I scored surplus hardwood plank flooring from an out-of-work contractor.
This is real, 3/4-inch tongue-and-groove hardwood flooring. Not laminate. Not “engineered” hardwood, but the real deal. Ain’t it pretty?
I’ve just laid pieces down on the floor to get an idea of what I might do, so don’t get all bothered yet about things like “wrong” lengths or placement.
I’ve got 2.5 boxes of 2-1/4″ width oak, two boxes of 3-1/4″ width oak and just under two boxes of 4″ Lyptus (a hybrid eucalyptus, plantation-grown in Brazil; sustainable and all that). So I have to get a little creative about how I put it all together. I’ve been messing around with possible layouts.
The two widths of oak work perfectly together. They’re the same brand. I just have to make sure my design doesn’t run me out of one plank width before the other. The Lyptus is more problematic. It’s a different brand and while the oak tongues fit fine into the Lyptus grooves, the Lyptus tongues don’t quiiiiiiiite fit into the oak’s groves. So most likely I’ll end up with a simple Lyptus border and an oak middle to minimize tongue trimming and cussing over fit problems.
This is for an entryway, only 85 square feet. I have about 120 square feet o’ stuff, so should have plenty of flexibility in working out the puzzle.
I had to “cheat” a bit and buy one box of the oak at full retail at a floor store to have enough of both widths. Even so, we’re talking less than $1.70 a square foot overall. Normal is $6-$10 a foot for these materials. Of course the installed cost, figuring wastage, nails, etc. will be closer to $2.50 per square foot, but I won’t complain about that!
Now I have to figure out how to do blind nailing. (And yes, I know there are special gadgets for that, but this is such a small space I doubt it would be worth making two trips to the Big City to rent and return one.)
Anyhow, cool, eh?
I rented a hardwood flooring hammer when I did this, and it was money well spent (maybe $45 for the day?). Makes it easy peasy.
I have laid hardwood floor only once, and will say that I wouldn’t want to hand nail it. I suppose worst case is you make the attempt, discover that nailing oak is no fun, and then do the rental.
Nice score there for sure. You’ve been quite the bargain hound lately. Maybe you could take a trip down this way and help me find a good deal on a car?
Thanks Borepatch and jed. Yeah, I’m not looking forward to nailing through oak (even if I can pre-drill holes), and if I could rent or borrow that flooring hammer locally, I definitely would. It’s that trip to the Big City to get it and return it that makes me sigh. But we shall see …
And jed — good luck on the vehicle, but trust me, that’s one area where you probably wouldn’t want my bargain-hunting skills!
Hi,
A challenge for anyone! Yes they make special nailers for the flooring-maybe you can rent one. Don’t forget rosin paper under the wood to stop “squeeks!” Are you going to sand down the flooring or leave the different colors? (May be a challenge to sand & refinish–Minwax has many videos on youtube and their own site too on all that stuff–also check out “Bruce Floors”. A seller in the east that may have videos on installing the floor.
Good Luck!
Rusty
Claire, can the contractor network help? If the contractor had the flooring, does he have or know someone locally who has a nailer? or someone making regular trips to the Big City who can rent it and return it for you? I laid oak flooring once nailing by hand, same experience as Borepatch and jed – even if you pre-drill it’s unpleasant, unproductive and tedious. If you are going to have to drill anyway is it possible to buy flooring pegs, drill the holes for them, and peg the floor? Of course you’ll have to like the look of a pegged floor and many people don’t.
I know several people who started small DIY T&G projects without a nailer.
Don’t know anybody who finished one that way.
THAT is gonna be beautiful once it’s done !
Rusty — I’m going to keep the original finishes and create some sort of pattern with the different colors, widths, and types of wood. I have roofing felt to put under the floor, but never heard of rosin paper. Will look into that!
zelda — Never thought about pegging! I do like the look of that, though I think it works better on wide-plank floors. Hm. The contractor I bought the wood from is not only out of work but is currently in prison (I negotiated with his mom). Good point about the tools, though. I’ll see if his tools are around somewhere, or if someone else locally might have something I can borrow.
Larry — You’re scaring me! (Along with everybody else who knows something up close and personal about the travails of laying a tongue-and-groove floor.
Um … I have a feeling I’m going to hear a bunch of howls about this, but what about just nailing the edges and gluing the grooves? Forget nailing all along each groove?
I have a feeling I’m going to hear a bunch of howls about this, but what about just nailing the edges and gluing the grooves? Forget nailing all along each groove?
Not a problem. That’ll work every time you have to redo the job. 😉
Wood absorbs and releases moisture, and therefore shrinks and swells. Nailing each plank individually secures it. Gluing everything into one piece, where individual species of wood swell and shrink in different amounts, then nailing the 85 ft2 conglomeration to a different species wooden(?) floor…
Sorry I’m scaring you. Would it help if I have a masters in Architecture (construction management)?
Will this info help?
http://www.wfca.org/Pages/Hardwood-Flooring-Installation.aspx
The materials post is sort of fitting.
We’re remodeling a flip house right now and just about everything that can be bought for it on Amazon is being bought… smart knobs, door and cabinet hinges, drawer pulls, electrical plates and outlets, etc. Hopefully it all gets credited properly through your link.
“Sorry I’m scaring you. Would it help if I have a masters in Architecture (construction management)?”
Even scarier, I’m afraid. 😉 But impressive. And even if everybody weren’t agreeing (which they are, and which is unusual enough in these parts!), I’d be taking you seriously.
Ragnar — THANK YOU! I’ve been seeing quite a lot of home improvement items coming through the links lately!
Pat — Thanks for the link. Whether it helps or not, I’m not sure. As is usual on the Internet, there’s tons of info, with much of it conflicting. I’m in the process of sorting it all out and will add that to the mix.
Claire,
there’s no need to look into rosin paper; the roofing felt ( I call it tarpaper) does exactly the same thing and (at least around here) is cheaper and easier to find. A building inspector might not be happy with felt, but somehow I get the feeling that there won’t be one looking at your entryway anytime soon 😉 .
Good Luck with your project!
P.S.: Don’t let people discourage you by telling you it will be difficult to do by hand; I don’t know how many have told me it would be impossible to build a house completely by hand (without power tools) and yet I moved into mine last year. “If you put your mind to it, you can do anything” I don’t know who said that, but it’s true!!
Kyle, that is probably true of a lot of people, a lot of the time, but not everyone all the time. 🙂
I’m an older lady who has pretty much always done things myself, my way, and either enjoyed the results or suffered the consequences. As I get older, however, I find myself unable to do a lot of things simply because I don’t have the strength anymore. Case in point… I live in a real log home… 8X12 inch actual logs. They are tough as teak wood after many years. I needed to drill some holes in the interior to put up brackets for something. My cordless drill didn’t even scratch the surface. I purchased a commercial contractor’s corded drill, and could barely make a mark, no matter what drill bits I used. I don’t have the arm strength to hold the drill in place long enough, or to push on it hard enough to make any headway. I can’t imagine trying it without power tools… and strong young arms.
After much frustration, I got a young, strong neighbor man to make the holes for me, and he then insisted on putting up the brackets as well. We traded for some nice home baked bread. Everybody was happy. We’ve made several mutually agreeable exchanges since.
Hope you can find a way to get that tool, Claire. And maybe you can find a young man to help with the project too. That’s what I’d be looking for myself.
Kyle — Thanks for the confirmation on roofing felt. (Yeah, it’s tarpaper to me, too. But roofing felt sounds so much more professional. 😉 )
You built a house without power tools? Not even battery-operated tools? Gads, the questions I have — starting with, “Why?” and ending with “Have you written this up for Backwoods Home?”
I can’t wait to see the finished work of art!
Claire, This is a very small section of floor so I wouldn’t worry about a nailer. The first couple of courses may have to be done by hand anyway if there is a wall next to the section since the nailer takes some space. Even if it is in an open section of floor, this still isn’t a large section to install. A small pilot hole, maybe 1/16″ to 3/32″ and an 8D hardened spiral flooring nail say every 12″ to 16″ angled into the edge of the tongue will be fine. Drive in with a hammer until you’re about 1/8″ from the face of the flooring and finish with a 3/32″ nail set. Drive the nail fully into the corner of the tongue so that the mating groove will fully seat. The first course will also have to be fastened with nails in the groove edge or finish nails driven through the face, near the groove edge and then set and the holes filled. Now it looks like you have a layer of maybe 1/4″ or 3/8″ fir plywood set under those pieces of flooring. I can’t tell what that mottled white surface is under it. If it’s a wood sub floor with old adhesive from tile or carpet you’re OK. If it’s concrete then you won’t be able to nail the flooring and will have to use adhesive.
Thank you, Dick Summers! I had already decided that, since the first three or four courses have to be hand-nailed, I’d see how that went, then decide whether or not to track down a nailer. I’m not real competent with a nail set and will probably end up putting some dings in the flooring (hopefully not the pretty surface), but we’ll see. Thanks for giving me hope that it can be done without a trip to the Big City!
That mottled (and dirty) white surface is old (ugh) particleboard subflooring. It’s been partially replaced by plywood now. I’ll need to do some prep to even out the two surfaces, as the particleboard has swollen a bit from an old roof leak. But that shouldn’t be too bad.
After much frustration, I got a young, strong neighbor man…
Frustration? Wrong tool; flirtation is much more effective. Of course if you have home-baked bread, that works miracles.
Claire,
To answer your two questions:
I did it because a) I have a passion for history (the 18th century in particular) and wanted to experience for myself what building a house with these methods is like and b) just to prove all the naysayers wrong 🙂 . If you tell me I can’t do something it’s like throwing down a gauntlet – I will try my best to prove you wrong 😉 .
There were not even battery-operated tools involved. The foundation was dug with an excavator (by code it has to be below frostline, which is four feet deep in these parts) and I used a chainsaw to fell the trees that were there before the cabin. To give you an idea of the work: For the foundation ( concrete piers) I moved more than 20 tons of material by hand: Ten tons of gravel (delivered by the contractor who did the excavating), 50 bags of portland cement @ 94lbs., and enough sand (from the property) and water to mix it all into concrete in a wheelbarrow. Then it all was shoveled out of the wheelbarrow into the pierforms ( that’s the second half of the 20 tons).
Plus blocks ( roughly 300 8-inch) to build a fireplace and chimney and all the timbers ( a fourteen foot long 8×8 was the largest) for the frame and roof. Another little bit of “trivia”, if you will: In three days ( while putting up the planks for under the roof) I drove 4,500+ nails by hand (a pound of 10 penny nails is about a hundred pieces and I used a bit more than 45 lbs.). It’s been close to four years of weekends and vacations and the inside still needs to be finished, but it’s liveable now. I moved in on July, 4th last year – talk about an Independence Day celebration!
MamaLiberty,
you are right, of course!
I know that once I get older I probably will have to “subcontract” some things out, too.
I didn’t mean to offend anyone here; I just get a little riled when I hear what I call “negative encouragement” before someone has had the chance to try it out for themselves. In Claire’s case the “inconvenience” of driving the nails by hand might be outweighed by the “bigger inconvenience” of driving to to the Big City to rent a nailer, like she mentioned. Once you get into it, hand tools can be quite pleasureable to use.
Again, my apologies if I hit a nerve here!