Matai floorboards

We're getting to the end of this stage in our rennovations and I'm flagging for ideas and my get up and go has left the building. []

We've taken up the carpet and have matai boards underneath. They are in very good condition but have been varnished in places with a sickly looking pine colour varnish, not stain. However where we've knocked walls and a fireplace down, the boards are a different colour (au natural) and unvarnished in places, so we'll need to sand the floor.

Has anyone attempted this? Is it a job that can be DIY'd fairly simply with a hire sander? If you got some one in to do this, how much did you pay?

Once sanded back should we varnish again? Could we wax polish the boards? Any other finishes we could consider?

Anyone got a kick up the back they could spare please?

We sanded down the ply on our floors upstairs as a cheap stop gap until we can afford what we really want. We hired a sander and it was fairly straightforward. We then sealed it with clear polyurenthane (sp?).

We have matai floors throughout our house and didn't want to go with a polyurethane finish. We unded up using a product called Coopers. To strip the floor you paint it on and leave it for a bit then rub/wash it off. When that's all done you finish it with what they call moisturiser - basically sort of the same as waxing/oiling.

It gives a really nice finish and keeps the character of the wood also if an area becomes scratched you can just re-do that bit instead of having to do the whole floor.

Downside is it's fairly messy to do and takes a while. Cost wise from what I can remember probably a bit cheaper (but not a lot) than sanding.

I'm sure if you google 'coopers' you'll find out lots more.

Ooh just had a look on their site Beltie, doesn't look impossible to DIY, just timewise fitting it in.

I like the idea of keeping the wood as natural as practically possible. Have you ever spilt liquid on yours, does it mark or stain, if so was it easy to repair?

Secondly, did you buy direct from Coopers site or somewhere like Bunnings?

Thanks for your help

Matai is lovely! It'll look great when it's done. I've used the Coopers on rimu panelling and it's not a fun job but does give a beautiful finish. A floor would probably be easier - bigger, flatter surface.

I think you buy coopers direct. Quite expensive and you have to "re-moisturise" every year i think. I sanded my floors, it not too hard once you get the hang of it, just don't let the machine stop in 1 place otherwise you end up with gouges out of the floor. Then i used a resin rather than polyurethane which is hard as hell and very difficult to scratch.

Hi Dunard, We bought direct from coopers. Saw it at some sort of field days and the guy came out to give a demo - beware he makes it look very easy!!

It's ok to do a bit of floor at a time if you can't do it all in one hit but probably a good idea to cover the bare wood once stripped so that it doesn't get marked.

The moisturiser means that any water spilt just beads and doesn't seem to be a problem. Our kitchen floor is probably the worst because we've been a bit lazy about re-moisturising but I like to think it just adds to the character!

HD - Doing floors is certainly easier than doors. Like you say nice flat surface.

Don't know what the recommendations are for how often to re-apply the moisturiser. I guess it varies depending on how much wear the floor gets.

We did our floors about 3 years ago and the bathrooms look great and certainly don't need re-doing. As I say the kitchen could probably do with another application and probably the dining room too. It wouldn't take that long just to do the moisturising part so I should just get on & do it really!

My Mum's place has matai floors. I got a professional to come in and do it (didn't have the time/inclination myself) and it cost $45 s/m all up. That was for nail removal, a coarse sand to remove old varnish and carpet glue, a fine sand for finish and 2 coats of polyurethane.

It has lasted incredibly well, and looks superb.

Beltie;284011 wrote: Hi Dunard, We bought direct from coopers. Saw it at some sort of field days and the guy came out to give a demo - beware he makes it look very easy!!

Cheers Beltie
There's a plan forming to get people out for a demo then, six sales reps should finish it nicely between them

HD: yes a floor may be easier, I've only ever used normal paint stripper on painted mouldings and I wouldn't relish doing that again, too fiddly. Reading the Coopers blurb makes it sound easy. Hmmm

WK: Thanks for the price estimate, I guess that was Invercagill? How long was it before you could walk and put furniture on it please? (The pair of us are flagging after a year of this and I'd so love to write a cheque and go out for the day while it's done.)

devan:What resin did you use? Most people kick their shoes off before coming in but what if someone has a stone in their shoe? Is resin tough enough for that?

Thanks for all the help so far, I feel a spurt of enthusiasm coming on!

We have polished rimu floors we did some ourself but then got some to do the rest.... the rest are far better ... they used the resin this finsh lasts way longer and still looks great!! I just mop with a steam mop easy as!!!

we went away for 3nights when floor was being done he told us to be careful for a week untill it hardened..... now it is very hard wearing I would worry as much as i do with any of the other flooring re shoes etc!!!
I forget what we paid!! We tried coopers... had a demo done.... personaly didn't like it and it was alot of work and would need work to maintain for what we saw.. we have a LOT of rimu that needed paint removing TOOK ages.. The dark "varnish' may be a wood oil that was used in the old days.the hall floor here was like that when we pullled up carpetthe edges were very dark and it was lighter where they had a carpet runner...
was well worht the effort to get back the wood floors

Wasn't allowed to be in the house for more than an hour at a time for min 48 hrs after final coat of poly, and he reckoned 5 days til it hardened. So it's an ideal time to go for a holiday....

Yes, that price was in Invercargill and in 2004, so do ring around. They should be able to give you a $ per sq m rate without even seeing the floor.

I cant remember the name of the stuff but i got it from a place in penrose. It is very hard wearing! The only damage i managed to do was from lying in front of the fire on the bean bag, getting too hot and moving the beanbag away from the fire while still lying on it. The big part of the zip was on the floor and put a scratch on the floor. Didn't actually break through the resin tho, just gouged the floor. I'll have a look at the name of it on the weekend

Oh Thanks!

OH will be away for a month soon. I suppose I could camp upstairs with a tv, pc and sandwiches. It would be an ideal time to do it, with him out of the way.

Our upstairs floorboards look so nice, I couldn't bear to cover up the ground floor ones again.

We have rimu floors, had them professionally sanded and polyurethaned - think it was 2 or 3 coats, they also punched down any loose nails, and put filler in all the nail holes. Cost us around $1800 (was about a year ago). That was to have our lounge/dining/kitchen/laundry/bathroom and hallway done. It was supposed to take 3 days, but it took them about 5 days, and although we could move back in after that time, I couldn't due to the fumes. I was pregnant at the time, but even DH thought the fumes were bad, took a good week after that before I could move back in, even then the fumes weren't entirely gone.

We decided to get a professional to do the sanding as we'd heard that DIY'ing the sanding was risky if you hadn't done it before, and if you made indentations into the floorboards, they would stand out badly once polished, plus didn't fancy being in or cleaning up the dust.

I'm selling our place now, so if you want to view a photo of the floors, have a nosey here http://www.lifestyleblock.co.nz/vforum/vbclassified.php?do=ad&id=45 It's the last photo where you can see them (and note, that they are lighter in colour in real life, more a golden honey colour. They look darker in the photo)

Your boards look really nice Pepper and that sounds a reasonable price too. Do you know how many square metres that was for?

I'm so over living in dust, we've had our walls re gibbed and are coming to the last stages of the sanding back, thank goodness. After sanding all yesterday afternoon and evening, the place looked like a good day at Mt Hutt this morning. No matter how much I sweep, it sneaks back somehow.