November 17, 2012

DIY plywood floors

I was the laughing stock of my dad, our contractors, the hardwood flooring guy (who laid our main floors), Ron at Rona (since my dad HAD to tell him my plans for the maple plywood I was buying) and a couple of friends, but I went ahead with it anyway.
I (along with my ever supportive sister--she loves wacky ideas as much as I do!) laid 3/4 inch maple plywood on our entire third floor.

I didn't come up with this myself. I was originally introduced to plywood floors by Daniel and Valeria at Hindsvik blog. They laid these amazing plywood floors in their house and I was completely inspired to give it a go. Our third floor even looks like theirs!
But I also did a Google search and found that many other people have done their own version as an affordable and fairly simple finished floor.


We had a pretty level subfloor to start with but it was a bit noisy and our master bedroom is right below. So I decided to lay a thin foam pad to absorb some sound. Daniel and Valeria laid their floors over thin carpeting so I thought that thin foam pad would be OK.
I cut it to size and taped it down with tuck tape.


We then roughly laid out a few boards that were pre-cut by Rona into pieces that were 1 ft. wide and either 4 ft. or 8 ft. long. We thought this would give it the feel of old floorboards although I have seen others do it in squares or just 4 ft. X 8 ft. sheets.


When I was happy with our starting point, I started nailing in the boards. We used 1 3/4" finishing nails for most of this project.
In the end, I did end up using a few screws here and there because I found that some boards had a bit too much movement. This may have been because of the underlayment which had a bit of give. The screws did the trick though.


My sister brought along her third baby-- her Makita mitre saw to help us out. You need something like this for cutting and fitting the boards. A mitre box and a hand saw just wouldn't be enough.
We also had to do a bit of ripping on some edge pieces with the table saw.


I was getting pretty good with these saws by the end! My proudest cut was this little "L" to go around a structural bit of the house.
Perfection!


This is yours truly in action!
Wearing my "uniform" as of late.
A couple of 5 year olds in my daughter's class looked at me in disgust last week and said, "you've got huge holes in your pants!"
Ha ha! I can take it!


The floors starting to take shape.


After we laid all the planks, I set the nails,


and filled the holes with wood filler.


There were a few boards that had larger gaps between them so I filled those (and the screw heads) with wood filler as well.
I then gave the floors a light sanding.


And finally, 3 coats of water based, satin finish Varathane for floors.
The pad method for applying the Varathane (shown in the picture) did leave some marks for me, so I did the final coat entirely with a brush-- back breaking!



Ta da!!
This is the finished floor!



I kind of love it!
Here's the back bedroom with trim in place.


Can't wait to get some furniture in!














39 comments:

  1. What an ingenious idea for flooring?! I would've never been able to pull that off. Your new plywood floor looks gorgeous Keira, and I can't wait to see the room furnished.

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  2. Wow - you're really handy! Can't believe you two did that on your own. How long did it take? I like that you went with 1x4 and 1x8 pieces so it looks like planks

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  3. Thanks, guys! It was a bit of work and took about a week to complete (not working full time at it since I've got kids) but was a lot of fun and completely worth it!

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  4. That looks fantastic! The light, wide planks are very calm and modern looking, they remind me of Dinesen floors.

    http://www.dinesen.com/eng/fronteng.php

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    1. Wow, I love those Dinesen floors! I've never heard of them before. This is exactly what I wanted for the main living space, but could only find very wide planks in an engineered, pre-finished wood.

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  5. Wow! What an achievement!!! It looks amazing!!!

    B

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    1. Thanks, B! The kitchen is going in now. It looks a bit like your own!

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  6. Wow, what a great job, looks phenomenal! I may go this route for our garage/studio/flex space and do the walls in plywood as well, it gives that Scandinavian cabin feel!

    Looks like you guys are at the same stage we are at, we just had flooring done this weekend and moving next week, ready or not.. Good Luck!

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  7. Nicely done. I like wooden floorings as they are warmer in the winters and coller in summers. Do share pictures of your completely furnished house as I like it already :)

    Regards

    .Y-

    frontier greenwood industries

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  8. I love this post. I came across it in the fall, forgot to bookmark and have been searching for it ever since. Your blog is fabulous and I'm adding it to my blogroll now so there's no getting away! :)

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  9. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  11. These are beautiful! How do you mop them?

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  12. Really looks amazing .Thank you for sharing that blog post with us.
    Plywood Manufacturer in India

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  13. I adore this post. I ran over it in the fall, neglected to bookmark and have been hunting down it after. Your online journal is spectacular and I'm adding it to my blogroll now so there's no escaping! :)

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  14. Wow its really appreciable and the kind of effort you are doing to make this plywood floor is rally amazing and also i am very thankful for providing nice pics of this plywood.
    Wholesaler in Malaysia

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  15. Each time I used to always check blog posts within the first hours in the break of day, because I like to get information increasingly more. non slip matting

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  16. Very Nice Your Blog..............

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  17. Here is a big difference between commercial plywood and marine plywood.Marine Plywood A ply bonded with marine grade BWP (Boiling Water Proof).

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  18. Thanks heaps for your ideas brilliant!

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  21. Hi, thanks for your great information! Well, it really seems so great. idealinteriorsflooring

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  22. Floor looks great !! Just wondering what company foam pad (to absorb some sound) did you use and it is VOC free? Thank you

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  23. I know this website is perfect for everyone because it is quite beneficial information. Floor Crete Inc

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  24. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  25. Does your floor have air pockets in it? I installed a 1/2" cabinet grade plywood floor and have had a few areas where something broke the top layer veneer where the air pockets were.

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  26. Awesome! Its genuinely awesome article, I have got much clear idea about how to design plywood floors from this piece of writing. Keep up the great work.

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  27. Hello friends, This is very nice article. When i was searching for Veneer Plywood Dealers in Bangalore i got to know the Gala Group. It is very nice service providing centre. For more info: http://www.galagroup.in/

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  28. "green" floors. Ceramic tiles add a great artistic touch to any home. You will see rc flying fish ceramic tile used most often in the kitchen.Polished concreting

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  29. Hi There
    Nice blog
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  30. Thanks for sharing such good resource. this explains all the points which I was looking for. also consider reading: Plywood Machinery

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  31. I love this, and have been looking into it. The most amazingly helpful comment was that it is possible to lay it over carpet! My second floor is covered in very ugly, cheap, very flat, industrial-type carpeting. The fact it was possible plus even preferred due to the insulating qualities (especially sound, and since mine isn't a plush-type carpet)it is so great to know. And floors look great! Thanks again.

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  32. I know this post is pretty old, was wondering if you could share how the floors held up over time? They look beautiful.

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  33. A great website with interesting and unique material about home DIY. I love this style.
    Regards,
    Floormost

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  34. Hello, really well written post. And very informative. When I was renovating the floor (vinyl tiles) to hardwood floors, I was completely lost. Hardwood flooring stores in Toronto were really intimidating, with so many wood types. Then I chanced upon this store called the Reno Superstore, the owner guy Simon was super helpful and even personally helped me out understand few wood varieties. I must have pestered the store workers a lot but they didn’t seem to mind. Better still got a really good selection. I love hardwood floors and finally chose maple. It’s been a year since I got them.

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  35. Hi Keira. How have these floors held up to traffic after all these years?

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  36. Aroha Plywood is the best shuttering plywood manufacturer in Yamunanagar. They have been in the business for more than 20 years and they are committed to providing high-quality products at competitive prices. They are shuttering plywood manufacturers and hardboard in Yamunanagar and also provide services like designing, manufacturing, installation and maintenance. 

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