Heritage maintenance: Repair of tongue and groove floorboards

Information sheet 5.4

This information sheet deals with the repair of tongue and groove floorboards in heritage buildings. The suggested repairs do not aim to produce a floor that looks new, but result in workmanlike repairs and demonstrate respect for older fabric in heritage buildings.

Date
1 January 2005
Publisher
NSW Heritage Office
Type
Publication, Technical note
Status
Final
Cost
Free
Language
English
Tags
  • ISBN 1-87641-5983
  • File PDF 160KB
  • Pages 6
  • Name heritage-maintenance-repair-tongue-and-groove-floorboards-0506.PDF

Early timber floorboards used in Australia were usually square edged and butted together. This was called ‘shot’ edged. It is uncertain when tongue and groove floorboards were first introduced but certainly by the late 1820s some tongue and groove floorboards were being imported into Australia. These early imports were often of variable width, unlike shot-edged boards which were usually a constant width. This difference can help in identifying the type of boards, and therefore the repairs required, in early buildings.