How to fill gaps in my floorboards?

jackie95

 I have polished floorboards throughout my house. They were last polished 20 years ago and have big gaps between the boards. I’m hoping there might be some kind of product that can be applied to the gaps where I won’t have to resand and repolish the whole house. I have looked into putty, however I imagine the putty would mean I’d have to sand it down after and repolish. I would love for any suggestions. 

Thankyou in advance ☺️

EricL

Hello @jackie95 

Thank you for sharing your question about your floorboards. I'm afraid there is no avoiding the re-sanding, re-polishing and re-sealing of the timber floor, if you were to use a filler. At the moment I'm currently unaware of a non-obtrusive filler that you can use that will save you from having to refinish the entire timber floor. 

But to put your plan into perspective, refinishing the floor does not happen often and is only done when major repairs or wear and tear have become severe that it's imperative that a refresh must be applied. It has been 20 years, and in that time, I suspect that your timber flooring has adjusted in size and shape creating those large gaps. Putting filler in such as Timber Mate for example, will make it a quick repair job and is not too complex to accomplish, but it will be necessary to sand and seal the timber floor.
 

This would be the ideal long-term repair option and will provide you with another 20 years of reliable timber flooring. However, if you are not yet prepared for this type of expense, I suggest holding off and gathering your resources and when the time is right, you can execute a full fledge long term repair plan.      

Let me call on our experienced members @redbournreno, @daniknight4 and @diy_hausdesigns for their recommendations.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric