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https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl DIY Forum >> Building Questions >> sealing draft through wooden floor https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1487020572 Message started by Olly L on Feb 13^th, 2017, 9:16pm

Title: sealing draft through wooden floor
Post by Olly L on Feb 13^th, 2017, 9:16pm

Hi There,

I've just bought a Victorian terrace (2up/2down) with a raised wooden floor in the front room. The flooring has been done quite well and I really like the finish so I don't want to carpet it, however there are two air bricks at the front of the house to ventilate under the floor and it is creating a bit of a draft with cold air coming up between some of the floorboards.

What would be the best way to seal the air gaps in the floor to improve efficiency without ruining the finish of the floor or looking stupid? I wondered if some kind of varnish or something might do it or if I could just find some kind of clear resin to paint along the cracks?

Are there any reasons why sealing it might not be a good idea?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Cheers,

Olly

Title: Re: sealing draft through wooden floor
Post by woodsmith on Feb 13^th, 2017, 10:52pm

You need to keep the ventilation under the floor but there is normally no reason not to fill the gaps in the floorboards and there are lots of ways of doing this from filling with a mix of sawdust and PVA woodglue to gluing in wood strips. However the easiest is probably to fill with a gun applied mastic and there are some specifically marketed for this job but any good flexible filler will do; I would recommend you pick a darker colour than the floor.

For the neatest finish apply masking tape along both edges of the adjacent floorboards just leaving the crack visible. Apply the mastic, smooth it off then peel the masking tape off before the mastic sets. Try an area that is out of the way first to make sure you like the effect. This should give you a long term seal as the mastic will move with any subsequent movement in the floor.

Title: Re: sealing draft through wooden floor
Post by Natedog on Feb 19^th, 2017, 8:17pm

i did ours with dark brown exterior frame seal (very cheap in toolstation, not that i'm tight or anything)

if the floor has already been varnished, it's quite easy to gun it along the joins, smooth it off and then remove any excess off the boards with a damp sponge. it hardly changes the appearance of the floor at all but makes a huge difference to how long the room stays warm once the fire has died down