# Flooring



## JP Sinclair (Nov 13, 2006)

Trying my hand at the lucrative flooring market--
Just put sawed up 1,000 bdft of 1" pine flooring, 12" wide-Old school look. I made about 2/3 clear white and 1/3 blued. The board on the right is the blued. The customer loved it, plans to mix it with the clear. I'll get some pics of the finished floor. The whole batch is at the kiln, then some T&G and ready to go!


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## hands made for wood (Nov 2, 2007)

my parents are planning to put plank flooring on our main floor. 10 or 12 in. by 1 in. pine... got any tips on installing?


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## rolldodge (Oct 16, 2007)

hands made for wood said:


> my parents are planning to put plank flooring on our main floor. 10 or 12 in. by 1 in. pine... got any tips on installing?



Use construction adhesive, pl 400, every foot. Keep it 1/2 inch from the end. Also tongue nail every foot (power nailer, 12 gauge cleats). The wood will move, keep it in the room where it's going to be installed for at least two weeks so it can acclimate to the room atmosphere.

Good luck, post pix when you're done.


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## JP Sinclair (Nov 13, 2006)

Rolldodge-What are your thoughts on using the black square head iron nails on the face?, I don't do the installs but the customer likes the look and I didn't see that it would be an issue (until he ever re-surfaces). I imagined that using boards that wide would require gluing.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

I'm interested to see how this conversation goes. i have potsed wide plank questions on several boards, and read the Woodweb archives extensively. 

The two schools of thought - yes glue wide planks and no, don't glue wide planks - seem to be about evenly split. 

dodge i get the impression you area floor man or if not may have been in the past?


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## Big Dave (Sep 16, 2006)

I install wide plank pine floors on a regular basis with no glue except for boards that terminate across a doorway or the top of a staircase. I do however recommend putting a finish head screw about every 32 inches along the length and at the butt joints.

The biggest thing to keep a wood floor from moving is keeping a constant temperature and humidity level in the home. Large swings in humidity will cause the floor to move more than anything else.

I also prefer to use flooring staples rather than nails.


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## rolldodge (Oct 16, 2007)

Floorman - ha ha, kind off. My dad has been in the hardwood flooring business for about 34 years now. I've been working with him since I was 13, now I do it as a side gig, I am a systems engineer by trade. So , to expand on my earlier conversation, we have installed up to 10" red oak, select without using glue, just nailing them ever 12 to 16" o/c. With that we have installed plugs on the butt joints as well. That consists of drilling with either a augur bit (oak is more forgiving) or forstner (sp) bits, approx 3/8 deep, screwing a 1 1/4 screw, and gluing a plug in. Never had a problem, this is also using 15 pd tar as a vapor barrier. 

We just pick up a nice pine job, 10", actually it's southern pine. The manufacturer suggests gluing (construction adhesive) every 12", keeping the glue at least 1/2 from the butt joints. In addition a 12 gauge cleat get tongue nailed as well. If I'm not mistaken both joints get two nails.


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## rolldodge (Oct 16, 2007)

Big Dave said:


> The biggest thing to keep a wood floor from moving is keeping a constant temperature and humidity level in the home. Large swings in humidity will cause the floor to move more than anything else.


I couldn't agree more!

We have had good luck with the cleats, never tried the staples though.


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