Draughtex Floor Treatment
It goes without saying that old houses are a bit draughty, but that’s why you bought one isn’t it? You don’t like the suffocating dry heat of a modern centrally heated home? Even so, the natural draughts of old houses can get unruly when you get the wrong sort of wind blowing super chilled air straight under the floor into your bedroom. Brrr. Also if you like the look of a 200 year old floor (or hate fitted carpets as much as I do), it is unlikely your rugs will go far enough.
So, what to do with the long gap lines between badly fitting boards that have lost their tongues, damaged from repeated lifting and shrinkage? Filling those gaps used to be a pain, partly because the gaps would be most likely be bottomless, too wide or too uneven for usual treatments. In fact a lot of those traditional treatments were quite awkward and looked ugly too.
Now all you need is Draughtex! It is a flexible and highly compressible and stretchable rubbery filler on a coil (coils are 40m, but it disappears quickly, so don’t balk at the length). It comes in 3 sizes and will fill most gaps, including around skirting/paneling – which in my case mice would slip under easily. A handy (free) applicator makes insertion a cinch, and with a bit of practice you can judge how much to stretch the rubber. Beware not to stretch it too much and it will rebound (sometimes quite a bit after insertion) or span the wide bits too tightly and allow cold air ingress. Don’t push to hard or you’ll lose the stuff. The instructions and website info cover the main details and it is as easy as it looks.
The finish can look great too as you can’t really see the filler. My boards are dark. I’m not so sure how this would look on a blond or painted floor.
You’ll get to know all the features of your boards, but you probably know them intimately having lovingly lifted, repaired and relaid them. And this is the best bit. When you need to lift a board for whatever reason, the rubbery coil can a) be reused and b) shouldn’t degrade into a horrible sticky mess. If the gap is wide at the top but thin below and you used the wrong gauge, then it will look a bit messy. Consider replacing or refitting the board. Also, if you’ve stretched it a bit – remember to check by later as there can be a bit of settling in. Don’t chuck out the handy tool yet, as this will be needed from time to time to push back the filler.
Unless all your boards are butted – ie tongue/groove free – chances are you won’t need to do all the boards, so the treatment costs should be fairly low. If your boards are butted take extra care.
As for the energy savings? Well it states somewhere on the internet – the Energy Saving Trust I think – that you can save £20-40 per room for this sort of measure, every year (or just be a bit warmer, as in my case). That’s a pretty fast payback by all accounts, if you believe the theory.