How to fill seams in wood floor

doug asks,

Our wood floor is car decking with the v-groove seam up. We are planing to sand and refinish the floor and want to fill the V-grove seam (a huge dirt catcher!).

My question is what would be the best filler product that wouldn't crack in the future and would also hold the floor finish we put on. We will be painting the floor after we fill the seams and sand the entire floor.

Your recommendation for a filler for the grooves and any other tips will be greatly appreciated.

Also would 2-part epoxy paint as a finish work well?

This floor is in the living room of our cabin. A wood stove is the main source of heat in the room. The room is 12 x 14 feet.

Thank you.

Our Answer

Put down the paintbrush and step away from the project! Seriously, you have a beautiful wood floor here, it would be a shame to paint it. More importantly there is absolutely no way to fill those v grooves with any kind of filler and have it stick – those are expansion and contraction joints for those boards which move a lot… anything you put it in is going to crack and quickly.

If there are large gaps you want to fill it in, that have opened up to the space below, you can fill with jute rope pressed carefully in the groove. Finish with polyurethane after you sand the floor. I would strongly recommend that you don’t paint this floor – go ahead and sand thoroughly, fill in big gapes with jute rope (but not the v groove)… and apply 2-3 coats of a good quality poly.

Send us another photo when you’re done!