Laying solid wood flooring in a cold house

[torparavgrund]

Thank you. Very detailed. I have a board I don't want to use but about ten I will place under cabinets. If I had put it in the bedroom, I might have had to skip even more. I'm very doubtful about the quality but have never bought flooring before, so I have nothing to compare with.

Here is a picture of some "medium good" boards.
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Looking at our hundred-year-old floor in the room next door and see the same cracks on many knots there, but it's hard to say if they were there from the beginning.
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Interesting about the quality. Can't find any markings but also had at least three knots on the tongue with fallout that might not ruin it but are probably sharp to walk on and expose the tongue.

I should go somewhere and check out their floors.

Ah. Then I understand what you mean. Yeah, you have to live with that; I take it so for granted that I didn't even check for it. When I say "cracked knots," I mean those cracks that extend into the rest of the wood, or those that even have deep holes in them.

 

[MmeMim]

@hobbs With the risk of soon having hijacked the entire thread for poor @torparavgrund, I still hope that even the original poster benefits from these questions since we have the same floor.
I wondered if you sanded the floor in any way or did something special before the protective treatment? I mean, right now you can feel the joints of many boards lengthwise and sometimes in the regular joint. In the light, I can also see with the naked eye that there are slightly uneven heights. Is this something you experienced and did something about, but mainly I'm wondering if you sanded it and how?

 

[torparavgrund]

@hobbs With the risk of soon having hijacked the whole thread for poor @torparavgrund, I still hope that even TS benefits from these questions as we have the same floor. I wondered if you sanded the floor in any way or did anything special before the protective treatment? I'm thinking that right now you can feel many of the boards' joints lengthwise and sometimes in the normal joints. In the light, I can also see with the naked eye that some uneven heights stick up a bit. Something you experienced and did something about, but mainly I'm wondering if you sanded it and how?

That sounds a bit remarkable, was the joist they were screwed into sufficiently level? Is it that a board is too high along its entire length or only in places?

A hand plane set to a very fine cut might be the best alternative; sanding can give a slightly matte surface compared to the rest of the floor, which is planed. But maybe a bit overkill.

 

[MmeMim]

Thanks for the input. So, one would rather have a floor planed than sanded? You see, I am a novice! We've leveled the entire joist system, so it should be fairly straight. It's not much, but about half to 1 mm in some places (the entire length or the joint). Additionally, some ends were a few mm narrower than the adjacent board (and even compared to their own other end). We have nothing to compare with but thought to try another local company for comparison in the next room...

However, I am wondering about sawing/planing with the heartwood side up. Isn't it necessary if there are grooves underneath? Ours were in slightly different directions. Mostly heartwood side down.

 

[hobbs]

@hobbs At the risk of soon having hijacked the entire thread for poor @torparavgrund, I still hope that the original poster also benefits from these questions since we have the same floor.
I wondered if you sanded the floor in any way or did something special before protective treatment? I mean, right now you can feel the seams of many boards along their length, and sometimes in regular seams. In the light, I can also see with the naked eye that some uneven heights stick up. Was this something you experienced and did something about, but mostly I'm wondering if you sanded it and how?

Sorry that I've been a bit slow to respond. We generally prefer to overlook unsightly areas as long as they feel okay to walk on. However, our floor is mostly smooth in the longitudinal seams, so we haven't done anything there. In a few places, it has lifted a bit after scrubbing/wet wiping, and there I've just sanded with fine (180/240) paper. I don't know if that's the right way to do it. It "should" be planed, from what I've heard, but I'm not sure what consequences sanding instead might have. I've also needed to glue down some beginning splinters in a couple of spots and then sanded with fine paper.

We've been a bit lax with the treatment, so it's still fairly untreated at the moment, but the plan is to continue soap scrubbing on the ground floor (kitchen/entrance) but soap-impregnate on the upper floor (bedroom/living room).

By the way, I'm also a happy amateur who somehow managed to build a house, so I'm definitely not an expert.