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.
Publisher: NSW Heritage Office
Cost: Free
Language: English
ISBN: 1-87641-5983
File: PDF 155.77 KB
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.