Anyone have Beech wood flooring?

simi-steading · #1 12/04/12, 03:44 PM

So I learned from Darren that I have a lot of Beech trees on our property. Once he showed me one that had fallen, I got to looking around while I was out exploring, and realized we have a lot of them...

Been reading up on Beech wood and flooring made from it, and it seems like it may be a good way to put in my flooring somewhat cheap after I get the floors fixed.

Was wondering if anyone has beech wood floors, and if so, how well has it held up for you, and have you had any problems with it? I've been reading mixed reviews...

Has anyone done much working with beech? I read it can be work to get it to dry properly without a lot of cracking and checking if dried too fast, or staining if too slow.

Ozarks Tom · #2 12/04/12, 06:38 PM

It takes a long, long time to air dry hardwoods, and then they're not dry enough for in-house use. The moisture content needs to be between 7 - 9%, air dry won't get it below 19%. Check your area for someone who does small job kiln drying.

The wider the flooring boards, the more movement (shrinkage & expansion) you'll get from season to season. If not dried properly, you will have done a lot of work for nothing.

I was in just about every aspect of the wood flooring business for 25+ years. PM me if you'd like some further information.

simi-steading · #3 12/04/12, 07:03 PM

Good to know there Tom.. I'm sure there will be someone in that area with a kiln.. lots of timber cutting..

I'd probably be going with 4" wide. Also from what I am gathering, it's a fairly humid area...

It would be a couple years before I get to the point of doing this, just kind of thinking things out at this point.

Yvonne's hubby · #4 12/05/12, 12:23 AM

Beech would not be my first choice for making flooring for several reasons. One... it is extremely hard... two... it warps and twists a lot during the curing stage. You will end up with a lot of waste, and even the wood you do manage to salvage will be difficult to work with. Beech is excellent wood for paint brush handles, and shop broom heads or other applications that require short lengths of durable and very hard wood. It is usually "worked" green while its only about as hard as steel, rather than granite once it gets dry.

vicker · #5 12/05/12, 12:36 AM

I only have experience with working with it green. I used a good bit of it on some projects around my cabin, and built the entire chicken coop with it. When it dries it shrinks, a lot. It's a fairly light colored wood, without much visual character, no grain to speak of. I never knew it to be particularly hard though. Certainly not as hard as hickory or white oak, in my experience. I would expect that it would dent and gouge easily, but I could be wrong. I know of a person who made a club house with cheap pine for flooring. After a couple of parties, with women dancing in high heals, the floor looked like they'd been wearing cleats. That would be my fear with beech. I've just never heard of it being used as flooring. When I worked at the mill in WV, most of the beech went to Budweiser. The rest was a bit hard to market. I think they sold some to furniture manufacturers (for couches and such).

Darren · #6 12/05/12, 01:20 AM

There's a couple of solid hardwood flooring manufacturers in WV within maybe a few hours drive of you. A bunch of it that was donated for a school planned by a parent group ended up as wainscoting after the state built the school. It's beautiful stuff.

You might want to consider getting oak cut for the floor joists. There used to be places you could get it treated. Not sure about that now. There is a tie plant about an hour away. I had a bunch of 8x8s treated years ago. I'm not sure what the treatment was but it wasn't creosote.

simi-steading · #7 12/05/12, 06:06 AM

As much as I'd love to do the joists in treated oak, there's just no way that's going to be affordable for us Darren, plus the ime to get it done...

I'll be getting treated pine joists from Lowe's in Buckhannon...

I'd really like to use some of the Beech from the property to make the flooring, but sounds like that's not going to happen either after hearing comments here. I"ll look into those hardwood flooring places you're mentioning too Darren.... Maybe something will be affordable..

We're doing all of this on a really tight budget. Not cheap having two homes and trying to fix one of them at the same time.

Darren · #8 12/05/12, 08:27 AM

It wouldn't hurt to call the plant in Sutton and see if they can help you out. It might be a good idea to research treatment processes and hardware compatibility. Things have changed since I bought the oak. Lowes may be the best choice. Do you have any idea when the house was built?

http://www.wvforestry.com/Treating%20Plants.DIR.pdf

simi-steading · #9 12/05/12, 08:34 AM

That's a great list. Thanks so much... I'll check into it.

We were told they think the house was originally built in 1890 or so, but I really think it was earlier than that. I also think it started as a one room one story house, then added a second story from some of the things I've seen already.

I got a look under the livingroom floor, and it's been somewhat recently rebuilt. It's done in 2x10 treated pine. However, someone put a beam in the middle, and it's just resting on the ground, and not on piers, so I'll have to lift that a little and get piers under it. It does sag a little in the middle... they are 16 foot joists.

The joists in the dining room that are all broke and rotted are old dimension cut 2x8 oak it looks like, but they could be 2x10.... I was just eyeballing..... probably never treated....

vicker · #10 12/05/12, 08:37 AM

The plant in Sutton uses creosote, if I'm not mistaken. If Braxton lumber in flatwoods is still opporating, they are pretty economical for milling and planing small batches of tongue and grove and such. Don't know if the do flooring boards.

simi-steading · #11 12/05/12, 08:47 AM

I have everything I could make flooring with... I just need to get some tree's cut up would be the biggest part of getting it done... and then kiln dried... I don't have a mill, but I would either build or buy one that would get me by... That's the getting to part slowing me down some.. .getting a mill... but it is in the plans... right now, just getting a floor to stand on is my biggest priority.. LOL..

FarmerRob · #12 12/05/12, 08:57 AM

Check out Lumber Liquidators if you are going to buy wood flooring. The local places might beat them but that would be hard to do. They have locations all over the place and a pretty user friendly (great graphics and prices listed) website. They usually have the best sale of the year in January.

simi-steading · #13 12/05/12, 09:04 AM

We may end up living there for a while with plywood flooring until we can get the funds, and the time... We've been doing a lot of time off figuring... We planned on trying for every other weekend to get out there to work, but right now it's looking like maybe 4 day weekends once a month...

Man is this not fun trying to figure out how to get as much as possible done in two places at once in a year and a half..

solidwoods · #14 12/05/12, 09:11 AM

Howdy
I sawmill/kiln dry and make flooring to furniture (woodworking since 82).
Beech is perfectly fine for flooring. It really looks good quartersawn.
Beech is a wood that does not air dry well because it requires a very strict drying schedule (how much moisture loss it will tolerate per day).
So it needs to milled and sent straight to the kiln.

I charge $1.25sf from customers logs and $1.05sf from customers lumber (not used lumber,, that's $1.65sf).
Takes 6-8weeks in the kiln

Around here (quite poor area) portable mills charge about $.25sf with a minimum of lumber to cut or they will charge a set up fee. If you consider that way, you may have a neighbor that would want milling done also- this makes it easier to get a portable mill to come out for small jobs.

The leftovers can be used to make door/window case, moldings, strip counter top or cutting boards or a butcher block (vertical grain glue up is nice).

You could have the mill make you some of these strips and you could make a product that I make called Woodweave.
It can be installed like a drop ceiling and used indoors or under a porch.

simi-steading · #15 12/05/12, 09:17 AM

That's a really cool looking ceiling... That would be great for a porch, but then I start thinking about all the wasps that would love getting under it and building nests...

So when you say price per sq foot, you mean sq foot taken up in the kiln, not board foot right?

Ya know.. I could get real back woods here and figure this out... I got a couple of old very large oil tanks on the property (as in 10 ft across and 15 ft tall or so... ) Knock one over on it's side and turn it into a kiln..

Darren · #16 12/05/12, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vicker

The plant in Sutton uses creosote, if I'm not mistaken. If Braxton lumber in flatwoods is still opporating, they are pretty economical for milling and planing small batches of tongue and grove and such. Don't know if the do flooring boards.

You're right about the creosote. Sutton buys all of the tie lumber in this area. Coastal uses a different treatment process. Braxton used to advertise locally. I'm not sure if they're still operating. I've got a card for a local man who works there. They're actually located in Heaters which is north of Flatwoods. He has a large woodmizer setup and sells lumber. I'll try to find that.

Braxton Lumber Co in Heaters WV 26627 - Local Yellow Pages West Virginia - Yellowexplorer

simi-steading · #17 12/05/12, 10:17 AM

I'm in no hurry Darren, but I sure am appreciating all the information... I'm just thinking things out for the future is all I'm doing... Learning a lot in the process too..

Darren · #18 12/05/12, 10:32 AM

There's a couple of places that can saw the beech for you if you want to go that route. One is less than a half hour from you. There's also a possibility you may be about to get the lumber dried. There's a lot of local resources in the area and more within a two hour radius if you want to buy ready made solid wood flooring. From what I've heard they do sell locally for less than you'll pay at an outlet.

Even the high school has a Woodmizer. The shop teacher may let a class cut the stuff for you. Like anywhere else it's who you know. That can often get you a deal. You're doing it right. Talk to people. Get as much info as possible. Then get it done.

o&itw · #19 12/05/12, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darren

There's a couple of solid hardwood flooring manufacturers in WV within maybe a few hours drive of you. A bunch of it that was donated for a school planned by a parent group ended up as wainscoting after the state built the school. It's beautiful stuff.

You might want to consider getting oak cut for the floor joists. There used to be places you could get it treated. Not sure about that now. There is a tie plant about an hour away. I had a bunch of 8x8s treated years ago. I'm not sure what the treatment was but it wasn't creosote.

Oak is a very poor wood for floor joists, at least in a house. Oak sags with age. It remains strong, but you end up with the center of your floor being considerably lower than the outside edge. You can see this on many old farmhouses in the Midwest. When you see a roof that bows down from the ridge to the wall, you can almost bet it is oak. That only looks bad on roofs, but when all your bookshelves lean out from the wall, and when you mop the floor, an inch deep puddle forms in the middle, it isn't too cool. Oak does make good flooring...again, it wood have to be dried, and preferably molded T&G.

simi-steading · #20 12/05/12, 02:52 PM

I can vouch for the sagged floors.. Pretty sure our up stairs is oak, and they have about a 2 inch sag across 16 feet. I am planning on removing a couple separator walls upstairs (no load bearing) removing the flooring, then slowly lifting the ceiling from downstairs over a couple months, then sistering in pine joists..