Painting a wooden floor. What's best to use????

[Emsman]

Any decorators/ anyone who has done this?

The only floor paints I can find seem somewhat industrial.

Am I better painting floorboards in matt White, then giving them a couple of coats of clear varnish?

I have recently moved into a 150 year old house and the boards are fine, but not good enough to sand back, hence painting them.
Which us the best route to take?

All help much appreciated

[mechsympathy]

We used ordinary matt emulsion and clear gloss. After 5 years in a living/dining room there were a couple of battered patches under dining chairs

[GreenDog]

Just my opinion but sanding back 'bad' boards would still be better than painting them white. It just looks so 'Changing Rooms'. Can you not replace any dodgy boards then sand/varnish the floor ?

[loltolhurst]

farrow and ball do a huge range of floor paints not sure if theyre any good or not

[loltolhurst]

talking of which if i painted my floorboards black would that devalue the flat - victorian with white walls and huge ceilings

[B17NNS]

loltolhurst said:

talking of which if i painted my floorboards black would that devalue the flat - victorian with white walls and huge ceilings

Depends what they are like at the moment I suppose. If they have been stripped and varnished I would probably say yes to a certain degree.

Potential buyers would walk in and go, ooooo, ahhhh, those boards would be lovely sanded and varnished.

[loltolhurst]

B17NNS said:

loltolhurst said:

talking of which if i painted my floorboards black would that devalue the flat - victorian with white walls and huge ceilings

Depends what they are like at the moment I suppose. If they have been stripped and varnished I would probably say yes to a certain degree.

Potential buyers would walk in and go, ooooo, ahhhh, those boards would be lovely sanded and varnished.

theres newish carpet over them at the mo its all a bit magnolia

[sleep envy]

loltolhurst said:

talking of which if i painted my floorboards black would that devalue the flat - victorian with white walls and huge ceilings

don't know about devaluing but you'd have a harder task to sell when you decide you want out if people don't want to put carpets down

[Four Cofffee]

We sanded ours back to the bare boards (or rather a bloke up the road did), which despite the varnish, paint and plaster they had on them were in fabulous condition despite 200 years of feet, abuse and dampness. He then used 4 or 5 coats of a water based stain to get the dark oak finish we wanted.

Edited by Four Cofffee on Wednesday 29th July 14:38

[loltolhurst]

Four Cofffee said:

We sanded ours back to the bare boards (or rather a bloke up the road did), which despite the varnish, paint and plaster they had on them were in fabulous condition despite 200 years of feet, abuse and dampness. He then used 4 or 5 coats of a water based stain to get the dark oak finish we wanted.

Edited by Four Cofffee on Wednesday 29th July 14:38

thats pretty good - were there no gaps between the boards or did he seal them ( can you seal them? ). stupid question but if you have gaps do u get loads of spiders etc?!

[sleep envy]

you can seal the joints with a mixsture of PVA, stain and sawdust but IME it always falls through after a while as the timber moves

dust is more of an issue that spiders