A friend offered me a chance to grab a pile of wood removed from a basement floor when there was a water problem.
However, I’ve never seen anything like it before and wanted to ask if anyone is familiar with such a material.
The boards are glued up strips of red oak with the following dimensions.
1″ wide by 1.5″ thick pieces in random lengths, glued up (butt joints) to make up a board that is 8′ long with ship laps that give it a 12″ reveal.
The top surface has a glossy polyurathance finish with wood plugs that hide screws used to hold down the boards to concrete floor.
Anyway, some of them are slightly cupped and also cut into shorter lengths.
There are about 31 8′ boards with several of them cut into shorter lenghts.
About 10 of them are slightly cupped and would need to be culled out and planed down.
The basement these came out of also have countertops and baseboards that were milled out of these boards.
Some are also used as a wall panels, which seem to be overkill. (a doctor was the previous owner of the house.)
I have no idea what to offer for this stuff, which I am considering recycling for other uses.
If you are familiar with this sort of stuff I would appreciate some input.
Thanks !
Alan
Edited 2/20/2003 4:23:27 PM ET by Ahneedhelp
Replies
sometimes free is too expensive. from your discription without seeing it myself I suspect that is what it's worth.
if you really like the friend you might buy him a case of his favorite brew. But in dealing, the first one to make an offer loses..
Hmm.....I appreciate the wisdom.
I was hoping someone had come across such a wood product.
I do have to come up with a fair price for the stuff because I have several uses in mind.
The condition of the boards overall is excellent, so a case of beer would be an uncomfortable offering.
The uniform dimensions of the boards leads me to believe they were supplied as such from the manufacturer.
But I am not sure if they were originally intended as flooring - 1.5" thick.
Even as wall panels, they seem grossly overkill.
The ship lap edges has me wondering also.
Anyway, they are worth more to me then considering offering him a case a beer for them.
I have to be fair and will come up with a price.
Just needing someone to shed more light on what this stuff may have been originally intended for.
Once again, the 12" wide 8' boards are made up of 1" wide and 1.5" thick red oak strips in random lengths and have ship lapped edges.
The ends are flush cut.
you are buying rough wood. that is it needs to be reworked to use. I can buy red oak for 80 cents a bd.ft. at the mill. 1 bd. foot is 1inch thick by 1 foot wide x1 foot long. However the mill will not sell a bd. less than 4 inches wide. and many are 12 inches wide. bds. only 2 to 3 inches wide wind up in the shredder
mentally remove the ship lap edge and anywood that has nail holes in it and you have the mill price for the same stuff.. how much you deduct for the need to remove the cup etc. from the wood is up to you.. If they were my bds. and I was asking a friend for their value I couldn't give much more than 40 or 50 cents a bd. ft.
If I got that I'd be tickled pink or feel very guilty depending on my relationship with the friend..
Thanks, Frenchy -
That is useful information I can use as a base for coming up with a reasonable offer.
On the bd ft calculation, I guess 1.5" x 1' x 8' make up 12 bd foot ?
I thought I had solved the mystery of this stuff - tractor trailer flooring - but when I called a trailer company I was told they use
10" wide solid boards that are 24' long. Laminated boards would not hold up well when exposed to water splashed up on the bottom.
They use less expensive white oak, not red oak.
All the boards are precisely 12" wide without the shiplaps.
A handful of the 8' boards are cut into shorter lengths.
I guess when you say rough wood, they are more like strip flooring in finish quality on the bottom that are not polyurathaned.
No nail holes, just a handful of missing 1/2" plugs where screws had been used.
There are a bunch of plugs with no screw penetrations on the bottom, which is puzzling.
I do appreciate the mill prices, which I find very helpful.
So far, the folks I've contacted have no clue what this stuff is.
Alan
I would think the hole plugs with no screws were for a decorative effect to balance the uniform look of the plugs. Hence the leaning to think your boards were a commercial floor use.
Rez and the rest of the folks who replied to this thread -
I think I finally figured out what this stuff may have been.
Bowling alley lanes.....
The wood plugs, upon close inspection, form a diamond pattern, two of them 9" width apart and two are 20" long apart down the length of the board.
Would bowling alley lanes be about 1-1/4" thick ?
I've never seen a bowling alley of red oak.. maple is normal
You're right.
I just checked a bowling web site...
"Bowling is conducted on a lane made of smooth wooden flooring that is about 63 feet long and 42 inches wide. Their is a foul line boundary
on the starting end and pins on the other. Two troughs, or gutters, line the sides of the lane from the foul line to the pins. The flooring of the
lane is generally that of maple wood and the two ends, and pine in the middle. Lanes are maintained by regular sanding and polishing."
So you're back at square one?
re - So you're back at square one?
-----
Yes, it seems.
I guess the only thing left is it must have been heavy duty flooring for commercial use.
It is 1-1/4" thick, not 1-1/2" - my mistake.
Anyhoo, I feel bad wasting everybody's time.
And I sure hope the stuff is turned into something else useful.
Doesn't matter anymore who ends up with it.
So, you changed your mind? What happened?
Ah
for what its worth, when I moved into my new/old house a couple of months ago there was a funky island that someone obviously made in the kitchen. The legs were salvaged from the oak timbers of the house and the top is exactly what your floor is made of. I also wondered where it came from.
Be warm
Namaste
Andy"Attachment is the strongest block to realization"http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Thanks for the note, Andy.
I have counter or table tops in various forms in mind if I end up with the material.
Based on the condition of the wood, sq/footage prices quoted here and at the local suppliers and their suggestions, I made an offer and already have a F-150 lined up to grab the stuff if he's ok with the deal.
Since I don't have a digital camera handy to post an image here, I won't get into what I offered out of concern that it would generate more friendly teasing at this thread.
Since he is a close friend, I need to be laid back with him about the outcome.
He should get what he can for it.
Alan
I made an offer Based on the condition of the wood, sq/footage prices quoted here and at the local ......
Ah
Its worth what its worth to you. Plain and simple. Cant see using sq ft prices in this instance.
Actually it may pay him to pay you to get rid of it for him.who knows
Have fun
a
"Attachment is the strongest block to realization"http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Hi, Andy -
re - Its worth what its worth to you. Plain and simple. Cant see using sq ft prices in this instance.
----
Yes, that's part of the formula used in the offer.
It would be nice if I get the opportunity to recycle the material but only if it is cost effective.
Showed a slab to another friend who immediately offered to make use of any extras left.
I'm working backwards - saw possibilities for several uses and then thought about what would be involved in working
with the material and then farther back to the potential cost and time involved.
No sleep lost over the stuff for the time being, however.
Thanks for the note,
Alan
I think you were correct with your tractor trailer idea. I've seen that same size
oak as the flooring in trailers. (but I can't verify the length of what I saw)
Well, they're not trailer floors as I corrected myself earlier.
Called a tractor trailer manufacturer and they use regular solid lumber (white oak) in 10" widths and 24' in length.
The boards run lengthwise, not across, the trailer bed.
They are butted together with no grooves or shiplaps.
Laminated wood would fall apart from exposure to water on the bottom of the trailer.
Sounds like a good bonfire...
Ditch
So you already have a designated use for the boards and you want them. They are sitting in a pile already removed.
You'll end up with 20 or so uniform pieces. Are the screws still in the boards or are the plugs removed? Scratch and gouge.
It is 1 1/2 inch red oak, stable and flat. How much would 5 sheets of 3/4 inch plywood cost?
What would happen to the boards if you didn't buy them?
Sounds like you buying toys for your passion. Roar!
Go ahead and offer him 25 to 50 bucks and take them home to play with. There is an entertainment value.
Edited 2/21/2003 1:48:54 AM ET by rez
Ok - looks like I set myself up for the ridicule and ribbing by the good folks here.
Dispite all the mumbo jumbo on my earlier posts, I wasn't really trying to get anyone to come up with a price for this stuff.
What I intended when this thread was started was to figure out what this stuff may have been originally intended for.
I thought for sure some of you would have come across such material while demolishing or working on an older house.
No, I don't own a digital camera and that would have saved a bunch of bandwidth and everybody's valuable time.
Sorry about that.
Alan,
Sounds to me like whatever the value the wood has to you should be more than adequate compensation. You sound like your worried about paying too little than too much, but from the replies I'd say that shouldn't be a concern.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
Rich -
Thanks for the reply.
As I posted in my last clarifying note, I'm trying to figure out what this stuff was originally intended for, not what to offer for them.
Never seen 1.5" thick shiplapped boards in 8' lengths (more details in my early posts.)
My friend is also puzzled over the use of this matieral as flooring and paneling - they're thickness would be better used as table or countertops.
Some were also ripped down and shaped into baseboards.
So....it's no longer about what it's worth.
Just want to know if they were intended for something other then how we found them used in this house.
Since I have a 4' slab, I'm taking it to the local lumber yard to see if anyone recognizes it.
Thanks again,
Alan
Sorry Ah,
Didn't mean to give you the impression I meant to subject you to ridicule. I meant it is a desirable salvage item in that it is 1 1/2inch oak but it's doesn't sound premo as waterdamages are present and the plug thing.
I was curious how the stuff was removed. Were the plugs removed and screws unscrewed or if because the boards were polycoated were they wedged from underneath and popped? If the previous, the guy is probably expecting some bucks and the latter I'd be concerned over surface damage since the boards are stacked in a pile. Then again not a concern if you're going to rework the stuff.
If I already had a place for it it would be home by now since sheet happens. It seems somewhere in the past I've seen that stuff as a flooring. Sounds 70s with avacodo and orange shag along side.
Hope you tell us the end of the story.
Howdy, Rez -
Thanks for the peace note - I did set myself up for the fun comments by not making myself clear to begin with. No big deal.
The water damage is nil with only half dozen boards showing slight cupping - the cupped ones could certainly be planed down and used together.
The 1/2" wood plugs are not objectionable at all, but the puzzling part is not all of them are covering screws....when I look on the other side there is no sign of anything having come through.
However, some plugs that are missing does have screw holes going through.
The boards were held down by screws, but the concrete floor does not show any signs of screw holes. Perhaps they were floating on wood strips.
The shiplapped edges were not glued.
I'm beginning to wonder if this stuff may have been intended for heavy duty flooring in arenas or dance halls.
I'll find out when I take this 4' slab to the local lumber yard.
Take care,
Alan