West Hobart Cottage: Original Boards Brought Back
A century of paint, carpet tacks and patched boards taken back to bare Tasmanian Oak.
- Project Category
- Heritage Restoration
- Location
- West Hobart, TAS
- Material Selection
- Original Tas Oak + Salvaged Stock
- Installation Time
- 6 Working Days
The Challenge & Vision
Under the carpet were the original boards — along with a century of tack holes, two failed patches in pine, and a band of paint where a wall had been removed. The owners wanted the floor to read as old without reading as damaged, which is a much finer line than a full replacement.
The Solution
The pine patches came out and were replaced with salvaged Tasmanian Oak of the same period and width, laid to match the existing board runs. We sanded through three grits, filled the tack holes with a matched slurry rather than a uniform filler, and finished in a low-sheen hardwax oil that can be spot-repaired in future without recoating the whole room.
Before and After
I was ready to be told the floor was too far gone. Instead they patched it with timber the same age as the house and now you genuinely cannot tell where the old ends and the new begins.
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