Am seeking a way to put wood floors in our home. We just bought a home with bad flooring (old broken tiles and 1960's carpet over cement---ugh) and we're on a very tight budget.

Thanks

Ging

-- ging daily (blondkidk@swbell.net), November 07, 1999

Answers

Purchasing T&G wood flooring is very expensive, so I can understand your hesitancy. Perhaps you could salvage wood from a place being torn down, then have it T&G or do it yourself if you have the equipment and tools. We used plywood for flooring for years, and still have it in part of the house. I sanded it down and filled the nail holes, knot holes, etc. Then I painted it with floor enamel and put a coat of poly over it. It can be swept, mopped, etc. and when we were able to get flooring it was installed over the plywood. In one room I prep'ed the plywood then stained it a dark color. Next I used a magic marker to put stripes on it so that it had the appearance of boards and hid the seams where the plywwod joined. Poly on it, scattered a few rag rugs, and it was fine for years. Good luck.

-- Marci (ajourend@libby.org), November 07, 1999.

You might try to locate a wholesale wood floor supplier. I found T&G unfinished hardwood flooring for 99 cents sq.ft. You can install and finish yourself. Often suppliers sell hardwood flooring that wasn't in premium condition or as I've heard a "tavern grade". This stuff really looks just as good anyway. I had friends that liked mine better than their brand new model home.

-- Derrick Comfort (dcomfort@ccnmail.com), November 08, 1999.

A neighbor of mine, who is an extremely good carpenter, has several wood floors in his house that are ship-lap, screwed down, and plugged. This is extremely attractive in a "Country Home" style. I intend to try to do it this way after I have cut down enough quality trees, had them sawed by another neighbor and solar kiln dried them. I do have a planner but may use one at the mill. I intend this project to cover the concrete floor that we have lived on for the last 20 years and the new hydronic heat pipes.

-- kirby johnson (kirby@selco.lib.mn.us), November 09, 1999.

I put down a number of salvage floors with good results.

I am about to put down a floor of ash, milled to 3/8ths" and screwed and plugged over the countersunk heads. I won't use boards more that 4" wide, and will make sure that the moisture content is no more than 12% (you can buy a moisture meter for $30 if you need one.) Don't crowd the edges of the floor to the wall in case your new floor expands. If it does shrink, you can unscrew it and scootch it tight and rescrew it. I think butt joints will work fine.

-- John Sillick (silfarm@netscape.net), November 09, 1999.

Salvage is a good way to go-if you don't mind the work! An ad ran recently in our local paper about a 80 yr old house being demolished, and all the mantles, floors, cast iron radiators-everything- were free to anyone who wanted to haul them away! Smart person! Recycle and save on carting costs at the same time. Good Luck! K

-- kathy (catfish@bestweb.net), November 09, 1999.

Thanks for your great suggestions. Now to try to put them to work :-) Enjoy your day. Ging

-- ging daily (blondkid@swbell.net), November 10, 1999.

Just saw your query, sorry to respond so late. Hope it's not too late. I have done MANY floors, some in my old (200+) house, some in a new house. I use wide pine - not really wide - only 12", and have a superb system that everyone thinks is superb. If you haven't made a final irrevocable decision yet, e-mail me and I'll explain. If you have, good luck! Brad

-- Brad Traver (homefixer@mix-net.net), January 19, 2000.

I've used a type of parquet flooring on several different houses I've built. It's oak parquet, and it comes in squares, six inches on a side. Each square is made up of six or seven (don't remember) single strips of oak, just under an inch wide. These strips are held together, loosely, with soft aluminum wire, which is set into two grooves on the backside of the flooring.

This flooring is very inexpensive. It comes in at least three different grades. I've used the middle grade, and paid only $1.55 per square foot. What's great about it is it's prefinished, and the finish is TOUGH! I put this flooring down in a spec house I sold twelve or thirteen years ago. The folks who bought the house have always had Belgian Wolfhounds who have access to the house through a doggie door. They track "soil' (clay mixed with sand and small rocks) into the house constantly. The carpets were trashed after a few weeks, but the oak floor, last time I looked was still in excellent shape, except there were some fairly deep scratches from their chair legs.

I have always bought this stuff from "Color Tile" stores, a national chain, I believe. Someone told me they don't carry it anymore, but I've also seen it at Eagle's, another national chain, although Color Tile had a better price on it.

This flooring is SOLID oak. Not laminate. Accept no substitutes;) It also is applied to the subfloor with adhesive! Goes down very very fast. And easy.

Other than recycling an old floor, which I certainly recommend, if you have the abiltiy and time, this is the best deal I've ever seen for hardwood flooring.

I put laminated maple "tarquet" in my new house, and while it's incredibly beautiful, I'm not at all pleased with its durability. It looks far worse than the oak I described, even though it's only two years old, not twelve or thirteen!

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), January 20, 2000.

I stayed in some very attractive shotgun cabins that had been remodeled - and they simply put down plywood, and then pine 1X4 or somesuch like on top of that. The knots were left in and all! Then, they simply sealed the floor with something similar to deck sealant.

It was very nice, and I checked with a friend of mine who is a contractor - he thought this is something you might be able to do with "leavings" from a sawmill.

-- Virginia Dickenson (tygger@netropolis.net), September 18, 2000.