Making wood flooring

sancraft · #1 03/26/05, 10:41 PM

Has anyone ever made wood flooring from plywood? I was thinking if we stained and polyurethened it, it could work. Any other suggestions if this won' t work?

Laura · #2 03/27/05, 01:39 AM

I was talking with a friend about that the other day. She saw where a lady laid plywood, took a permanent marker and drew plank lines before putting on the polyurathane. It turned out looking just like a plank floor. It is something I am considering as this carpet has got to go.

Emily Nouvertne · #3 03/27/05, 06:07 AM

We have used plywood in both our last house and this. We used to have a 225# English Mastiff Dog that could tear up linolium faster than we could put it down. So we resorted to this. We lay plywood, then we put luan (a thin, almost panel-like plywood) over it. From what my hubby says, that gives the floor enough substanance to put any kind of flooring on top (we hope someday to be rich enough to put ceramic tile down, hasn't happened yet). We used Sherwin-Williams floor enamel paint on (I like the look of brick red in my home)...lasts a long time and has a nice shine to it even after 8 years! We have never used polyurethane on this flooring in either home. We have had many good comments on our floors, some thinking it was slate!

moopups · #4 03/27/05, 06:23 AM

Plywood makes adequate flooring, if you are seeking a dramatic apperance; first treat the plywood to a torching; that is run a torch over the sheets before they are installed. the soft woods will change color to a much more darkened apperance, the hard woods will not change much. The results is very dramatic to the eye, and there must be several coatings of sealer to keep the apperance. The plywood will take on an apperance similiar to the contrast of zebra stripes, a very cheap and strong effect visually.

**fordson major** · #5 03/27/05, 06:24 AM

we put a base coat color down then after dry we splatered many different colors!! two coats of urethane and it lasted well for over 15 years . heavy traffic and DOGS!!

when we put this floor in in 1974 it was supposed to be a temporary floor in the office for our boarding kennel. also used as the through way for the welping room .halfinch thick exterior ply wood and a thick coat of urethane (todays may not be as strong) it lasted well to countless numbers of dog paws and accidents .it was replaced early nintys with a 1/4 inch ply and tile on top that have not given as good service.

**fordson major** · #6 03/27/05, 06:31 AM

recently on our local freecycle some one was giving away two gallons of poly ureathane and another small cans of oil base paint. would not hurt to post a wanted with your local freecycle. also the local land fill has a reuse section and a paint deptment. if you can save a bit on the finish more for other things . also great spots for doors ,windows and other build material.

Ravenlost · #7 03/27/05, 06:48 AM

Many years ago my Grandpa used plywood flooring in their tiny new house and then painted it. That was more than 25 years ago and that floor is still holding up (has been repainted though

).

MorrisonCorner · #8 03/27/05, 06:48 AM

We've also used ply... 6 dogs... doesn't hold up that well to 6 dogs, you definitely get wear and traffic areas. But hey... if I lived in a colonial home those wear patterns would be historic and lovely instead of... you know... tacky.

So I've decided they are historic.

And lovely!

By jingo!

moonwolf · #9 03/27/05, 07:08 AM

After putting an addition to the house only the exterior plywood was on the floor because we couldn't yet afford to finish over it. So it was painted with exterior grade floor paint and lasted 3 years with no problem. Then we had local ash cut, planed and grooved to finish it off for a permanent floor. It's much quieter now, and more durable but I'm sure the plywood floor would have lasted, though I'm thinking a double layer or at least 1" thick would be the better way to go.

Windy in Kansas · #10 03/27/05, 07:26 AM

If you do decide to go with plywood for your flooring you should probably get plywood that is designed to be used for subflooring. It has tongue and groove edges that would help prevent movement.

Will you be using a subflooring underneath the actual layer of flooring? That would stiffen the give of it up quite a bit.

Remember to alternate seam patterns, i.e. start one row with a full sheet, the next with a half sheet so that the seams fall midway on the previous sheet.

sancraft · #11 03/27/05, 10:18 AM

I was planning on laying the plywood over the plywood sub-floor for more stability. I also saw a commercial for a flooring warehouse that has yellow pine flooring for .99 per sqaure ft. I may go with that if I can afford it.

bearkiller · #12 03/27/05, 12:26 PM

Take a gander at the "Forever Floor" in March/April 2005 Backwoods Home. Got my attention and may solve your flooring problem!

bearkiller

grasshopper · #13 03/27/05, 04:13 PM

Plywood should work well as long as its done right. It seems to me that if someone is going to go through all the work of laying a floor, it is just as much work to lay nice wood as it is to lay plywood. But it is a cheaper way to go. Here is a short article on laying floor that could be used for plywood:

http://www.deliberatelife.com/content/view/42/91/

D · #14 03/27/05, 06:42 PM

I would vote for the real wood, like the pine you mentioned. But, if you did go with plywood a) Emily's right about enamel or epoxy type paint, b) if you did want polyurethane, get heavy duty stuff like varathane, or triple the coats. Windy has the right idea about toungue-n-groove, though I'm not sure it's necessary over good subfloor. I'd also get the best grade of plywood I could afford -- no OSB or thin stuff. Better than pine would be any kind of hard wood. Long term, tile is your best bet. Good luck.

JoyKelley · #15 03/27/05, 08:20 PM

I saw a floor made out of the planks from pallets, they laid them, ran a sander over them adn sealed the;m, htey looked very rustic and nice

debitaber · #16 03/27/05, 09:09 PM

I would like to hear more aboput the forever florring. sounds like something I need, really bad. i need a new floor in my kitchen, and like most homesteaders no money, and it must hold up for years of hard use. It is not uncommon for us to have baby goats, pups, have had a calf, a deer, and you name it in the kitchen , when born in cold weather. so i would like to hear more about a good cheap floor, that will hold up.
thanks.

mellba · #17 03/28/05, 08:08 AM

On Trading Spaces they cut luan into 16" squares (I think) and then put it down on top of the existing floor and alternated the grain of the luan. They may have stained it two colors, too. It looked great, but I wondered if it would hold up.

FolioMark · #18 03/28/05, 11:13 AM

Ive seen big squares cut from OSB as well, stained colors and laid like tile and then poly urethane over it. Nice effect sort of like parquet. Also instead of plywood you might try Hardiboard siding the kind that looks like wooden boards. I used it as flooring in a room that gets lots of traffic. Stained and poly'd, its easy to wash and sweep and after more than 6 years, its just starting to show a few wear spots. A good coat of new poly ought to make it good as new. Hardiboard is usually a bit cheaper than good plywood.