should i paint my floorboards?

[loltolhurst]

Hi,

I have a victorian flat with big white walls and standard house doctor beige carpet. Now underneath are some pretty good floor boards.

2 questions:

If i ditch the carpet and paint them black or white would this devalue the flat when it comes to selling ( or would i just bung a carpet on top )

if im painting them rather than getting them back to original glory do i have to go through the whole sanding with a machine process etc or can i just paint them?


thanks

[robinhood21]

If it's a ground floor flat there is the risk that you will be plagued by drafts in winter. If it is above GF, then I should check your deeds as this might no be allowed (noise).

[loltolhurst]

robinhood21 said:

If it's a ground floor flat there is the risk that you will be plagued by drafts in winter. If it is above GF, then I should check your deeds as this might no be allowed (noise).

thinking ground floor - will it be that bad?

[squicky]

Is there a cellar underneath it?

I've got a Victorian terrace house with bare floorboards in my living room (with cellar underneath). Although I have sealed the gaps between the floorboards there is still an obvious cold layer just above the floor that perhaps a carpet would help with.

[B17NNS]

You could always insulate underneath the boards and then tack on some plasterboard, tape and fill.

[GlenMH]

+1 to insulating under the floorboards - makes a massive difference.

Make sure there is enough ventilation round the edges etc to allow some airflow though.

[Engineer1]

If you paint them and the next owner hates it a few hours with a sander and they should be back to plain wood, unless you use a stain that really sinks in of course.

[loltolhurst]

squicky said:

Is there a cellar underneath it?

I've got a Victorian terrace house with bare floorboards in my living room (with cellar underneath). Although I have sealed the gaps between the floorboards there is still an obvious cold layer just above the floor that perhaps a carpet would help with.

not under the lounge which is the bit I want to do

[loltolhurst]

Engineer1 said:

If you paint them and the next owner hates it a few hours with a sander and they should be back to plain wood, unless you use a stain that really sinks in of course.

thinking farrow and black floor paint - theyre the only ones ive seen who do floor paint does anyone else or can I just use normal paint?

does it need sanding?

thanks

[GreenDog]

loltolhurst said:

Engineer1 said:

If you paint them and the next owner hates it a few hours with a sander and they should be back to plain wood, unless you use a stain that really sinks in of course.

thinking farrow and black floor paint - theyre the only ones ive seen who do floor paint does anyone else or can I just use normal paint?

does it need sanding?

thanks

You'd be better off sanding first if you want a decent finish. I don't imagine your lovely white walls will look as nice once they've got a coating of dust mind you.

Most of the downstairs on my house has stripped floorboards and as said already it makes the floor a bit cold and we're thinking of carpetting the 2 living rooms because of this.

[anonymous-user]

GreenDog said:

loltolhurst said:

Engineer1 said:

If you paint them and the next owner hates it a few hours with a sander and they should be back to plain wood, unless you use a stain that really sinks in of course.

thinking farrow and black floor paint - theyre the only ones ive seen who do floor paint does anyone else or can I just use normal paint?

does it need sanding?

thanks

You'd be better off sanding first if you want a decent finish. I don't imagine your lovely white walls will look as nice once they've got a coating of dust mind you.

Most of the downstairs on my house has stripped floorboards and as said already it makes the floor a bit cold and we're thinking of carpetting the 2 living rooms because of this.

If they require sanding then when it comes to coat them I would varnish them rather than paint! looks much better and can be a bit of a selling point these days! Insulating underneath is definately a good idea and if the gaps in the boards is quite big it may be worth lifting the boards and refitting tighter together then filling the resulting gap with a reclaimed matching board! (can take them out of a room with a carpet or understairs cuboard)

[northwest monkey]

Putting sound/insulation/legal issues to one side for a minute, I would say no. I've done it before & to be honest it looked great at first.

Sander was back out after 2 months though

[grumbledoak]

Once you have painted things you are pretty much stuck with repainting them! Sure, you can get doors taken off and dunked in acid, but that's not very practical for floorboards.

If you want to see the wood, I'd be looking at varnish of some kind. And quite probably some insulation.