My cabin has a pine floor with tapered edges and a drappy installation job. What can I do to fill the cracks to avoid all the dirt collection without spoiling the look of a light wood floor?
thanks
My cabin has a pine floor with tapered edges and a drappy installation job. What can I do to fill the cracks to avoid all the dirt collection without spoiling the look of a light wood floor?
thanks
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Replies
That is a huge file.
You need to get down to around 100KB or most aren't even going to try to open it.
I'm thinking if you fill those gaps with anything, you could see the floor buckling when the summer humidity starts to swell those floorboards. Either that, or the swelling boards will pop out anything that you use to fill the gaps (because of the V-shape groove. Gaps during the dry season are simply a fact of life with solid pine floors.
A rope or thin cord ( cotton, not poly or nylon) soaked in shellac or poly - stain mix and hammered in can work wonders. Even sink a brad or 6 million to keep any humps down.
Those vee-edged planks are not helping. If that is T&G 2x6 vee one side, it was laid upside down.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
"We strive for conversion,we get lost in conversation, and wallow in consternation. "
Me.
Well, I must admit, I was more than a little bit worried about opening up a pic labeled "My Crack". Turns out, it was just some kinda flooring. ;-)
That looks like some 3/8" plank flooring, or maybe even beadboard (?), installed by by a drunken badger. If so, and you want it to look like anything but a mucked up mess, start by tearing it out. But if it's 3/4" or more, do what Sphere said. But it'll still look like carp and always collect dirt. (I can't tell if the stuff in the crack is the subfloor, or just dirt piled up on the tongue of thicker boards. Maybe you could clarify for us.)
Here's a re-sized pic for anyone else who may have a better idea.
View Image
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
From the look of that pic, looks like you got a peanut in your crack. Reminds me of Larry the Cable Guy's sister who had the Milk Dud in her butt crack. The correct name in case anyone is interested is natal cleft.
But anyway, I think with expansion and contraction with the change of season, nothing will stick in there and fill it. Because of the chamfered edge, anything you put in there will be pooched up and out.
Looks like a bad choice for flooring.
After re-looking, I don't think that IS 2x6 , the tongue is to close to the surface..yer right, it's prolly like a 1x6.
Need something besides the splinters and knot to add some scale.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
"We strive for conversion,we get lost in conversation, and wallow in consternation. "Me.
thanks for the resize, sorry I forgot to do it in the first place.
What you are looking at is an accumulation of dirt on the toungue, so stuck that it can be vacuumed up. I have to go over the whole floor with a knife to get it really clean.
I'm with Redford, anything you do will pop out when the boards expand later, lest the floor buckles. But if you're determined to fill them with something I'd say clean them out really well and use a clear or matching color silicone caulk.
As for the installation, I'm guessing they didn't allow the boards to acclimate to the inside environment before installing.
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That looks to be 1X pine carsiding, not flooring. I have used it mainly for walls and ceilings. It aways shrinks a little, but not quite that much.
I have used it for floors, but I used the stuff that was un-beveled on one side and put the beveled side down, and it worked fine.
I dont think there is much you can do with a gap that big would look good or hold up.
Edited 6/5/2008 9:17 am ET by wood4rd