it was very common years ago to have floorboards on front porches. the boards were always run from front to back to allow water to run off each board individually. there needs to be adequate fall on the subfloor to ensure water does not sit on the timber if it wet. the timber itself is fine to use outside, it would be a good idea to cut off the tongue and groove then it really is not too different to decking. I would suggest leaving it outside to acclimatise for a few weeks before installing and depending on the width of the board, the gaps must be suitable for the species.

i believe a rug padding may minimise fading. I would go for 100% Jute in natural colour, ( the colour you would see in a cane basket). Temple and Webster have a large selection of affordable rugs. I have heard if you Wait at least 3 months for floors to cure before placing a rug, it May minimise fading.

We have a dyson and they are great. When I was young we had this vacuum called a rainbow, it was great as it had this water chamber and all the pet fur ended up in the water and my asthmatic family didn't struggle with emptying it. i have seen one in ages, and my parents couldn't find anything similar later on so they used a normal vacuum but they would regularly steam mop the floor boards and that grabbed extra hair.

We’ve already packed out the floor joists so floor is level, have relayed boards to close gaps. But a lot of the tongues on boards were worn or gone leaving small gaps. Also found some boards were different thicknesses by a couple of mm, and multiple boards had bends or just wear in areas, leaving multiple dips and waves in floor. But only by mm.