Is this a dumb idea?

[Sashguy]

I wish that I had a picture, but one of my customers had the same issue, and being a very savvy old house design consultant, she painted her kitchen floor then stenciled a pattern onto it. Over the years, it has aged due to foot traffic and looks authentic and gorgeous.

[Powermuffin]

Thank you all for the info. I think that this will be a fun project for me and will make the bath feel cleaner.

When we moved into the house, there was sheet vinyl on the floor, which had started to deteriorate. We removed everything and sanded the floor and sealed it with marine spar varnish - the same thing that had been used for all of the old flooring. It has held up very well. I just can't stand the dirty feeling seeing all the grunge built up in the expanded spaces between the boards. I tried scraping it out, but of course, some of it is sealed in. Plus when it is scraped out completely you can see the floor joists! Is the marine spar varnish going to cause a problem?

It will be interesting to hear my husbands response to this plan!
Diane

[SkipW]

I would give the varnish a good sanding to make sure it is well scuffed, clean with TSP and then paint with an oil based primer, which you can topcoat with a latex floor enamel.

[Powermuffin]

Thanks Skip (and Etta). Good plan.

[nhguy]

We used Benjamin Moore oil based Maintenance Finish on our floors. It comes in a gloss and low-lustre finish in all five bases. You have to sand really well to prep, but I never used a primer just two coats of paint. The stuff is really thick, so roll it with a heavy nap roller and brush out. It takes about a week to dry hard, blowing a fan on it to move the air really helps too. We never had a peeling problem at all and it wore like iron, as our driveway was dirt and it got carried in on our shoes.

[Olson185]

Our 1908 cottage had the wood floors laid before the walls were built. There is only one bath in the old part of the house and the floors are a bit discolored, especially around the toilet. There are some gaps between the floor boards up to 3/8". Stuff has collected in those gaps and makes me feel like the bathroom is not clean. There is no subfloor.

Here is where the question comes in. I am thinking of painting the floor with a floor paint, and painting a faux, vintage tile design on it. I would then seal it. Is the painting part a dumb idea?
Thanks,
Diane

I think painting is a fine idea if the flooring is otherwise not worthy of remaining clear.

Re: discoloration around toilet. I'd poke it with a slot screwdriver to guage the hardness of the wood around the toilet compared to...well...some place not near the toilet. If you have access to underneath the toilet, I'd check there, too, to make sure that wood isn't degrading. It's easier to check before painting than after.

Re: gaps. I feel it's best to clean out the gaps between floorboards for a number of reasons:
1) the material within the gap is dirty (yuck),
2) the material within the gap will prevent stain, varnish, paint, etc. from doing a better job of flowing into the full depth of the gap,
3) varnished and painted dirt will break apart, leaving behind unvarnished, unpainted wood
4) gaps can be sealed with various sizes of rope/string that, if installed wet with or prior to varnish/paint will let the floor boards expand and contract with the seasons without totally ruining the varnish/paint job.

I forget the name of this tool. I think it's made for linoleum but I've used it for everything but that.

https://i.gyazo.com/735c80d7da843b7427178fb41d61c327.png

[SkipW]

Interestingly enough, my wife has been asking me to 'do something' with the floor of the sun porch....well, we are having some people over Saturday and she said to me last night "I want that floor taken care of by Saturday"

I had purchased a new area rug to go in place of the old one that the latex backing had dried out and rotted. I said I was going to fix and repaint the floor...I did this about a month ago...

Well, I came home from work early today and asked her to help me move the furniture off the porch and went to work. Sanded the floor, cleaned with TSP, wiped down with fresh water and put in a fan for a bit.

This is about halfway through painting. From start to finish, three hours.

Point of the story: Powermuffin it's not that difficult and the time involved is not a lot if you are not looking for a museum quality job.

[Powermuffin]

I guess my real issue with painting the floor is that the rest of the existing original floors have been stripped and varnished too and look good. The wood around the toilet is solid/hard, just a bit discolored. The gaps in the floors of other rooms don't bother me, but bathrooms and kitchens need to look clean, IMO. Maybe I should just work harder on getting the yuck out from between the strips. I don't know how it will look if I paint just the bathroom floor and end the paint at the doorway.