pine floorboards

[Annpan]

Has anyone got any tips to treat pine floorboards naturally, effectively and/or to give a really nice finish - I am reluctant to go for varnish.

We are looking at some of the options open to us for flooring in our house when it is finished. The whole house will need something we will have chip board flooring everywhere.

Quite like the idea of having a single floor covering throughout.

What we would really like is reclaimed timber but getting a whole house of matching (or working out where joins will be and sourcing enough for the different areas, then de-nailing, sanding, etc) will be a big and expensive job and we have enough other big/expensive jobs on TBH.

We are considering going with new pine floorboards and treating them to make them look maybe not so new, or at least not yellowy (like new pine can) We can get Scottish pine from sustainable forestry (less transport, supporting local jobs, etc), so more ethical than most other options anyway.

So I was thinking beeswax? or olive oil even? maybe a mix and I wonder if I can get something natural to darken it? coffee grounds or tea as a gentle stain?

[homegrown]

You can create natural washes with plant dyes , yes tea will slowly darken the wood but it willtake quite a few washes, Linseed oil is good for rubbing down wood and bringing at the grain. another old furniture makers trick was to rub the wood with shoe polish to darken before rubbing down qith linseed oil.

someone else may know of a way to age the look to a silver grey

By the way the rogues gallery is still running, perhaps a photo minus the coffee cup

[Green Aura]

Beeswax and olive oil will be great, but chuck a bit of linseed oil in as well. I believe Carnauba wax is excellent too although I've never tried it.

I've got a tin of homemade furnish polish made from the above plus lemon and lavender essential oils.

All the shop counters are made from pine and I used alkanet root to colour the oil - a little scary at first because it painted on bright pink, but after I buffed it with a cloth it just took that gleaming "new pine" look off. So I don't see why you couldn't use anything that would stain the oil.

I tried spent coffee grounds but they didn't give off any colour to the oil, but I've not tried fresh. Nettle gives a lovely colour too.

You'll have to do several coats though and redo it fairly regularly.

[Annpan]

Thanks guys

Re-doing it often might be a problem.... it will be a LOT of floor and moving all the furniture to hoover is infrequent enough. How often? every 5 years I could do, every 6 months.... no way.... unless it is just the high traffic areas...

I remember using boiled linseed oil to do the old victorian doors in my tenement.... icky sticky stuff but a lovely colour.

Would that have been what the victorians used? then I guess the victorian boards look so nice now because they are a hundred years old.....

So, some kind of mix of linseed oil, olive oil beeswax and a colourant might look nice and be easy to apply? is that correct? or just straight linseed oil?

[snapdragon]

my twopenn'orth
walnut husk will darken the wood if you can find some (if I remeber right Van Dyke crystals is walnut husk stain) I got mine at my local hardware shop but you'd need to test for the proportions, it gives a burnt umber/nearly black at it's deepest.
Linseed oil is very good for sealing and preserving, and will darken the wood, boiled will dry quicker than raw, but danish oil (linseed plus drying medium) would let you walk on the floor sooner and won't need so much hard work (or floorscrubber hire) rubbing it in.
I'd keep the olive oil for kitchen tables/surfaces (and cooking ;) )

[Green Aura]

I'd use a mix - make sure you use cheap olive oil - ASD$ sell pomace for about £5 for a big bottle - ?3litres.

And make sure you mix up a big enough batch to do it all - biiiiiiig bucket (or at least enough for each room) - or it could look patchy.

[snapdragon]

oo And
if you stain pine with water based anything it could expand the wood and it may need sanding down again as it sort of fluffs up the grain
but if you could dissolve your stain material in some real turpentine you can then add it to linseed oil to apply it (it also helps to dry it)
I'd do a few tests first

[madabouthens]

I find Osmo prroducts better than Danish oil. Lasts longer and is safe to use on wooden toys; we don't like nasties here. They produce a range of products; Osmo Polyx, TopOil, and finally,Wood Wax Transparent, which comes in various colours.
Best to Google it and it can be ordered over the internet if is not available locally.
It's lovely stuff to use and we finally came to this product after trying Danish Oil for years and also various other varnishes and wood finishes.
Osmo is a hard Wax Oil and penetrates the wood better than Danish . Hope this helps. Tony

[Minnesota]

When I first heard of Cork flooring, I thought it was strange.
But Noooo
it's soft, yet durable and long wearing, and it's warm.
I understand it doesn't need an finish...how great is that.
it is expensive in the US, but since it is a product
of portugal, maybe you brits can get it cheaper?

regarding pine,
boiled Linseed oil cut 50/50 with mineral spirits
is what I use to treat the Pine boards on my deck outside.
I treat it once every two years.
the Sun and weather turned the linseed treated wood Flat Black with in a year.
I love it, it takes abuse.
it is at least 10 years old now, and there is no rot, it looks
the same as it did a year after I installed it.

[Annpan]

I have some pine boards I will do some tests I reckon... thanks for all the tips

[liskeardjane]

We, mad as it sounds, got under the floor gap and filled in all the spaces to stop the drafts, sanded and used ecos floor paints, it takes ages to sand the floor ready and then to dry but it has lasted five years almost unmarked - about £50 a room.

[Endie]

We, mad as it sounds, got under the floor gap and filled in all the spaces to stop the drafts, sanded and used ecos floor paints, it takes ages to sand the floor ready and then to dry but it has lasted five years almost unmarked - about £50 a room.

Just to check, what do you mean by "filled in all the spaces"? If you mean between the floorboards then that's fine. If you mean on the outside walls in the crawlspace then you'll almost certainly end up with wet or even dry rot as a result. Ventilation is key to preventing rot.

[Endie]

As regards underfloor insulation I put this under every floor in my house when I replaced them with oak flooring recently. I suspended netting between the beams, stapling it in place, then placed strips of fiberglass insulation on the netting, so that it fitted neatly into the gaps between the beams but wouldn't be compressed when the floor was laid.
Finally, lay the new floor over the top and the difference is amazing. I'd hugely recommend anyone replacing a floor to do this.

Not that it would matter much if we'd not put extra insulation in the walls, a double-layer in the loft space and took advantage of the ultra-cheap cavity wall insulation offer available last year through B&Q and the energy companies.

[Annpan]

I think it is more typical, these days, to use a kingspan product under the floor... because it is a rigid slab it is perhaps easier to attach under floorboards, in between joists, etc. but of course any insulation is better than none.

We are putting down a thin layer of kingspan on top of our existing concrete floor and then a layer of chipboard flooring before putting down the 'floorboards' on top... I am hoping for cosy toes :)