I am ready to begin laying a random plank floor. It is a Harris-Tarkett antique and better red oak; 3,5,and 7 inch. The house is in Telluride,CO. The wood has acclimated for the last 10 years in a heated part of the house. As I needed a certificate of occupancy 9 years ago , I needed a short term solution. So I put the hardwood floor off till later. The subfloor is two layers of 3/4 exterior plywood. The house is designed Southwest style with all bull- nosed sheet rock and no trim. I would like to do the installation with a border all around the living room and no expansion gap as I want to eliminate a baseboard trim. The climate in Telluride at elevation 8,750 ft. is very dry, and the wood is very dry. My question is , Is it a fundamental error not to include a expansion gap in this situation. Also, I plan to change direction of the flooring on a diagonal across the floor.
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as I want to eliminate a baseboard trim.
Nothing wrong with that. Just run the floor under the wallboard. Now, if this was all-new, we'd put a bead the right height off the floor. Just a little bit trickier since the wall is up.
(Before I forget, Welcome the BT.)
So, what to do? Take a scrap bit of the flooring, add a nice thin shim on the bottom, and screw a nice, new, utility knife blade on the scrap. This can then be used to scribe the wall board way cleanly. Whether or not to ease the bottom of the rock to match the bullnose finish or not, is best left to how much cleanup you want to cope with before getting to the "real" work of the floor.
The trick will be in remembering to not set the floor tight when you can't see the gap. Bit more shim stock, cut to fit, with a 2x "flag" (makes an "L" shape with the horizontal leg longer) might be the ticket.
Check out a website called hardwoodinstaller.com They have a discussion board like this, devoted to wood floors.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
You can use a cork strip as an expansion -- that way you don't need a cover bead/shoe moulding at all.
The fact that the timber is very dry is actually a disadvantage because it means it will expand far more if it does get damp.
IanDG
I like the cork a lot. I can imagine the nice curves around the bull nosing. Thanks for the comment about how dry can be too dry. My current concept is to put 1/32 space between all planks and research the cork boarder. Thanks from the man who works alone.
If you are thinking of changing direction at a diagonal across the floor
[mitre joints? --- or square corners like this?]View Image why not consider putting the whole of the field on the diagonal and running the border parallel with the walls? There's a few examples here of diagonal layouts.
IanDG
Square corners on the change of direction. Your layout is awesom , my living room is not large enough to handle more. Possibly , after racking and cutting first three courses ,I clamped my old framing square into the corner and it looks like a black walnut inlay would look great at that point, other than another delay in getting more materials. I am ready to put down rosin paper. Question of the day is back to the square corners at the directional change. Can I simply bisquit and glue? I am not excited about cutting the mortises on my table saw unless I buy a dado blade and routing out with a 1/4 straight cutter seem like a smoking proposition on the end grain., unless I order a slot cutter . I am ready to get started,
Biscuits should be fine for the corners.
IanDG
You might consider putting on a sealer on all four sides of the material to slow how it absorbs moisture out of the air before instaling it.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Can I stay there a few dayz....I 'll bring my flooring gun and we can wack it out after poundin' down a few bottles of suds....I need to go skiin' real bad.
I just finsihed about five million miles of wide plank pine floors so I'm all geared up brother.
Be flat as a board ) :
####
The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Andy, you little hoe, you forgot to say whether those couple feet of flooring you did were well done or just done!;)Suds, skiing, and splinters! LOL
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
<<<Andy, you little hoe, you forgot to say whether those couple feet of flooring you did were well done or just done!>>>>I actually did almost every room a bit different just to test all theroies out....WELL DONE DICKWAD...lol
As I said in another post the PL worked great and its been over a year with no lifts cracks or whatever......
I'll let you know how upstairs goes next year over red rosin paper and "no" glue.
I didnt use the same flooring as you.mine came from a mill "near" you that was'nt nearly as old growth as yours or the flooring in my hallway (probably trees that were three hundred years old when they built this crib 326 years ago....get it? I look at the growth rings and it takes my breath away along with how long its been since.
Friggin' carps so rock bro....so rock!!!!!!!I do have to say in all honesty that I think some of us go way "over"board. I really mean that. This is why I did so many rooms with different fastening systems so differently......I mean....wadda I have another 20 years left to live if I'm lucky.so sue me...I'll give ya Shaggy's phone number.In all reality (where's that) I WILL let you know how it works out in a "real" situation come next year bro.
Sometimes I get sick of some of the advice I get in spite of appreciating it......yet as in TESTS....I don't think anyone is testing it like I decided to...as in the real deal...real living situation, real, real. real.
Be the real deal
a...The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides,
I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace.
I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you
and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Yeah, yeah, Yeah!Pictures man, pictures!
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
oh yeh.....you said you don't ski????
I'd meet ya half way bro for a weekend and my guess is Dino would be there as well....now thats a BT Winter Fest......dude....that would so rock...screw construction...lets hit the hills!!!!!!!!
####The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides,
I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace.
I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you
and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM