Did all Victorian floorboards have that darker 'edging' for the areas where a rug wouldn't have been located? Or was that more for expensive houses and villas?
I've just had a suspended subfloor insulated and the floorboards relaid, but they've been shuffled around in terms of location so I no longer know where the original edges were. I do have my suspicions that many of the boards might not be original because there are different widths.
The floor looks like it has been painted with a brown varnish at some point in the past - a bit like the sort of thing you might paint a garden bench with that is slightly shiney and flakes away. Its also covered it various splodges of paint from past decoration. I'm considering getting a professional sanding company to come and sand/finish the boards. I know this isn't necessarily the top conservation option, but they've already been painted in the past so its not original boards that i'm dealing with.
I'm a little bit nervous of potential hidden nasties that could be in the varnish/paint and want to have a closer look to check that the varnish hasn't been applied over bitumen or anything like that. Hence my question about the darker edging - would this be on all floors or if I spot some blacker/tarry material could it be something to worry about? The company uses a 'sandless' approach and said that the varnish etc would be removed like sawdust and go straight into the extraction bag.
As might be gleaned from my other posts I do get very nervous about things like asbestos. It seems very unlikely that a living room would ever have had vinyl tiles laid on it (and therefore stuck down with bitumen) but obviously I can't be certain. In a scenario like that I suppose it would have covered the entire floor anyway.
I've just had a suspended subfloor insulated and the floorboards relaid, but they've been shuffled around in terms of location so I no longer know where the original edges were. I do have my suspicions that many of the boards might not be original because there are different widths.
The floor looks like it has been painted with a brown varnish at some point in the past - a bit like the sort of thing you might paint a garden bench with that is slightly shiney and flakes away. Its also covered it various splodges of paint from past decoration. I'm considering getting a professional sanding company to come and sand/finish the boards. I know this isn't necessarily the top conservation option, but they've already been painted in the past so its not original boards that i'm dealing with.
I'm a little bit nervous of potential hidden nasties that could be in the varnish/paint and want to have a closer look to check that the varnish hasn't been applied over bitumen or anything like that. Hence my question about the darker edging - would this be on all floors or if I spot some blacker/tarry material could it be something to worry about? The company uses a 'sandless' approach and said that the varnish etc would be removed like sawdust and go straight into the extraction bag.
As might be gleaned from my other posts I do get very nervous about things like asbestos. It seems very unlikely that a living room would ever have had vinyl tiles laid on it (and therefore stuck down with bitumen) but obviously I can't be certain. In a scenario like that I suppose it would have covered the entire floor anyway.
