What flooring do I have ? Pics included

Hello everyone

We moved into a house about 1 year ago and have hardwood floor in the living room. We wanted to refurbish it and have started to strip away the protective layer (not sure if it's laquer or poly)

I wasn't sure if the flooring is engineered or solid wood and I'm not sure if it's pine, oak or something else. I'm not sure what the best finish would be and maybe knowing the type of wood would help.

I'm attaching some pics so that you can see. I also noticed that the floor expands and contracts somewhat leaving fairly large gaps. Wondering if there is anything I could do to prevent this.

Thanks for all your help

 

Its looking pretty battered. I would of said engineered looking at the size of the boards but if its expanding and contracting that would suggest its solid. Theres nothing you can do to stop solid oak flooring doing that. I would suggest a full sand to remove all the old coating and then re coat with hardwax oil or primer and lacquer. Get a sanding specialist in, they will be able to look at the boards and site conditions and recommend the best thing to do.

 

Thanks for the reply merit (really appreciate it)

I decided to take 1 of the panels off to take a better look and It seems to be solid wood (image attached)

Yeh the flooring is in very bad condition but I'm determined to give it a shot (I recently finished a stairway handrail using stain, shellac and laquer and it turned out real nice )

I've never attempted to do something like this before but I'm happy to learn and work a few hours each day.

We have already stripped half of the floor using paint and varnish stripper and I'm waiting for a belt sander to arrive ( I saw some YouTube videos sanding down floor panels this way so decided to get myself a Makita belt sander as opposed to hiring an industrial sander from the hire store)

I'm not entirely sure what the actual wood type is though - any idea if this is oak ?

Also would a laquer finish be more suitable than a poly finish ?

I'm not sure if IwI need to use shellac under the final finish or not - any suggestions ?

We also want to make the wood darker - so that it's like a dark oak - any suggestions on staining it ?

I recently stained some pine which turned out blotchy and that's how I was somewhat introduced to shellac as a pre coat for stain (aswell as a final coat for some projects)

Thanks for your reply - I'm also super glad I lifted a plank of wood to verify if it's engineered or real wood.

There is also slight gaps and movements in the flooring - would you suggest I lift it all up and lay it back down ? Or maybe use one of those floor tools that helps you hammer it together a little tighter ?

Thanks and sorry for all the questions ...

 

It looks like oak or Ash. I’m not sure how easy it would be to lift up and refit as it should be nailed through the t and g or glued down. You could use the dust from the final sand mixed with a product like lecol 7500 filler for the gaps.
Have a look at Rubio monocoat oils. You can get any colour/finish you want.


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Looks like it's been floated, probably why it moves as much as it does, most common is European oak

 

Thanks for the reply - the gaps in the wood are between the panels (it's as if parts of it has come loose and needs to be righted up / pushed together again)

By floating do you mean it had neither been nailed not glued ? Would adding some nails/ glue to a few panels help me stop the.movement ?

Also any idea if I should use the shellac over the stain and then use laquer or poly?

Thanks

 

No a solid wood needs to be fully bonded to the sub floor a few nails would make things even worse, if it comes up easy enough I would uplift it all and number the backs so you know what went where, prep the sub floor correctly and fully bond it down with a quality wood flooring adhesive, it’s a fair bit of work but if you can get it done now and do it right I would recommend it otherwise you’ll never be happy with it.


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The sander arrived today and boy has it made it so easy - i thought we were doing a good job with the varnish stripper but the sander does it all. (Attached an image)

The sander that I got was a Makita m9400 from screwfix (£99) and I'm in love.

I'm using a 60 grit for now to get most of the finish off and then will use a 120 grit - I've also got a detailed sander (hoping it will help take out some of the larger marks / scratches

I'm not sure if the entire floor is floating or only a few panels - I tried to move one of the panels near the skirt board and it seems stuck to the ground -

After I've sanding it all I will see how easy it will be to tighten it up / pick it up and put it back together.

If parts are glued together then I'm guessing it would be good to glue some of the other planks that are loose ?

My plan was to use to saw dust and mix it with glue and stain to full the joints before putting on my final coats etc

I'm still not entirely sure if this is oak or something else (seems a little light for oak but then again Ive heard you can also get light oak)

We wanted to make it like a dark oak and I'm not sure if I need to oil the wood or if staining it without oil would be fine (I think this floor has been here for about 20 years since the house was created) but now I've taken some of the finish off I can see it looks in good shape

Also I'm not sure if I should finish with a laquer or poly finish - any idea on durability and ease of applying ?

Thanks

 

By poly do you mean a oil or hardwax oil?
Lacquer will be low Maintenance but will need re sanding eventually. Oiled finish can be re oiled regularly and if maintained won’t need a full sand again.



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Sorry merit - by poly I mean polyurethane

 

After sanding even more the color looks like pine - is there any way to identify the type of wood ? Would be good to know just in case I need any spare ones

 

I've gone over the wood with 40 grit sand paper and most scuffs / large scratches etc have come out nicely - I'm going to go all the way to a 120 grit (60 then 80 and then 120 ) - I can't seem to find a 100 grit - will it be ok to jump from 80 to 120 ?

Also do I need any finer grits for sanding between coats when adding stain / protection ?

I'm still unsure of the type of wood - if it's pine or oak or something else - I've added a new image after first sand so it might be a little easier to identify

Before sanding with the 60 grit I was planning to make some wood filler with the saw dust and pva glue - I was going to fill some of the larger gaps between the boards and also go over the entire floor with a trout ( I saw a video on YouTube that said it's will give the floor a good even fill and also stop some of the draft / squeeky noises in parts. Just wondering if you think this is a good idea- I've got lots of saw dust now but not sure of how much to use.

After staining the wood - will I need to sand it again ? Also do you recommend bringing up the grain with a little water and then sanding again before adding the stain ?

We are still unsure of what finish to use but we want to stain it as a dark oak -

My wife really likes the finish I did on the hand rail - that was stain - followed by 3 layers of shellac and then spray laquer -

Could I do the same on the floor but maybe replace the laquer for polyurethane ?

Thanks and sorry for all the questions

 

Possibly Douglas fir. Is it soft like pine?



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It seems harder than pine - with pine I can stick my finger nail into it very easy - with the floor i can't - I took a small flat head screw driver and was able to push it Into the wood - but it does seem stronger than pine (but I'm not sure if that could be due to the age of the floor) the pine that I have is much newer and never used.

 

I think your right a out the Douglas fir - I looked at some pictures on the web and it looks very similar.

We want to make it like a dark rusty oak effect but now I don't know what to do as I don't want the blotching etc

What would you suggest we use if it is Douglas fir -

Is hardwax oil any good ? And could we get some color with it to work well on Douglas fir?

Thanks