Sealing Gaps in floorboards - Taffy ?

[Jane C]

Hi we have an old home with jarrah boards. There are huge gaps approx 2-6 mm in the boards. We are getting them sanded and polished and the guy said there is nothing we can really do about the gaps. I noticed back in 02 Taffy put grout/ or gap sealer in his. If you are out there Taffy how do they look now? also what brand of grout or gap sealer did you use. If anyone else has any other ideas let me know. Thanks

[Gumby]

It has to be a hard drying filler, not a flexible kind so I'd be looking at Timbermate (at Bunnings etc). I used it on some very small gaps when our new floor got put down and some boards shrunk slightly. 2-6mm is a heck of a gap though so try a small section first.

[glock40sw]

G'day.
Sika make a product called Sikaflex.
It comes in different colours that can closely match some species of hardwoods.

If you have 2-6mm gaps in an old floor, this may be the best bet.
It would compress when the floor expands and stretch when it contracts.

Or you could use a contrasting colour that would give the Boat deck look of caulking between the boards.

[Gumby]

G'day.
Sika make a product called Sikaflex.
It comes in different colours that can closely match some species of hardwoods.

If you have 2-6mm gaps in an old floor, this may be the best bet.
It would compress when the floor expands and stretch when it contracts.

Or you could use a contrasting colour that would give the Boat deck look of caulking between the boards.

But surely a flexible sealant would form a buldge if the boards expanded and break away or form a dip if they contract. I could be wrong but i doubt that it would work,

[elphingirl]

We just had the floor sanded professionally, and the guy used Timbermate on end joins and small holes, but said if you put it down the long gaps it will vibrate out. From using it in other areas, I can testify it does get brittle over time - I don't think it would be great with lots of vibration/movement.
Cheers, Justine

[boban]

Just hose the floor

[maglite]

Why bother, the same happened to us and we have put it down to character.
In most cases real old boards will never match wether it be gaps or color.

Sure the crevices accumulate dirt etc but all we do is vaccum the floors, that gets the crap out.

[glock40sw]

But surely a flexible sealant would form a buldge if the boards expanded and break away or form a dip if they contract. I could be wrong but i doubt that it would work,

Gumby old mate.

If it is a really old floor, there will be buggerall movement in it.

Floors that have aged (10 to 15 years) develop a memory and will ussualy not have the same amount of movement as a new floor.
Older floors were typicaly air dried, thus adding to their stability.

[Gumby]

Gumby old mate.

If it is a really old floor, there will be buggerall movement in it.

Floors that have aged (10 to 15 years) develop a memory and will ussualy not have the same amount of movement as a new floor.
Older floors were typicaly air dried, thus adding to their stability.

Maybe so Trev me old buddy but I'll stick to my guns (metophorically speaking of course ). It would still be soft on the surface and you wouldn't get it smooth.

maybe we should have a poll ?

[mic-d]

I just sealed up about 3sqm of a shot edge deck with sikaflex and I think it is the right product for the job if handled correctly. You have to mask each side of the gap and tool it off then immediately remove the masking tape. What to tool it off with might be a process of trial and error tho. For the deck I just used my finger and it gave a slightly depressed but very neat smooth finish. Now I can't for the life of me remember which sikaflex it was, but it wasn't Pro or the other one in the orange cartridge, it was in a black cartridge and seemed to give a cleaner break when lifting up the tape, not stringy.

Cheers
Michael

[Dusty]

Best bet, learn to love the gaps.

As already pointed out, all of the filling methods have specific downsides that make it hardly worth the effort.

Although, due to the age of the property you could exercise the idea of gluing fillets of timber into the gaps, particularly the six millimetre ones, prior to sanding and finishing.

Clint.

[jimc]

the last old floor I had polished, I filled the gaps with resin.
The floor sander cut the resin back to height and in the process of sanding with finer grits, was polished to look like glass infills.

One tip though is to get under the worst gaps and cover with masking/duct tape.

regards

[Carpenter]

It will look better filled, & most definetly use a flexible caulking. I'm a big fan of Polyurethane joint/gap fillers but have not seen it used in this situation (enquire with the manufacturer about the suitability of its use in this situation). Maybe someone else will have some experience of a product to use. I would also suggest going to the trouble of digging out & vacuuming the accumulated grit between the boards before caulking. The flooring contractor won't do this but it will be a much better job if you do.

[Jane C]

Thanks for your help everyone. Carpenter, I will give it a go ! have started filling with no more gaps in brown. My mission is to do 3 a day and hopefully they will take the friction from the sanding disk and not pull out when he sands it. It has to look better than it does now, considering we have 2 kids and a cat that likes to vomit !

[Gumby]

Please report back Jane, because for the life of me i can't see how any flexible sealer will give you a satisfactory result. I'd be interested to know if it does.