Old Baltic Pine in Brunswick
This floor here is fairly typical of what we come up against in older style houses in Brunswick that are around the 100 year plus mark. Generally, there has been quite a bit of wear and tear throughout the entire house, and the floors of course cop the brunt of that.
In many instances there have been holes cut into the floors to allow various trades, over the years, access to underneath.
Also, as was the case with this particular floor, the fireplaces had become worthless and with it being much more cost efficient to run ducted heating it was decided to remove the old fireplaces and rip out the concrete hearths and replace them with reclaimed Baltic Pine of around about the same age and appearance as the rest of the house.
The following group of pictures attempts to show what went into doing just that.
In several rooms the fireplaces and hearths were removed, then we built new joists and sub-floors ready to lay the reclaimed Baltic onto. Along with that we had a big section on the kitchen where walls had been removed and different sorts of timber had been laid to go under lino tiles.
All up, this was a tough but very satisfying job - done in the height of a stinking-hot Aussie summer.
Clicking the images will make them much larger if you require more detail
 |
| Rough and ready Baltic Pine floor just after the old floor coverings had been lifted. |
 |
| Getting set-up for the fair weeks work ahead of us. |
 |
| With the fireplace removed it's now time to re-build the sub-floor |
 |
| The pile of second-hand Baltic Pine flooring ready to be used in the restoration |
 |
This where the big grate for the ducted heating intake was in the middle of
the hall. With the intake relocated we then re-built the joists and laid
the new (old) boards. |
 |
| All going beautifully to plan. |
 |
This part of the kitchen had a big lump of concrete which had to be removed
before getting on with replacing the floor boards. |
 |
A bit of eye-candy for the ladies - it was summer after all.
Oh, and he's sanding where the fireplace once sat. |
 |
| Mowing down the reclaimed Baltic Pine to make it flat and even. |
 |
| Here the floor has been coated ready for us to fill in the nail holes. |
 |
| This is after the second coat has been applied and the holes have been filled. |
 |
| The second coat going down |
 |
Looking down the hallway as the second coat
was applied. |
 |
| The floor has been coated with two pac polyurethane |
 |
The two pac offers the very best in protection and good looks. It's
very hard to go past. |
 |
| Now there is no trace of the old hearth and fireplace. |
 |
| The final coat being applied in the lounge room |
 |
| All fresh and new, now. |
 |
Just going out the back door after doing the final coat of two pac.
|
Well, there we have it, another successful restoration of an old Baltic Pine floor - from the repairs, through to the sanding and finishing work.
If you have any floor sanding questions you'd like answered simply fire off an email or call via my web-site blow.
Have a great day.
Comments
As to the question, we actually don't fill the gaps in these old Baltic Floors as in most cases a lot of the filler will crack and pop out, given the amount of movement many of these older floors have going on.
However, with the nail holes, depending on the size of the job and how many nail holes there are as to what way we will go about it. With a job such as this, which has a gazilion nail and tack holes it's often easier to fill them after the first coat has been applied with the holes being far more visible once the floor has been coated and the filler tends not to dry out too fast as well this way, whereas, on raw timber it's a slower process and the putty dries out due to the dust on the raw timber.
As to where to start with laying a recycled Baltic floor a lot depends on what you plan on laying the for onto, as in, on the existing joists, or perhaps, over the top of particle board? Both require a different approach.
Let me know what you have and I'll see what I can do.