Interesting flooring option

[farmmom]

I was in a tack shop yesteday that had OSB flooring. It was cut in 4'x4' sections with caulking (looked like the type used to seal log homes) in between each section. It was stained and had a nice shine on it. It looked really neat. I've started thinking about using that idea in my home. Any thoughts?

[7thswan]

farmmom, i don't want to cause a thread drift. Someone here posted pictures awhile back of a floor done where they took peices of brown paper and tore it in uneven shapes. Then put it down and then varnished it. It looked really nice , kinda like leather. Maybe someone can find the picture of it.

[Alice In TX/MO]

OSB flooring:


Brown paper flooring:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...oor.html?cat=6

[ErinP]

Originally Posted by 7thswan

farmmom, i don't want to cause a thread drift. Someone here posted pictures awhile back of a floor done where they took peices of brown paper and tore it in uneven shapes. Then put it down and then varnished it. It looked really nice , kinda like leather. Maybe someone can find the picture of it.

Oooh.... I've never thought about it for flooring!

I did the torn paper bag thing on the walls in the living room of a house we used to live in and it came out beautifully. Though I only went up to about chair-rail height with it since it would have been so dark, otherwise.
It was SO easy to do though, not to mention really cheap. lol I used kraft paper on a roll though because it was easier than trying to find enough paper bags.

Alice , I like the looks of that osb floor . Do you know what was put on it for the finish ?

[GoldenCityMuse]

Just don't like OSB for flooring, if it gets wet, it really swells. And it is hard to throrughly waterproof it completely.

Plus, the glue really smells, a problem if anyone has a chemical sensitivity.

[farmmom]

Originally Posted by GoldenCityMuse

Just don't like OSB for flooring, if it gets wet, it really swells. And it is hard to throrughly waterproof it completely.

Plus, the glue really smells, a problem if anyone has a chemical sensitivity.

So, that leaves out the kitchen, dining area, bathroom and laundry, unless I can find a way to water proof it. I wonder if you could coat it on all sides before putting it down, and it be ok.

[oregon woodsmok]

I've seen it with the smaller wood chips, and it was scored into squares like tile, with the scoring darkened, and looked exactly like cork flooring.

I was told it was finished with "gym floor", whatever that means.

[chickenista]

I have seen beautiful floors made from squares of fine plywood, stained and sealed. They were in a checkerboard pattern.
And someone here posted (I think) a couple who had madfe flooring from rings of branches. Time consuming beyond belief, but a stunning floor!

[texican]

I'd never ever let moisture get on it... keep a very heavy coating of something on top of it.

Keep tweezers (or pliers) on hand for pulling splinters out of your feet.

OSB wasn't designed or meant for flooring. Sub-flooring sure, they even have tongue and grooved 3/4" meant for it.

Regular plywood is only a dollar or two more per sheet.

Btw... in a previous life, I made good money replacing osb sub-floors. Get a little wet, they head south in a hurry.

[jacqueg]

Sometime in the 70s, I was in an old restaraunt (probably 40's vintage). For the floor, someone had cut slices of 2x4 and used them as tile. Nice looking and cheap. Don't know what they laid the slices with though. Lotta work for a large expanse!

[||Downhome||]

use to sell a product called rexthane. the v.o.c laws put that to bed not sure what replaced it.

this is not the same product but seems to have a lot of the properties

http://protective.sherwin-williams.c...3Aproduct-6872

[7thswan]

farmmom,you could also cut sheets of plywood into diffrent widths of strips to look like boards, and lay them just like a wood floor.Have the grains going diffrent ways, to accent the diffrences. Use cement nails to nail it down -they are square cut.I've seen it done on a blog, it looked like real wood in the pictures.

[arcticow]

I had planned to use red oak plywood on a floor in AK; would've looked real nice.

[Dexter]

Friends did a really nice job creating a "wide plank" birch plywood floor.
They said after it was done they may as well have used real hardwood because of the amount of labour and expense of plywood.

OSB = bad idea.

[fishhead]

Originally Posted by farmmom

So, that leaves out the kitchen, dining area, bathroom and laundry, unless I can find a way to water proof it. I wonder if you could coat it on all sides before putting it down, and it be ok.

I don't see why you couldn't. You could also do it outside so you wouldn't have to deal with the fumes and drips.

[mellba]

Originally Posted by 7thswan

farmmom,you could also cut sheets of plywood into diffrent widths of strips to look like boards, and lay them just like a wood floor.Have the grains going diffrent ways, to accent the diffrences. Use cement nails to nail it down -they are square cut.I've seen it done on a blog, it looked like real wood in the pictures.

Just this week saw a bedroom floor my cousin did this way. He cut luan plywood in 6 inch wide strips, stained the wood a dark color and put lots of polyurethane on it. It looks great. Wish I had a picture.

[fishhead]

I was just thinking about those paper bag floors and started wondering why a person couldn't just buy different colored construction paper to add more variety.

Does the polyurethane give off a lot of fumes while you are applying it?

[Beeman]

If you look at salvage stores laminate flooring is less then $1 a sq. ft. and it's designed to be flooring. It isn't non chemical but neither is OSB,plywood and everything you'd have to coat it with to make it useable as a floor.

[cc-rider]

Until I can afford "real" flooring, I'm going to use the paper bag flooring idea. All the guys at work have been saving the brown kraft packing paper when they unpack materials. I always laugh because they'll bring me some and say, "here, now you can do the rest of the kitchen, too, huh??" They think I'm silly, but that's ok. I won't be $100K in debt on *MY* house. Before I put the top sealer on it, though, I'm going to paint grout lines and make it look like large tiles.

The upstairs of my house has plywood subfloor rather than OSB because it shows through the ceiling rafters on the first floor (exposed rafters). I think for that floor, I'm going to use the router and put lines in the floor as if they are wide planks. I'm hoping I can disguise the edges of the 4X8's better that way, too. And then stain it fairly dark and poly it. Might even put some dowel pegs in to make it look pegged down. Throw a couple big rag rugs over it and called it good. Heck, maybe I'll never get around to putting a "real" floor up there?!