Blending old and new Tassie oak floorboards

[Joanneb2]

Hi Forum, I would love some advice. We have a 1960s house with a 1980s extension. We need a section of new floorboards to be slotted into old boards. Is there a way of blending the boards with a finish so the contrast between the two is less noticeable?

I was thinking of finishing the boards with Osmo. Anyone have experience with a similar issue.

Thanks Joanne

[419]

Welcome to the forum, Joanne.

Your biggest problems are that:

1. "Tassie Oak" is often used or misused as a general term which can include or be equivalent to "Vic Ash" and either or both can be under the wider umbrella of "Messmate", depending upon who's selling it to you and when and where it was milled. All descriptions are sort of correct, and they can also be all wrong as there are specific species which qualify as Tas Oak etc but can still fall under the generic wider "Messmate", depending upon who's expressing an opinion about these classifications.
2. Recently milled or even recently recycled timber that is sold as "Tassie Oak" might still look very different to yours when installed and finished, even if it is accurately described.
3. The same finish on different timbers may look different.

If you have carpeted or otherwise covered or unimportant sections in the 1960s part of the house, you might be better off lifting some boards from there to get a fair match with your existing exposed boards, and putting whatever new or recycled boards you get under the carpet or into the unimportant sections. If you do this the timber that's been under carpet or lino or whatever will be lighter than the exposed boards, but if you sand them all back you'll probably get a very close match. Assuming they were all the same timber throughout the house when built.

[Joanneb2]

Thank you 419,
Unfortunately, we have ripped up all the old carpet. The only rooms which will not have floorboards are the bathrooms and upstairs area.

We had a section of recycled boards put in an area that had yellow tongue, which matched the rest of the house, but one part was so poorly laid by the flooring person that we will have to rip them out.
Our excellent builder has agreed to fix the job, but wants to use new floorboards. He is such a perfectionist I could see the recycled boards driving him crazy. Hence the issue with matching. Toss up between good workmanship and new boards and recycled boards and poorer workmanship. Sigh.

Anyone, thanks for your advice. I suspect the best we can ask for is to blend the boards. I am happy with some variation, just not a strong contrast between the 2 sections.

Regards
Joanne

[Bushmiller]

Joanne

This is not an easy one, but maybe not quite as bad as you first assume. Firstly, timber of the same species can be very variable: It is never the same, even from the same tree! Secondly timber changes in colour with age. it at the very least darkens and sometimes yellows a little.

It is difficult to suggest how to lay the new floor without seeing both the old floor section and some boards from the new batch. In any event, depending on how the old floor was laid (top nailing or secret nail?) it may be quite difficult to lift the boards without an unacceptable amount of damage occurring. Are the new boards going to be identical to the old boards? Even minor differences with the tongue and groove (if they are tongue and groove boards) will cause trouble. Are the new boards exactly the same thickness and width?

We have recently finished laying a new floor throughout the house. There was a large time gap for the last two rooms (several years) and although all the timber was purchased at the same time, there is quite a colour difference where the first sections have changed colour over the years of exposure to light. In time the difference will be minimised.

However, Tassie Oak could be Mountain Ash, Silvertop Ash, Messmate Stringybark and maybe one other, the name of which I have forgotten. Tasmanian Oak is a marketing name of similar species (all Eucalypts). Because of that you may be able to select boards that more closely match your old floor and lay them immediately adjacent and then gradually move to a different hue as you get further away.

Much will depend on whether you already have the boards and exactly what you have.

Regards
Paul

[Camelot]

If you make a few more posts then you will be able to upload some pic's, some pic's will give a better understanding, for adding new boards to existing I normally remove some of the old boards, every other board by one to three joists back, to allow old and new to blend together. Also I would sand the complete floor back to raw timber once finished this will help with colour matching.

[419]

Our excellent builder has agreed to fix the job, but wants to use new floorboards. He is such a perfectionist I could see the recycled boards driving him crazy. Hence the issue with matching. Toss up between good workmanship and new boards and recycled boards and poorer workmanship. Sigh.

Sounds like your builder is on top of the issue. It's quite reasonable for him to prefer new to recycled floorboards to get the best result and price for you.

As Bushmiller has mentioned, recycled boards inevitably have damaged tongues and grooves if secret nailed (and often if top nailed) and, if top nailed, nail holes which shouldn't be reused and almost certainly won't match your joist spacings so you'll end up with contrasting filler in the old nail holes, and maybe after the old holes have been englarged to remove staining around the nail holes. As Bushmiller has also mentioned, minor variations in dimensions in all parts of the board can add a ridiculous amount of time and effort, and therefore cost to you, in trying to get them to match your current boards.

Your builder has been on site and knows what's there and what he has to do to match the timber, and what you want to achieve. There's no reason he can't get a good match with new floorboards and a better final result for you if he can source suitable timber, and probably do it quicker and cheaper than dealing with recycled boards.

You clearly have confidence in your builder. I'm not trying to be rude, but why not just follow his advice rather than confusing yourself with comments from people like me on a forum who haven't been on site and might be much less skilled than your builder?

[Joanneb2]

Thank you 419, we are delighted that the builder will be tackling the floor. We asked him first, but he suggested we get a flooring person as they would be quicker but he has kindly has agreed to help us out. Lovely person.

He did point out that there would be some colour difference between old and new boards and I am trying to get my head around how to reduce the contrast.

As a result, thank you for your reply, it has helped me see that we need to wait and see how it looks. Not worry at this stage about toning old and new so they blend. Really appreciate your input/advice Joanne

[Joanneb2]

Hi Bushmiller, it is great to hear about your experience. Basically, as per yourself and 419 indicate, i now see I need to not overthink the issue, and see how it looks at the end and trust the builder (which I do).

Thank you for your advice and input. This really helps to get my head around the issue. Joanne

[419]

He did point out that there would be some colour difference between old and new boards and I am trying to get my head around how to reduce the contrast.

Hi Joanne,

Contrast might be more of an issue if you clear coat the flooring. The floor sander / finisher might be able to reduce this with a tinted finish. The type of finish (flat, matt, satin or gloss) can also accentuate or reduce how noticeable variations in colour are. Again, the floor sander / finisher can probably advise you on this and show you samples or photographs of finished work. A simple test of how it might look when coated is to wipe a rag wet with water over a few boards and see if there's much difference in the wet look.

If you want a timber to do your head in trying to get a consistent colour and grain pattern, have a look at spotted gum, which is anything but consistent. Tas Oak is easy in comparison.

Glad to be of some help.