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My husband and I are renovating a 100 yr old farm house. We’re on a tight budget and would like to install wood plank flooring ourselves. It will then be stained and stenciled.
Does it have to be tongue and groove? Can it just be nailed down if it isn’t tongue and groove? Has anyone ever used this method?
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Yes and no,
You could put it down without a tongue and groove however there will be the potential for problems down the road. Some of those are the possiblity of dust etc. forced into the grooves between boards causing the boards to warp. You will have a harder time keeping the boards down and unwarped. Exposed fasteners, Squeaks etc.
I assume that you are putting the flooring down over subflooring, if not plan on anything spilled to leak down to the floor below. Also plan on when the floor opens up during the heating season looking directly into the room below.
With that as a warning I'm going to do just that in one room because I want the squeaky warped floor as part of the design....
Another way to install the flooring would be if you have access underneath the flooring you could screw up and that would hold the floor down without exposed fasteners.
*I recomend strongly against using standard boards for flooring. Get T&G for sure. If you have to, make the tounge and groove yourself with a router & bit set-up. Maybe even try bsicuit joineing the material. Otherwise, laying the floor with no joinery at the edges is gonna give you heck, primarily warping and cupping and you'll hate it.Pete
*C.I screw and plug non t&g plank floors. If you don't try to go too wide this works fine. A 6" plank won't show the cracks a 12" plank will, but expect some. Buy a matched set of countersink-plugcutters, make a template to set the screw holes even, use square drive screws,and acclimate the flooring. You can match the grain with the plugs or use a different wood for contrast. Glue the plugs and chisel off a tad high and let the sander finish off.KK
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My husband and I are renovating a 100 yr old farm house. We're on a tight budget and would like to install wood plank flooring ourselves. It will then be stained and stenciled.
Does it have to be tongue and groove? Can it just be nailed down if it isn't tongue and groove? Has anyone ever used this method?