Repairing burned Tassie Oak flooring

**kman-oz** · 6th February 2008, 12:07 PM

G'day all,

In December 2006 the dining room floor suffered from a severe case of 'Baby Brain'... my wife Jenny was pregnant and managed to set fire to a pan of frying oil while on the phone - classic isn't it

. Rather than trying to put out the fire she thought it would be safer to take the burning pan outside, which resulted in the pan being dropped and the dining room floor being covered in burning oil. And I mean burning, flames, black marks on the ceiling, the whole box and dice.

Fortunately I was home and managed to put out the fires in both the kitchen and the dining room. But I then noticed that Jenny had been burned and immediately took action. Anyway, all of this means that the still extremely hot oil pot had been left sitting on the floor slowly making its mark. Now I have one large and one small patch of TO floor which had been burned, and a 8" round spot which is as black as the ace of spades!

I spent that summer looking after Jenny, who was layed up in bed for four weeks with severe burns and a big belly. Needless to say the floor didn't get looked at and I eventually forgot about it. So...

The time has come to finally fix the floor, but I'm a little unsure what to do. I could just go at it with a sander on the not-so-bad bits, but the black spot is burned deep enough to be a problem. At this stage I'm not sure if I should consider replacing the effected timbers with some boards from another room (perhaps it's lucky that the pot landed exactly in the middle of two boards), or attempt to sand out the burn. I'll post some pics tonight to illustrate the problem.

Part 2, I know that the finish used on the floor was a simple Estapol base and experience has shown that Estapol doesn't bond to itself without sanding first. So my question is; can I in fact repair the floor and blend in to the existing Estapol base, or must I take back a more significant portion of the finish and re-apply from scratch to the larger dining room area?

On a more positive note, my son was born happy and healthy and I beleive at least part of this was due to Jenny having to rest a lot

Burns will heal and the floor has been the least of my worries, so if I have time to fix the floor, than I guess we're all doing quite well

Dave.

EDIT: I've only considered sanding, but perhaps there is a more effective way? Scaper, plane....?

EDIT 2: When it was burned the Estapol blistered and I think some oil may have penitrated the timber. Can this be extracted again somehow?

EDIT 3: Pics uploaded.

**johnc** · 6th February 2008, 01:34 PM

We had a burn on a polished floor within weeks of it being sealed. Our solution was to sand out the burn and what we ended up with I guess is a dished repair. A phone call to the bloke that did the sealing got us about 250mls of the finish he used, and the repair is not noticeable, it may be dished and not quite flat but at least it all looks the same colour and it is near a mat which takes the eye away. Would be worthwhile sanding first, we used a ROS the belt sander was a bit aggressive for what was needed.

**kman-oz** · 11th February 2008, 03:11 PM

Sorry John, I missed your post, thanks for the input.

I've managed to get hold of the fella who did the floor sanding/sealing/polishing the first time and asked his advice also. After describing the damage to him he's suggected that sanding back the deeper burn will result in a visible dish due in part to it's proximity to the dining room window. He recommended replacing the badly burned boards, while the less severe burn could be sanded out ok. He still had a record of the Estapol type and make used on the floor too, so we should be able to finish it as-new.

Fortunately I have a brother in-law who is domolishing a house in three weeks and the flooring is *exactly* the same as ours; same age, timber and board size! Even better, the boards are still raw, having been carpeted over their entire lives. My floor has only been exposed for two years with very little exposure to direct light, so it should all match up pretty well. This wasn't a really big deal, because I could have taken a few boards from another room with carpet. But hey, if I don't have to sacrifice another room, all the better

**petersemple** · 11th February 2008, 04:27 PM

Would it be worthwhile looking into whether it's covered by insurance before starting on it yourself?

Peter

**kman-oz** · 11th February 2008, 05:04 PM

Originally Posted by petersemple

insurance

.... Insurance is a four-letter word in my house! Honestly, I could pay a chippy to replace the boards, and then pay to have the whole room sanded and re-coated again for less than the excess on the policy.

Three times I've had insurance assessors to this house and all three times the claim has been knocked back. Last time they tried to charge me for the assessor!

This sort of *^#% always seems to happen to me. A few years back I had to replace six bearers and quite a few joists in the floor due to what I beleived was leaking plumbing. The insurance company said they wouldn't fix the plumbing because it was a maintenance item, fine, but the damage is covered right? According to the assessor the damage was caused by 'rising damp'.... funny how the ground under the house isn't muddy since the plumbing was fixed, eh? So I spend 3 days in a 2' floor cavity with hammers, jacks and short pry bars instead. $120 worth of OB delivered, about a dozen torch betteries and a bag of nails please, sir!

It seems I just get buggered around by trades people anyway, it's the same reason I never trusted any of my cars with a mechanic; they always seemed to break more things than they fixed. So, I buy the tools and learn to DIY and subsequently do a better job for less money. The floor in this case is no bloddy different!

Please excuse the rant. If I'd related that story in person they may have been a lot more four letter words, not the least of then 'insurance' an' all.

**Dusty** · 11th February 2008, 07:30 PM

I think you should really push the insurance issue. You deserve it. You have paid your premiums, and you are entitled to get some service back from these people.

I'm pretty sure the cost of repairing, re-sanding & re-coating will far out strip the cost of your insurance excess.

Also, you are quite within your rights to stipulate which tradesmen you would like to do any work required on your house. Not have to put up with "El Cheapo Floors" and "Bottom of the Barrel Plumbing" and the like.

Get into them and make them pay. Your wife had an accident, one that could very well of been tragic, and that's what we pay insurance premiums for, to help when life presents it's self with a hiccup.

Now go for it.

**kman-oz** · 12th February 2008, 11:24 AM

I appreciate the pep talk Dusty, but I'm afraid I've already made up my mind when it comes to insurance companies and trades people. For what ever reason I can't manage to get either of them to focus on what I need, instead they focus on what's good for them.... fine, I'll focus on what's good for me and pocket the difference. I hold no grudges, but thus far I have met only a very few trades people worth spending good money on. My very independant nature probably doesn't help either

As for the cost, I've budgetted two hours tomorrow evening to recover some boards, and my floor guy has quoted me <$200 to re-sand and seal again in the original finish. I'm happy with his product and his prices, so I have no reservations about the re-finishing. Excess on the policy is $600, so I'm infinitely better off in every direction as far as I'm concerned.

**Dusty** · 12th February 2008, 06:56 PM

Originally Posted by kman-oz

I appreciate the pep talk Dusty, but I'm afraid I've already made up my mind when it comes to insurance companies and trades people. For what ever reason I can't manage to get either of them to focus on what I need, instead they focus on what's good for them.... fine, I'll focus on what's good for me and pocket the difference. I hold no grudges, but thus far I have met only a very few trades people worth spending good money on. My very independant nature probably doesn't help either

As for the cost, I've budgetted two hours tomorrow evening to recover some boards, and my floor guy has quoted me <$200 to re-sand and seal again in the original finish. I'm happy with his product and his prices, so I have no reservations about the re-finishing. Excess on the policy is $600, so I'm infinitely better off in every direction as far as I'm concerned.

I completely understand where your coming from.

I tell you though, I wouldn't mind the number of your floor guy who is willing to do a minimum charge job for <$200. I could make some serious dough from this guy. I'll quote them, book them in, get him to do the work, pay him and pocket the rest.

Good luck with it all.

**Larry McCully** · 12th February 2008, 10:04 PM

200 bucks, Holy mackerall, Some thing is wrong with this picture....!!!!!!!
Um i am looking forward to the end .
If i was you dude , i would get him to show you his latest work and after seing it and talkint to the client and he gives you a written quote and you dont pay him a cent untill he has finished and you are happy with it and the coating solution is a reputable brand,,,, then fine go for it. But something tells me you are in for a shock. Please please please be carefull, you seem like a nice guy and we all here on the fouroum have just recently helped a guy go through a drastic time with his floor guy and the defected work he did, That guy is now having to put up with substandard quality, You dont want to go through the hassels bro. Dusty can point you in the right direction, at least give him a ring. He is a really skilled prfessional. And wont let you down.

**kman-oz** · 13th February 2008, 04:24 PM

My family has given, and will continue to give this fella a lot of work over the years. There is no way he'd have done this repair for that money for a cold caller, we're not strangers

Ignoring the fact that he doesn't trust 'white folk'!

Larry, he did the floors in the first place. Not the best job I'll freely admit, but the floor boards aren't top notch either. In fact, that patch that has been burned was probably the best bit in the house! Most of the rest has cutter marks, arrays of nail holes from blue board/tiling, claw hammer impressions, water marks.... The term 'appropriate quality' underlies everything I've done to the floor.

**Larry McCully** · 13th February 2008, 06:47 PM

That cool bro, i hate seeing anyone get hurt.

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