# Wood Flooring



## Nurumkin (Dec 9, 2009)

Ok I am going to start making wood flooring for my main level. I figure that this will give me something to work on during the down time on my other projects (glue drying, waiting for parts etc). I figure this will be pretty easy but I have a couple random questions. 

How long should I try and keep the planks, most of my wood is about 8' long so I could go this long but it would be a pain. I was thinking about 4' and then adjust as needed as I work within my lumber. 

Also if there is any other advice that anyone can give me I would appreciate.


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## jim douglas (Feb 8, 2010)

Not sure how your milling the flooring but what I do is sort through the lumber & cut out any defect areas. You will end up with random length. Long T & G boards are hard to mill & install.
jim


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## woodworks (Feb 12, 2008)

As for me, I made my kitchen floor and used random length's. They were 2,3,& 4ft. I won't make that mistake again. It was ok milling them, but it was a pain to install. It was like it took forever to lay one course. This was my first project on flooring and in my opinion it would be a lot cheaper to buy and then install longer boards.


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## wlfloorguy (Feb 16, 2010)

*Wood flooring **



Nurumkin said:


> Ok I am going to start making wood flooring for my main level. I figure that this will give me something to work on during the down time on my other projects (glue drying, waiting for parts etc). I figure this will be pretty easy but I have a couple random questions.
> 
> How long should I try and keep the planks, most of my wood is about 8' long so I could go this long but it would be a pain. I was thinking about 4' and then adjust as needed as I work within my lumber.
> 
> Also if there is any other advice that anyone can give me I would appreciate.



It all depend on how big the room is. If its a big room then you want to mix up the lengths (2' to 6') of the boards bigger boards tend to move around a lot more, also if you use 8' boards it might look dumb(no offense man)


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## TS3660 (Mar 4, 2008)

It also depends on how bad the boards are warped. You can cut a badly warped board in half or quarters and it installs fine. But trying to seat a board that is warped 1/2" or more just doesn't work.


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## TimPa (Jan 27, 2010)

i'm not even going to think of talking you out of making your own flooring, i was there last year. until i visited a flooring room and heard i was going to get a 50 yr warranty on the finish. for appx $3.50 bdft. they said "they use aluminum oxide in the finish, which is amlost impossible for diy'rs to purchase"


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## TS3660 (Mar 4, 2008)

TimPa said:


> i'm not even going to think of talking you out of making your own flooring, i was there last year. until i visited a flooring room and heard i was going to get a 50 yr warranty on the finish. for appx $3.50 bdft. they said "they use aluminum oxide in the finish, which is amlost impossible for diy'rs to purchase"


I agree. You just can't get as durable of a finish unless it's done at the time of manufacture. And the boards are mostly straight. I installed 800 sq. ft. of prefinished for $3000. Look at my gallery.


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## TimPa (Jan 27, 2010)

nice!


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## Nurumkin (Dec 9, 2009)

*re*

I know I could probably get a very good deal if I shopped around and just bought it but I'm not really looking to save money. My wife and I bought this house precisely because it needed so much work and we want to be able to say that we did absolutely everything ourselves. I already had an offer from a local wood floor maker who sells me my wood pellets to take my rough cut wood and deliver wood flooring for $1.20 per foot and I turned him down.


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## jim douglas (Feb 8, 2010)

Nurumkin said:


> I know I could probably get a very good deal if I shopped around and just bought it but I'm not really looking to save money. My wife and I bought this house precisely because it needed so much work and we want to be able to say that we did absolutely everything ourselves. I already had an offer from a local wood floor maker who sells me my wood pellets to take my rough cut wood and deliver wood flooring for $1.20 per foot and I turned him down.


Your right Nurumkin, there is alot of personal satisfaction when you do it yourself. Sounds like you have your own rough cut. There is one thing I would caution you about. If the lumber has not been kiln dried you need to make sure it is as stable as it can be. Kiln drying to 4% or 6% is the best choice. If you have different width boards a random width floor is nice & you will utilize more material. I wouldn't go much over 6" though. Good luck, have fun & enjoy the journey:icon_smile:
jim


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## Nurumkin (Dec 9, 2009)

The lumber was air dried, the guy I bought it from said its been in their barn for about 20 years. Should I kiln dry it? I could easily build a kiln in my barn and let it dry a few weeks before using it.


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## jim douglas (Feb 8, 2010)

If I was doing it I would kiln dry it. Nothing worse than investing time & money in a project and then having problems because you took a shortcut. There are many opinions on this topic & I don't know if there is a right answer but drying will reduce potential problems. After drying and before installation be sure to acclimate the flooring before installation. 
jim


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## Brazs (Mar 31, 2010)

*Same boat!*

I have a large pallet of Maple that I bought to make some cutting boards and counter tops and am interested in using it to replace my wood flooring. I don't mind the project time to mill all the wood (pieces are approx 1.25"x1.25"x21"), it's more a question of finish and durability. 
A couple of questions...
1. Are those pieces too small to use?
2. Can they be split in half to make 1/2" planks?
3. Would the machinery to mill them be reasonable? (Or should I hire someone to machine it?)
4. Is there a finish that is reasonably durable or am I far better off having a pro come in and finish the flooring if I mill it myself?
Thanks and sorry I am late to the party!


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## Ghidrah (Mar 2, 2010)

I installed a crap load of pine and oak flooring in condos and town houses through the 80s and early 90s. We installed 12' long 9" wide warped pine boards all the time. One didn't have much choice, you can only steal so much from other units piles. 

We still had waste, some material just can't be used no matter what the length is. We didn't have the luxury of sitting around trying to figure out what to do. We made braces, screwed them into the sub floor and wedged warped boards in.

Lastly, most of the guys I worked around didn't care for the prefab flooring when it came out for one reason, unlike stick built floors that are finished after the fact there's no protection between the prefabbed boards. The newer OSB/plywood based bottoms move around less than the older types but they still move around, building settling and floor deflection, hot and cold makes everything move eventually.

I don't know where some of you guys come from but out here prefab Oak flooring goes for close to $7 a board foot, with install from $10.50 and up.
Stick built totals the same, about $3.50 for the mat, $3.50 for install and the same and more for finish depending on the type and number of coats.


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## Brazs (Mar 31, 2010)

*Thanks...*

Thanks Ghidrah, but I'm not sure I follow your thoughts on my potential project... Is my project workable with the materials I have or should I forget about it?


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## chubbyhubby (Mar 7, 2010)

Brazs said:


> I have a large pallet of Maple that I bought to make some cutting boards and counter tops and am interested in using it to replace my wood flooring. I don't mind the project time to mill all the wood (pieces are approx 1.25"x1.25"x21"), it's more a question of finish and durability.
> A couple of questions...
> 1. Are those pieces too small to use?
> 2. Can they be split in half to make 1/2" planks?
> ...


 I'll throw a crazy idea at you and let you decide if it would work for you. I used to work in a company that had a wood floor in the cafeteria. Not a normally constructed floor, though. It was all end grain. It looked like bricks, each piece app 3 1/2" x 6". Each 'brick' was made from pieces app 1 1/2" square. And between each brick was 'grout' made of sawdust mixed with varnish (I assume). 
In your case, what you would need to do is glue your 1 1/4 blanks into whatever size 'bricks' you would desire. So, you would have a 21" long block. Next, slice this into 1" thick bricks, obviously end grain is what you'll see. Glue these down with Liquid Nails and then grout with the mixture of sawdust/varnish. Just an idea..... CH


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## Ghidrah (Mar 2, 2010)

Sorry Brazs, I was responding to a previous post in the thread not yours.

I've seen decorative end grain butcher blocks, but I would never use one.

I'd be wary of end grain flooring regardless of the size of the tile. Most parquet flooring is around 6X6 to 12X12, but a smidge of wisdom. 

Plants transport fluid through straw like thingies called xylem, this process moves fluid from roots to the leaves of the tree. Phloem same things but different move the sugars and I'm pretty sure in both directions. 

Even after lumber is cured the xylem and phloem absorb water, when they do they go through a swell and contract process. Even after a staining and sealing process I'd be leery of wear spots in high traffic areas that would absorb fluid directly.

I've been in the construction trade for over 30 yrs, building and repairing all aspects of exterior and interior areas of commercial and residential structures. End grain is where the major damage begins when it concerns water and wood.


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## chubbyhubby (Mar 7, 2010)

That's true about end grain being absorbent, but this same absorbency will also pull a lot of sealer deeply into the wood. The flooring I was referring to was in an active lunchroom (it got both spills and traffic), and looked great after 10 years. I'm not sure what they did to seal it so well, but they did re-freshen it every few years and it held up quite well. It wasn't an epoxy finish, but I'd like to find out what they used.


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## Ghidrah (Mar 2, 2010)

Chubbyhubby,
If you can ever find out what it is/was that they used, please please post it or email it to me.


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## chubbyhubby (Mar 7, 2010)

I wish I could look into it further, but the company moved just last year. A missed opportunity again....


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## Dixon Malone (Apr 2, 2010)

Greetings!

wood floors seem to be used lesser for their installation problems, here click flooring can be used effectively as it can be installed by using slots that makes its usage and design in a new house a lot easier than other wood floor types. But if you desire to use a flooring type that looks like wood and is a lot cheaper then the laminate flooring is the best option for the job. The laminate flooring is extremely resistant to the wear and tear that traditional wooden alternatives are not and thus their glossy look appeals to many as it provides the advantage of the wooden flooring look and is easier to maintain..


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## olddutchman (Jul 4, 2008)

*flooring*

You are going to cut your flooring. You have not said how You are going to cut it? It seems to Me that it sounds good to be able to tell someone that you cut, and milled Your flooring. First, You are going to have to run every single piece through the jointer. Face it, then plain it , Now cut all the pieces square.  That is a lot of work! And You haven't done any installing! I have laid around 2,500 sq ft of ash flooring, and it takes time. I had a local lumber supplier mill it. and I had two different days that they milled it, and the difference between the two day cuts could not be measured. When I laid the wood, I thought I would treat them as one. in the end, over a 10 foot span, there was about 1/4 " difference. I had a big job trying to lay it, and keep it straight. They had to touch up the edges of the knives. This is a good company who did their very best to try to help me. I did get the floor nailed down, but I can see the difference. I do not understand why You would want to stand behind those things by Yourself. I can feel the pain already coming on :boat: I would feel I was on a sinking ship!


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## SeanPaul (Oct 12, 2010)

Hi all,
wooden floor gives a traditional look to our house and you should use varnish polish to protect your wooden floors from insects or any other damage


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## burkhome (Sep 5, 2010)

Nurumkin said:


> I know I could probably get a very good deal if I shopped around and just bought it but I'm not really looking to save money. My wife and I bought this house precisely because it needed so much work and we want to be able to say that we did absolutely everything ourselves. I already had an offer from a local wood floor maker who sells me my wood pellets to take my rough cut wood and deliver wood flooring for $1.20 per foot and I turned him down.


 I respect your desire to do it yourself. In my younger days, I was the same. It was through that stubborness that I learned the most. Turning back the clock, I wouldn't do it any differently.

I would kiln dry the lumber. Take your time and make it a labor of love. I guarantee you will be smarter at the end of the job than you are now. You don't learn by not doing.


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## Rick C. (Dec 17, 2008)

Nurumkin, I milled and laid my own wood floor.1 1/2x8 all 10'long boards and yellow pine. I will say it was a major PITA, I cussed the entire time to a point a neighbor came over and offered me a zanax:furious:. We finally got it done and it looks like we wanted it to look.
Lesson learned.A person would have to be crazy to undertake such a task a second time.:laughing: Now we're getting ready to put 1"x3 1/2" hickory down,I'll be milling it myself. It's rough cut from the sawmill and has been in his barn for a couple years, is at 16%moisture content now and I'll kiln dry it to 6% or as close therebouts as I can get. While the process is moving forward I'll probably say words that make the neighbor offer me another zanax and again I'll decline and let her know I'm just blowin' steam and when it's done I'll have learned something most folks never will.
Best of luck with yer floor,I'm with ya,
Rick


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## Nurumkin (Dec 9, 2009)

*re*

Just a quick update on this project. I have not gotten around to even starting it. I started a new business in the spring and have been away from home 5-6 days a week. The plus side is my business is hugely successful so far the down side is that I have no time for projects and the wife wants them done. So I may have to just give in and pay a local flooring maker to mill it for me ( I think he said he wants 1.20 per ft.)


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## TS3660 (Mar 4, 2008)

Well, if your business is a big success, then I'd pay someone. Sometimes we just can't do everything. I am one to try though. Build your business, retire early, and then do the woodworking.


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## karluurb (Aug 10, 2011)

need advice about the wooden flooring in my bathroom is it possible? Please suggest me something valuable.


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