Gaps in floorboards & carpet & felt underlay

We have a small bedroom in a 1936 terraced house in north London. we have

not

decided to go for a new fitted carpet with a natural material underlay. (not
rubber underlay, which we suspect might deteriorate after ten or fifteen
years or so).

The wooden flooring has gaps pretty much all over up to roughly 5 cm where

ish

the boards have shrunk over the years. with a few places with some shortish
strips up
to 1 cm wide, where the wood has been damaged at some point, probably we
guess before
laying them down.

We thought we would go for the most basic carpet from john Lewis with a

rlay

Hessian backing. It's about Ł20 sq metre. (we know the rubber back underlay
deteriorate because the carpet we pulled up and threw out was like a mass of
decayed bread crumbs underneath). John Lewis's felt underlay is Ł4.45 sq
metre, their basic carpet is Ł20 a square metre and the fitting charge is
Ł4.65 a square metre, since I don't think I could fit it myself.

Does all this sound a reasonable choice? And what please is it best to do

It's your money. Pick what you like.

e I

about the gaps between the floor boards especially the larger ones? Since I
would like to sort out the gaps in my own time before the carpet actually
arrives. Thanks for any advice.

That carpet and felt underlay should be fine in a bedroom. My 1900 semi has
similar floor boards (some gaps and uneven in places). I laid sheets of
hardboard, nailed down, and sealed the gaps between the skirting boards and
floor with sealant, to make the floor level for carpets and to reduce
draughts.

Did you make a typo? CM for MM?

Ideally fit new floor boards but that could be expensive. B & Q do sell
floorboards but it's not the cheapest option. You could simply put down
hardboard and nail it down every yard or so. This would give you a nice even
flat surface. OK it won't look anything special but you are planning on
covering it up for the next 15 years so it doesn't matter too much.
Personally that's what I'd do. Other options involve fitting floor boards or
cutting bits to fit in the gaps, lifting the old floorboards and fitting
them together properly.

if the gaps are 5mm they probably wont matter after the carpet is
installed. A 5cm gap would be about 2" wide and would need to be fixed.

1 cm gap might be a problem .

A fix I have seen done is to use a router and guide strip to route a
groove in the existing flooring and insert a new piece. You cut about
1/3 the flooring depth.

A more common method is to use an underlayment plywood nailed to the
flooring.

The prices you have quoted seem very high , but I have only ever
purchased really cheap carpet :). Get a couple of quotes and you
will soon tell if you are getting fair prices.