In my finished basement I am installing 2 1/4 in 3/4 Quarter Sawn Read oak with an American Walnut border of the same dimensions. I found some great custom borders on several websites that I should be able to replicate. I’m not in the trade but rather a teacher who enjoys doing his own work. I’ve installed my own 4 inch Red oak floors in 2,000 of my home but at the time I didn’t take the time to learn how to do the feature strip. I just want to finish and move in. Now that I have the time I want to finish the basement game room with a little extra class.
I came up with what I think is a unique way of installing the sub floor (I’m sure not so unique within the trade).I first trowelled cold roofing cement on the concrete, rolled tar paper, and the glued the pressure treated 2x4s to the tar paper. With a spade bit I drill half way through the 2×4 and the power drove the fasteners so that they would be completely counter sunk and would penetrate the concrete a little further. Between the 2x4s I placed white styrofoam insulation to take the chill off the floor. I topped this with 3/4 inch plywood that is glued and screwed. This is already finished so if you have comments it’s too late.
What I’d like is for someone to outline the techniques for insalling a feature strip/ border. When laying out the field I understand the importance of planning the floor and strating square. But how do you get the field to be square on all four sides. I think I can figure out 3 sides but that fourth side??? Do you let the boards run wild and then cut them square with a worm drive.
I hope someone will please have the patience to lay out the proceedures for me so that I can be proud of the finished product.
Thanks in advance,
Anthony
Replies
I'll be waiting for Jeff Buck to answer this one....
Excellence is its own reward!
Anthony.
In looking at this drawing. Start off the bottom and left side, or you can snap a chalk line in the middle and work from there which will give you a full board width on both parallel walls. There's more to this when I have the time..I'll try again the next few days. Set a temp starter board on the left side and work off that. "Run" the installation over the other chalk line on the right, careful to to nail near the chalk line as that will be your cutoff point. Use a straight edge and cut off the remainder. Any help?
<img src="http://bal.ifloor.com/files/60/illistrations.jpg">
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Hardwood Flooring Installation Services. "Serving Florida...and Beyond"
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Edited 10/17/2002 2:30:05 AM ET by HARDWOODGUY
Great, that takes care of the field, Now should the feature strip be run around this? Now you've just cut off the tongue or your groove and you've got a flat end. Glue and face nail??
What if I want to create something like this? See Attachment. Do you create the border at the starting end of the room, work down the room and then finish the border when you reach the other end? Like I said I have the time, I want a truely fine finished floor.
Thanks,
Ant.
PS. What about this type of field. See Attachment #2. I think would be called a picture frame something or other. Difficult to do?
When cutting strip flooring to length for borders or for a knot-type detail, I remill the end of the board to re-establish the tongue or the groove, whichever was lopped off.
It only takes a second. Or you could groove and spline, or even biscuit...though to me biscuits would actually be more of a pain. Still, I do know that a lot of people simply butt them together.
I hope Ian doesn't mind, but here's a link to his site:
http://www.gilhamid.btinternet.co.uk
Where can I get the router bits to remill the ends??
I'm sure someone sells bits...but I run them on the table saw.
I use a tenoning jig to remove stock from both faces of the board to create a tongue. I run the stock against the fence (Run it through twice, with each face against the fence) to create the groove. After milling the tongue, I crosscut the tongue, shaving off a scant eighth or so to give the tongue a little wiggle room in the groove.
Literally, it takes just seconds to mill each end, and with the tenoning jig running in one miter slot, the fence never has to be moved, so the setup stays constant throughout the day.
If you go with router bits, consider two setups in two router tables. A straight bit to cut the tongues in two passes, and a slot cutter to cut the grooves in either one or two passes. Or get a dedicated T&G set and run them as required.
Mongo thank for your help. After you cut off the "wild side" you're left without a tongue or groove. I was thinking that I could use biscuts to attach the feature strip to that end. What do you think?
When I come back to work on Monday I will scan a picture of the feature strip/border I drew to see if you have any suggestions.
I'll be doing a plain feature strip and 1/4 sawn floor for a friend this weekend.
Again thanks for the time.
Ant.
Sounds like you know what you want to do...
A couple of thoughts:
How you cut the "wild side" depends (for me, at least) on how much clearance you have between the final cut and the sidewall.
If you nail off the flooring, then cut them to length, will you have enough room between the ends of the boards and the wall to slip in a router or biscuit joiner to create the slot? Ensure that the size biscuit you plan on using will fit into the groove of the feature strip. If not, consider a spline.
If you don;t have enough room to mill the slots in place, you can dry fit the boards, gang mark them to length, then remove them and cut and mill the ends as required.
Again...I know many people will simply face nail or glue the strips in. I'm a glutton for punishment and prefer to lock the whole floor together like a jigsaw puzzle.
Edit: A small point...but if you're going to mill a tongue on the end of a board, don't forget to add the additional length of the eventually hidden tongue to the length of the board before you cut it to length.
Edited 10/25/2002 1:45:57 AM ET by Mongo
web link didn't work.
Dead for me, too. Too bad, he does fabulous work.
Anthony,The second picture you posted -- to set this out, strike a center line down the long way of the room and strike lines from each corner at 45 degrees to meet the center line. Once you've done that, measure the distance from the center line to the side wall and calculate the number of boards, then do the same for the distance between where the 45 degree lines meet the center line and the end wall and calculate the number of boards there.Unless the room is square they are different so you have to decide whether you want the border an equal distance from the walls, or to follow the boards in the field -- you can't have both. I'd use biscuits for the mitre joints, although there is an alternative corner joint that would be more stable.It's the joint used here on the margin boardson this Merbau floor.View ImageFor a simple feature strip, like this, I routed a tongue along a Jarrah board, cut off a strip including the tongue and nailed and glued it to the sawn edge of the field with the tongue outwards to pick up the margin boards.View ImageIf you don't mind a bit of work, this border is very effective -- the 30 degree cuts give it a 3D effect.View ImageThere are a few more borders and things on my site Here and if I can be of further help you can e-mail me. It's nice to see someone doing a hardwood floor after all the pre-cut, pre-finished rubbish.
Pif......my floor..that U saw that pics of.....with the border...was prefinished/glue down/5/16th thick...or should I say thin......so T & G'ing wasn't an option. Nor was nailing tight and sanding out.....which....would have been the much better way to go!
But....in my situation...I set my border first......running the long wall...and in smaller rooms..the focus wall.....against a ledger.......then had to cut/fit the field to fit inside the border........I tried my best to measure exactly...and was pretty successful...to have the layout on the far side hit mid point of a board.....and ripped the last row to fit in.
If it were full thickness.......3/4....I'd have prefered to go the route of a real floor guy and lay it all...try and remember to not nail where the border will go.......then cut out and lay in the border.......
or...alternately......lay wild ends.....trim...route a t&g.....run spline....t&g the backband.
Nice work...if ya can get paid for it!
Jeff..............Al-ways look on......the bright......side of life...........
.......whistle.....whistle.......whistle........