumps.

If it was my house, I wouldn't do it. too risky.

Hooroo.
Regards, Trevor.
Grafton.

P.S. coating with Tung Oil is a very good protector until final finishing.

[Gaza]

I would be wacking a coat of cheap tung oil on with a mop, to protect and seal the floor, but cheack with the flooring company as they may "try" to charge extra to sand it off, other options above work well, no plastic as it causes problems as suggested.(look what happens when you cover your lawn with a tarp).

Being in the bus, this stuff is 2nd nature BUT at home our living room which we laid 12 months ago is still waiting to be polished, no problems till our new pupy decided to pee on the bloody thing so now i am going to have to cut out the effected boards and replace as pupy pee is realy strong stuff and can even damage coatings.

[tcns]

Another thought - head down to your local SES and ask if you can borrow a big tarp - canvas - might help keep the sweating to a minimum

Tom

[sinjin1111]

Hi i put down 165sq m's of Sydney blue gum in my house secret nailed and glued....when you have sanded it all and finished coated it you will be stoked! The sanding is simple BUT!!!! Its about 3 times as hard as Jarah...so it only takes...f...g days to get it all dead flat!
Sinjin

[vGolfer]

Hi i put down 165sq m's of Sydney blue gum in my house secret nailed and glued....when you have sanded it all and finished coated it you will be stoked! The sanding is simple BUT!!!! Its about 3 times as hard as Jarah...so it only takes...f...g days to get it all dead flat!
Sinjin

Thanks for that. We really love the richness and variety in the bluegum that we went for. What finish did you end up going with? I think we have settled on a semi-gloss finish - I love the full gloss but have been told y SWMBO that it will be too hard to keep clean.

And did you live on the raw boards at all before they were polished?

[sinjin1111]

Hi as you can imagine doing 165 sq m's on my own after work each night this wasn't a 2 evening job. So it took a couple of months....and of course surfing got in the way over summer as well. Like most renovaters, once i had started the job i could not see any logical reason to finish....wife could though...funny about that.
I wouldn't be worried about stains as once you start sanding and its very big job anything that was there came off.
As for finishs i'm very one eyed. From the time i started my apprenticeship i have only ever used 2 pac urethanes. The full gloss if you went that way i wouldn't be to worried about. It time it tend to soften...the glare that is. But the timber is incredibly hard. I had to buy a new compresser as it simply couldn't punch the staples i used to hold them down that staple gun is no longer available. My boards were secret nailed/stapled glued...took ages but well worth trhe effort.
Sinjin