Anyone put down their own wood flooring?

agmantoo · #21 07/30/10, 03:01 PM

If you want to continue to "toenail" and not have the expense of the nails see if you can locate a stapler. Staples are cheaper and a staple will hold more than a nail. With a large rubber hammer and a stapler there is no need to get down on the floor. You can bump the flooring into place, put your foot on the flooring piece and "seat" the flooring with the impact from the staple gun as the staples are driven into place.

FunnyRiverFarm · #22 07/30/10, 03:52 PM

We put down our own wood floors...it is very time consuming. We did the heavy traffic areas with oak, the dining room is cherry, and our living room is pine. We used tongue and groove for the oak and cherry but the pine was just plank boards that we had milled off of our property. We used screws...measured pre-drilled all of the holes in each board...and then we cut dowel rods to fit in each screw hole...it was very tedious. Turned out lovely though. I know pine is not a traditional flooring material but we think the dents and dings give it character.

Oh...and I would think twice about staining the floor because it will naturally darken to a deep reddish honey color in a few years. Obviously, it is up to you...but I think the natural wood is just beautiful.

ceresone · #23 07/30/10, 05:27 PM

What I laid, by myself, was Hardwood flooring. And, if I remember right, I was pushing 70 when I laid the last. I love doing it, my Dad taught me as a young girl.

oz in SC V2.0 · #24 07/30/10, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ceresone

What I laid, by myself, was Hardwood flooring. And, if I remember right, I was pushing 70 when I laid the last. I love doing it, my Dad taught me as a young girl.

Feel like taking a drive and helping out???

TNHermit · #25 07/30/10, 06:20 PM

IF you do the face nail you can lay a couple rows as you go.
agmantoo has a good idea with the stapler. its the same as a finish nailer. If you can get a 3 ft kid in there and teach him he won't have to bend over.
I would check the pawn shops for a stapler like agmantoo was talking about. Pawn shops are FULL of tools It ll save you some hammer marks

ceresone · #26 07/31/10, 07:22 AM

I'd love to do it, if I could ever leave home. Dad taught me it was just like a puzzle, look at the wood grain, and how you wanted the surface to look. First load of hardwood flooring we bought was all mixed wood, even cherry. then, over the years, it was all oak. First I laid, I had to drill a tiny hole first for the nail, so I wouldnt split it. Last I laid, I used my SIL's air gun, so much faster.
Kinda fooled my SIL, he had just joined the family, and didnt think old women could do it!!

woodsy · #27 08/01/10, 07:46 AM

Nice looking job, straight and tight !
Like others have said, its a time consuming process no matter how you go about it but in the end you will be happy with it.
We've been working pine flooring into the 2nd floor, about 1/2 way done now and covering about 500 sq.ft. when finished. The widths are 7,8,9 and 10 mostly 8- 10' long.
But, the wood came from the back 20 so it has been very labor intensive.
Bandsaw it, dry it, plane it, straighten it, groove it, square it, nail it blah blah blah.
Oh, polyurethane it. All hand nailed, it will be worth it when i can walk away from it completed, till then.........

oz in SC V2.0 · #28 08/05/10, 05:18 PM

Well I am now done with putting the floors down,learned a few lessons if I ever need to do it again,such as listen to my wife when she offers advice...LOL

I ended up face nailing as I had some unexpected expenses and didn't want to spend the money on renting the flooring nailer...

But I can now at least say I have hand nailed 1000+ square feet of flooring.

Ended up with quite a bit left over,either Lumber Liquidators vastly overestimates the waste or I am incredibly frugal...it might be the latter as I refused to waste any of the wood,even if it meant pushing it in place with my legs while stretching to hammer the nail in.

We are going back up to finish off the prepping,sinking some of the nailheads that I didn't do,putting in a few nails where there were squeaks and then filling in the thousands of nail holes....

Anyone put down their own wood flooring? - Homesteading Questions

Anyone put down their own wood flooring? - Homesteading Questions

Explorer · #29 08/05/10, 05:36 PM

OZ, now you need a new heating stove as that junker looks out of place in your mini mansion.

oz in SC V2.0 · #30 08/05/10, 05:47 PM

That we do....we realised that last Winter.

We actually have a wood stove company in our town,might go see what he has IF we ever have some free time.

TNHermit · #31 08/05/10, 06:16 PM

OZ Man

If your going to do any sanding there is a water base filler for the nail holes you can use. You can put it on with a rubber grout trowel. Like troweling cement The haze will sand off easily. Save you bunch of time. I'll try and get you a name but I'm down with Sciatica right now.

pheasantplucker · #32 08/05/10, 08:58 PM

Floor is looking good. Looks similar to the T&G floor my wife and I put in a few years back. It's helpful to have an assistant. She could stand on boards that were a little cupped, or warped. I bought a spring loaded nailer from Lowe's. Nails are bonded...just fill the nailer with a strip. Close it up. Put the lip on the tongue of the floor board and bang one good one with the mallet. We did about 840 square feet but it took two weekends. My naileer cost around $300, but it was a good investment. Oh...I'm sure you've figured this out by now...knee pads are a must!

oz in SC V2.0 · #33 08/05/10, 10:17 PM

Now that it is done I believe knee pads would have been wonderful....

I ended up sitting on the floor and sliding my butt along.

Texasdirtdigger · #34 08/06/10, 06:31 AM

Beautiful job!

oz in SC V2.0 · #35 08/06/10, 11:21 AM

Well thanks for the praise.

Next question....

What can be put on the floors to make them dark?
Like an almost black/brown dark?

I have been looking for alternatives to commercial stains and adding tannins to the wood might work...

Any help is appreciated.

We are holding off going up there this weekend so it will be next weekend before we stain.

**Cabin Fever** · #36 08/07/10, 09:12 AM

Our pine floors were "prestained" from originally being used as tobacco barn siding for many years.

Ya know, I have never been satisfied with my staining jobs on pine. I end up with a lot of tiny dark specks in the wood that look like mold or mildew spots. I'd be tempted to try a coat or two of a dark oil-based varnish stain and then using polyurethane varish made for floors over that. Also suggest using a flat sheen varnish as the final varish. A glossy varnish will show every scratch and smear and reflection.

Whatever you do, do a lot of testing on scrap pieces before you attack the floor.

Are you going to surface nail the floor with square head nails for that "rustic" look? If so, I'd suggest buying them at http://www.tremontnail.com/

TNHermit · #37 08/07/10, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cabin Fever

Our pine floors were "prestained" from originally being used as tobacco barn siding for many years.

Ya know, I have never been satisfied with my staining jobs on pine. I end up with a lot of tiny dark specks in the wood that look like mold or mildew spots. I'd be tempted to try a coat or two of a dark oil-based varnish stain and then using polyurethane varish made for floors over that. Also suggest using a flat sheen varnish as the final varish. A glossy varnish will show every scratch and smear and reflection.

Whatever you do, do a lot of testing on scrap pieces before you attack the floor.

Are you going to surface nail the floor with square head nails for that "rustic" look? If so, I'd suggest buying them at http://www.tremontnail.com/

Nobody gets a good stain jobe on pine

the secret is to
"seal" pine before staining. You can use oil., Thinned varnish or lacquer washcoat. It will absorb more in the softer more absorbant fibers. Harden and make the stain more even.

As a note to OZ Man. Tobacco juice makes a great stain. It has a nice color too it and you can make it as dark as you want. Just soak a plug of tobacco in hot water and have at it. Take some scrap and try till you get the color you want. but then you have to let the floor dry to put your finish coat on. i recommend one of the hardening oils as they are easy to touch up. And with the tobacco juice you never have to worry about running out or losing your stain

. Just be careful with oil. Any oil soaked rags can spontaneously combust if thrown in a pile. hang them to dry. You can also roll on the oil and its not critical. Any "wet spots" can just be wiped up after a day or so. But the pine will take a lot.

I've done this ,some may be aghast, but you can use old motor oil for stain and finish too. Just have to wait 3000 miles between coats

Addendum

When you seal pine before you stain when you do stain the stain will come out lighter and you will have to do a second or third coat. Also if you stain and still get the occasional dark spot just reseal. But don't just do the spot or it will be blotchy.

**Cabin Fever** · #38 08/07/10, 10:07 AM

Thanks for the tip TNHermit!

wyld thang · #39 08/07/10, 10:21 AM

i did a woodfloor with my son in a huge house w lots of wacky angles, it does go much faster with two people. basically one person is on their knees, one on their feet. He did the nail gun and tapping in, i cut the boards, laid them out "pretty"(random is harder than it looks ha), kept measuring to make sure it was straight, carted the boxes of flooring around. i kept the cut ends to use on ends, very little waste and we got to take home the excess for free. you wouldnt believe how much good stuff is thrown away on consruction sites!

kidney belt and knee pads for the floor/knees person--its silly not to

the floor looks beautifull

7thswan · #40 08/07/10, 11:10 AM

Boy, I'm glad I saw this thread. Just got off Lumberliquidators, Trying to make up my mind. Mom has quite a bit of left over prefinished maple and I think I might want to mix it with other woods. Kinda like they did it long ago, use what they had. This house is 100 yrs old. Figured I 'd face nail it with square cut nails. But how would I go about sanding and sealing after the square nails are in? Can I sand over them or do I counter sink them? ps, is this yellow pine, or the other?