I am going to be working on a “cabin” this summer that will involve among other things a oak floor that the owner wants made from wood cut off their farm, milled locally and dried. The issue is that we wont have T and G boards…the boards will be cut to random 8, 6, and 4 inch width and planed to a final full 3/4.
We are dealing with the “best” instalation method, kicking around options, and I sort of figure=d someone here with all these smarts assembled in one spot may have a “best Idea”…the floor will go over 3/4 ply subfloor…So Ladies n Gents…What would you do?
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In my brother's old house, he used random pieces of 70+ yr old pine. He used screws & plugs. After refinishing, they were the most beautiful reddish/gold colour.
One of the things that sold his house.
Redbud almost ready to burst into bloom, SW of Chicago!!
Just eavesdropping here, but I've also been thinking about plank flooring--do you screw the planks to the subfloor or somehow attach them to one another?
Melissa
In this case they will have to be butted together, no T and G. Im leaning toward surface nailing and trying to make the nailheads uniform looking and hope we can drive deep enough to do a light sanding and NOT polish the nail heads.
But we are also wondering about finish nailing as method and have considered screws/plugs
in a past discussion, someone advised rose head nails. They are a cut nail, like the ones used way back before wire nails. They're said to have greater holding ability and less likely to split wood at the end of the boards. I know Lee Valley sells them.
MelissaC,
screw them to the sub floor about every 10 square inches.. translated that means screws every joist. Buy a plug cutter and make your own plugs., using ends and scrap pieces.. That way the grain and wood color will match exactly (plus it's a lot cheaper that way.. you can make hundreds of plugs per hour sitting on a stool listening to the radio using a drill press).. {plug cutters cost about $4.00}
woodust
If you look in the archieves you'll see my floor which I did with random width planks.
Do not let anyone tell you not to tongue and groove the planks.. what will happen is the wood shrinks and swells as humidity dries and expands the wood. Put them down in the middle of the summer during high humidity and you'll see 1/4 inch gaps between boards to look at the subflooring or rosin paper in the winter during heating season..
If you don't want to tongue and groove the flooring you can groove the edges and put splines in. (actually more work but saves over 1/2 inch of width of each plank).
That wide you simply cannot edge nail, you must face nail or screw and plug (which I did) Plugs are real simple to make,, take the cut offs, end pieces and using a plug cutter (about $4.00 or so) make your own plugs on a drill press. I could make hundreds per hour sitting on a stool and listening to the radio.. (ask for details if you'd like)
Next what kind of oak? red oak you can screw in any screw but if you have white oak you'll have to use stainless steel or risk failure.. the tannic acids in white oak attack steel and rust it.. the resulting rust creates rot in the wood. Failure is the result..
In general you'll want one screw every10 sq inches.. so with a 6 inch board run three screws equally spaced per joist. I put mine an inch from each edge and in the middle. You might be able to get by with just two screws per joist but you risk cupping.