Hi all,

I’ve installed a very large wood floor in the past but really just did it by the seat of my pants (and it was mine in a weekender) and have lots of questions about doing it right for my new house.

The floor is 4 1/4″ wide planking.  German beech.  Tongue and groove (no v) and not end milled (just square cut ends and butt jointed).

So here are the questions…..

Should I use rosin paper or tar paper? (15 lb tar paper?)  I know there is debate on this one but have never really gotten the complete argument from either side.  To me it seams like it should be tar paper but rosin paper is so much easier to use and doesn’t have the smell.

The floor is very large (1500 sq ft or so) and is long across the grain (45 to 50 ft front to back across the grain).  I’ve heard from some and read on some hard wood flooring web sites that I should place pennies (or some coin) in the floor every 10 ft or so to help with expansion (of course they are pulled before sanding).  Is this the recommended practice for large floors across grain?  In the floor that I did at my weekender I didn’t do that and have had no problems at all with buckling.  But I did of course stay off the wall 1/4″ to 1/2″ and the floor is only 25 ft or so across grain.

This flooring has been milled for me from stock that I rough sized and has been milled perfectly.  Having said that, what is the best sanding procedure?  What grit paper should I be starting with?  What grit should I be ending with and going to stain?  My statement above about the milling is to convey that I believe the floor will be very well matched when it is laid down and won’t need much serious leveling. 

More on the sanding…. I plan to use a floor maintainer for my sanding (the large 17 or 20 inch disc machines).  I have used all of the floor sanding machines in the past and found the disc machines to be the best.  Furthermore, I have a lot of experience running them and just recently sanded my sub floors with one and had great success.  I know for sure that I don’t want to use a drum or belt (much too aggressive and steep learning curve for those who don’t use them everyday).  Are there others out there who do it with the discs?

Sanding or screening between coats of poly….. My plan is to put down 3 coats of polyurethane.  This coating has worked very well for me on two other floors that I lived on and I don’t see the need (nor am I qualified) to put down any other exotic floor finish.  Anyway, most of them out there talk about recoating without sanding if you do it in the allotted time.  I know however sanding (screening) between coats helps with multiple layer adhesion and gets any fuzzies up as well.  So, should I be using the big floor disc sander for this as well and what grit screen should I be using?

Ok, I think that about covers it all.  These may sound like novice questions (and I’m sure they are to some who do this type of work every day) but I have laid several plank wood floors before and never had a bad experience.  So, I feel very confident that I can do this well and am just trying to polish my skills and get a little more detailed story before I start on the most important floor that I have ever done.

Thanks for the help everyone,

Rob Kress