Baltic Pine is a massive part of floor sanding in Melbourne; it was the main flooring timber used throughout the building of homes since before the turn of the century. Many of the Baltic floors we restore are over a hundred years old and boy, some sure look like it 

These old floors have been susceptible to borer and termite damage, water damage, dry rot, rising damp - and worse of all - been victims of the horrendous renovations performed during the late ' 60s and the ' 70s, which was an era of 'doing up' houses without any thought of its history, and even less thought to its future 

Fortunately, today, people are smarter and go out of their way to restore things to their original beauty - ensuring that it stays looking good for future generations. This is where we come into it with Baltic Pine flooring 

We repair a lot of old Baltic and have at our disposal several top-end, second-hand suppliers to help us find the correct width, thickness and age of the boards to successfully tie them in with the existing flooring, creating, as best we can, an invisible repair

Often, once a section of damaged boards is up, we can effect structural reinforcements to the sub-floors to strengthen and reduce problems down the track

"WHAT'S THAT BLACK STUFF AROUND THE EDGES?"  

- it's a very common question we get asked

The black stuff around the edges is known as Black Japan, and truth be told, it's a bitch to remove 

I've used kerosene as a sanding aid for many years to help me get rid of the 'Black Stuff'

When sanding off old Black Japan the heat from the friction of the sandpaper turns the Black Tar into a type of sticky gunk, which quickly clogs up the sandpaper rendering it useless. To help counter that we spray kerosene onto the Black Japan which softens it, and nullifies the stickiness of the glue, enabling us to get much further and to get better value out of our sandpaper.   The kerosene thing is a simple trick, and a robust solution

I also use it around the edges while using the smaller edging machine - as you'll see below

The biggest question we get asked about with old Baltic Pine is "Do you fill the gaps?" The answer is "No...No, we do not" Here's why...

Back in the day, when Baltic Pine was the predominant flooring choice, the moisture levels of the timber were through the roof, as such, most of the boards would be what we'd class today as "wringing wet." There wasn't any moisture testing done to ensure that the boards were dry - no, it was merrily a case of grabbing the boards and start laying 'em down. Of course, this lead to the boards shrinking dramatically as the excess moisture dried out causing the massive gaps we find in Baltic Pine floors today, throughout Melbourne 

When these gaps do get filled, by some fool who thinks it's a good idea, the putty will soon make it's way out from between the boards, due to the timber moving dramatically when there are changes in temperature. Such as swelling when it's humid and then shrinking down again when it's dry.  It's an ongoing battle

Below, are a few shots of old floors that had the gaps filled. The result is there are places where the putty still sits, and heaps of places where it's popped out. When it pops out, you run the risk of scratching the polished surface when some of the rock hard putty gets caught underfoot, or pushed along with the vacuum

All up, it's a fair bit of a nightmare 

Well, as you can see I'm not a fan of putting filler between the gaps of Baltic Pine. So, what's the solution? How do we sand and finish Baltic floors AND have them looking the goods?

Two things. Either we do nothing, and simply sand the floor and just not worry about the gaps. Merrily focusing on the top of the boards that we can prepare and make look the goods. Or, secondly, we can clean the gaps out - as in, using a mallet and a few other tools we dig out and remove the debris that caught between the boards. This solution gives us a beautiful result leaving you with a great looking floor where the entire focus rests on the stunning grain and knots found on top of the floorboards. Not worrying about the rest.

The following sets of pictures show several different Baltic pine floors without filler and featuring nice clean even gaps. It's the most sensible, time-efficient solution. In fact, one of the floors below the homeowner herself dug all the crap out before I even got there -  saving her both time and money...and, giving me a big sigh of relief.

Well, that pretty much sums up my take on the drama surrounding whether to, or whether to not fill the gaps between an old Baltic Pine. Simply put... don't do it

Although, I'm against filling Baltic Pine gaps, I will however, fill the gaps between many of our other flooring timbers which are more stable, stronger and look like they will benefit from the effort

After reading all this, if you ask me "could you fill the gaps between our Baltic Pine floor?" you'd better have a big cheesy grin on your face when you do so...