Staining Papier Mache gap fill?

[r.p.mcmurphy]

i have gaps in my bathroom stained and varnished pine floor up to about 6mm wide in places, but mostly 2-3mm. after googling it seems that Papier Mache is suggested. but can it be stained the same colour as the rest of the floor? what is the correct procedure?

Steve

[Mike]

I tried this when it was suggested for beams and it never looked right there no matter what we did.

[Pete C]

Hi,

Filling the gaps with off-white sealant might be more acceptable than an attempted match with staining to a pine colour.

cheers, Pete.

[andrewpreece]

Agreed: use 'natural' ( i.e. wood colour ) acrylic frame sealant. It mellows to a nondescript colour after

6 months but looks appropriate.

Andy.

[r.p.mcmurphy]

the rest of the floor is stained dark oak... how dark can acrylic frame sealer be stained?

Steve

[basil]

Could you sacrifice a floor board from somewhere else in the house and cut that into pieces to fill the gaps? Obvioulsy use a board from a room that will never have bare boards and just replace the sacrifice with some cheap pine.

[Pete C]

Hi,

Ooops, I assumed the floor was a light pine colour, if it's dark oak then a very dark brown or black may be better than attempting to match the oak colour.

Might be worth taking a picture of some boards then using photoshop to try different colours for the gaps.

cheers, Pete.

[andrewpreece]

You cannot stain it, I was under the impression you wanted something close to your floor colour, not exact. To be honest I don't see a need for ultra-close colour matching of gaps to boards, the gaps are features of wooden flooring and don't look unsightly unless the gaps or irregular or if you used something daft like white silicone. Acrylic frame sealant comes in several colours, the two wood-type colours I have seen being natural ( light wood ) and mahogany. For light oak to medium, I would use natural ( light wood ) frame sealant ( DOW-CORNING ), it will look light on application but will darken considerably after a few months. If going for dark oak, you may get away with aged 'natural' sealant, but otherwise I would get a tube of mahogany frame sealant and see how it looked in a test area - in my experience the colour is less liable to darken than 'natural' frame sealant, so squeezing some out and letting it form a skin over 24 hours should give you an accurate idea of its colour. Obviously if you are after an exact match then frame sealant isn't the way to go. BTW, now is a good time to fill your gaps, the gaps seem to be widest in winter, and they have opened wider this winter than last. I don't think there is an expansion problem as long as you don't try and fill the entire depth of your floorboard gaps, probably not even then.

Andy.

[Andy Dingley]

Any colour you like, if you stain it wet and then apply it with a trowel. A bit messy, but worth it for some jobs.

Can't stain it after it's applied.