Restoration of Pippy Oak Solid Wood Flooring

Before the works

The extra wide planks of pippy oak hardwood flooring in this Molesey home were covered during an extensive renovation and were a surprise to all of us after the restoration works revealed an amazing wooden puzzle on the floor.

The name pippy oak, sometimes called "cat's paw" oak, comes from the frequent small knots and knot clusters, which pepper the flooring planks. Large knot clusters are generally referred to as "burrs" and planks with a high proportion of these large clusters are described as burr oak.

During our free home survey, we did thorough inspection of the solid wood floors and discussed with the client all possible options.

Our client has decided to go for finishing the floors in matt lacquer.

How we did it...

Some repairs were carried on the floors by carpenters of the builders on site, prior to the restoration works.

Solid wood flooring comes usually as "tongue-and-groove" planks and would have approx. 6-7 mm sandable depth, measured form the surface to the position of the T&G on the plank. This upper layer defines what is the remaining thickness available for sanding on the oak plank. Depending on the overall condition of the floors, the initial floor sanding may start with coarser or medium grid. The task of this initial floor sanding stage of the hardwood flooring is to remove the previous finish and provide a good level throughout all planks.

Overall, the level of the hardwood flooring is expected to be good, due to the "tongue-and-groove" locking between the planks, however due to presence of past, current or seasonal damp in some cases the planks may get slight curving on the sides with the time.

Sanding the floors with fine grids (80 - 120 gr) and a good rotary buff to the new oak timber surface with high grid buffing screens is the most important stage in the preparation of the wooden flooring for finishing.

Floors were consequently sealed with a coat of primer and 2 coats of Bona Mega water-based lacquer in matt sheen with another light screen buff between the coats, for excellent final touch to the finish.