Description

Timber floors are aesthetically pleasing, but over time, they can become scratched and damaged. To keep them looking good requires ongoing maintenance and repair.

Until the early 1970s, when sheet flooring materials became available, flooring in Aotearoa New Zealand houses comprised of timber floorboards. Floorboards in early houses were square edged and butted, but from around the 1860s, this jointing method was replaced by tongue and groove (T&G) boards.

Scope

This article includes:

• Benefits of timber floors
• Repairing damaged timber floors
  • Fixing boards
  • End joints
• Minor repairs
• Repairing split or damaged tongues or grooves
• Replacing a floorboard
• Dealing with other timber flooring problems
  • Squeaking floorboards
  • Cupped floorboards
  • Bouncy, springy or sagging floors
  • Uneven floors
• Sourcing replacement floorboards