Painting Floorboards

TigerTim

Hi All,

A few years ago I layed red deal t&g flooring in all our bedrooms except one where we left the old carpet. Now it needs to be done up & the missus is keen to have white floorboards in the room - I don't ask why & yes it will be impossible to keep clean. I was thinking of laying the cheaper white deal t&g and painting it. What type of paint?. She doesn't really want to use oil paint as she wants to see some of the grain & also hates the smell in the house. Is there a water based emulsion available for this. Should it be varnished over with a clear varnish or will this turn it yellow. Has anyone done this?
Any help appreciated.

Thanks,

T.

CJhaughey

Have you looked into white oil?
I did this on all the red deal flooring in our house, very simple to apply, just wipe on with a rag.
It will stop the timber yellowing, If you varnish white deal it will progressively turn yellow then orange.
The white oil doesn't smell that bad, just a sort of linseed oil smell for a few days.

Wertz

I was thinking maybe of limewash but that more bleaches the floor than colours it, and it's expensive too.

You could try a waterborne wood primer, thinned to a more workable consistency (maybe 60/40 primer to water), apply 2 thin coats (with a brush) then lightly sand and apply a water based floor laquer/varnish in the sheen of your choice. Water based varnish tends not to yellow softwoods as much as oil for some reason. This should whiten the floor but allow the grain to show, and the clear coat should give it some protection.
You'll get a distressed effect out of that technique which is I think what you're after...

TigerTim

Thanks for the replies. Will investigate both. Haven't heard of Water borne wood primer before.

Thanks,

T

markj2009

Similar to the OP - I have red deal floor recently put down. I put some boiled linseed oil on first and gave it a day or 2 to dry and then put on coat of clear varnish. But now the floor seems sticky not fully dried out, even after a few days. Any advice on this ?

Mark

dhog4n

Farrow and Ball do water based floor paints. They're expensive but decent quality. They have a shop in Dublin and woodies usually carry some of their stuff. Worth a try if you're stuck on the idea of painting it.