You'll almost certainly need to sand them and then varnish / stain. Before sanding you'll need to make sure all nails / screws are punched well below the surface of the wood, otherwise they'll rip the sanding sheets - your sanding company would probably do it for you - otherwise, it can be quite therapeutic going around bashing them into the floor (use a nail-punch and hammer).
If your house is old and has a suspended timber floor, you will probably find draughts coming up through the gaps in the floor. You can either fill these gaps (other more knowledgeable bods here will tell you how) or you can lift all floorboards and butt them closer together, inserting a new one in at the wall the width of any resulting gap. Or, you could insulate underneath them all with rigid insulation fixed to the joists, or quilt insulation suspended on chickenwire which has been nailed to the joists.
I was going to sand my circa 60 year old floorboards, but neighbours have complained that theirs are very draughty, and I didn't fancy the cost / hassle of insulating under them, so I just carpeted instead - much cosier!
Has anyone got a solution to insulating an old timber suspended floor whick currently allows draughts through it....similar to the above.
Lifting up old floor boards is not an option....as it is extremely difficult, without causing damage to the boards.
Any thoughts welcome.
Dont know if this is what you mean but..
A friend swore by this stuff, gapseal . We bought it and put it down but found it kept slipping up from between the gaps on some boards, which is really annoying and so we never finished putting it down (laziness too)
Sanding and varnishing floors that are made from soft wood is not ideal.
There may be different grades of softwoods, but IME the stuff used in most newbuilds, and then varnished as a 'feature', is far too soft.
You get grooves / tracks / scratches / dents from beds / chair / heels / dropped toys / books even. Normal usage in other words. Ends up looking battered and dirty.
Most of that white and red deal is fit only to be covered up.
If you do go down this road, be prepared to have to refinish it in a few years, which is more mess and hassle.
On the other hand if you ahve decent timebr floors, go for it, it looks fantastic.
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