My new shop has a concrete floor. I am planning to build a wood floor with PT 2×6’s covered with OSB or plywood. This is for comfort as well as to be able to run electric and dust collection under the floor.
I would like to have something other than plywood or OSB as the floor. I am tearing down a fence that is mostly made of PT pine boards, 5 1/2″ x 72″ x 5/8″. I can plane the boards to 1/2″ thick and get 5″ x 70″ after cleaning them up. Even though I believe it is PT, after planing it looks like regular pine. Plenty of wood available. The wood would be left in the shop for a couple months before to allow moisture to adjust.
A couple questions:
1. I was planning to cut a 1/8″ groove in all the boards and use splines, instead of tongue and groove. Any problem with that?
2. Would it be best to rip each board in half and make the floor our of 2 1/2″ planks instead of 5″?
3. Either way, how much space should I leave between boards for expansion and contraction. I live in Iowa and will probably be laying the floor down in late summer/early fall. The shop will be heated and air conditioned.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Paul
Replies
That pine is way too soft for a shop floor. Every little tool you drop will leave a ding, and any heavy machinery will probably leave dimples where the feet rest.
Also, I'm assuming it will be on subfloor of some sort, as it's way too thin, you'll step right through it and your foot will get stuck like in the story of Rip Van Winkle.
However, you could find other uses for it. Maybe wainscote around the shop, or use it to make small parts shelves. I always like to see old wood put to good use, rather than going to the landfill, but a workshop floor isn't a good use for it. You should go with maple, oak or some other harder wood.
~ Ted W ~
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Thanks. It will be laid over the 3/4 inch subfloor. I know it is soft and will dent and gouge easily, but it is the shop. It is also free, as opposed to $1-2 per square foot for the least expensive wood flooring.
"...as opposed to $1-2 per square foot for the least expensive wood flooring."That's okay, Frenchy'll be along here soon, and he'll set you straight on hardwood prices DIRECT FROM THE MILL!:^)-t
Is it soft pine or Southern yellow pine?Southern yellow is a pretty "hard" softwood, don't think it would ding up that badly.If it's soft pine....It will have "character" in short order...;)Time consuming process....but if you've got time.....It would probly take the same time to mill a tongue and a groove on the stuff as it will to plough out 1/8th inch for a spline, and then you wouldn't have to rip a zillion ft. of spline stock or go crazy jockeying the spline and glue around. If you get the right foot for a Bostitch,(laminate foot) you could use a standard flooring nailer to install too.....Bing
It's hard to argue with "Free" =)
~ Ted W ~
Cheap Tools! - MyToolbox.netMeet me at House & Builder!
"It is also free, as opposed to $1-2 per square foot for the least expensive wood flooring."Not after you spend all that time and money replacing planer blades on recycled exterior PT lumber! Likely to cost your forty cents a board foot just in blades and electricity.
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I believe it is PT, after planing it looks like regular pine.
That's because the poison in PT only penetrates about a 16th of an inch or so. Once you've planed that stock down to half-inch, there will be very little poison left in the planks.
But don't worry about that; you do not need poisoned wood for a finish floor...or you shouldn't even be considering laying it in the first place. Also, unless you expect to have water seeping onto the floor slab regularly, you don't need to use PT sleepers. Ordinary spruce 2x will be fine. To cut down on normal basement slab humidity, you can lay a poly VB (or 15# felt) on the slab before you screw down the sleepers.
BTW: Since you are going to be planing umpteen board feet of this PT fence stock, I'd recommend you get a serious respirator--not just a dust mask--to wear while you're doing that. Breathing in that much poison isn't gonna do you any good at all.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
foolish men call Justice....
"Breathing in that much poison isn't gonna do you any good at all."Yes, suit up! It can be absorbed into eyes too.
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