New hardwood floor in the office

1090 Views 19 Replies 12 Participants Last post by spooled, Sep 11, 2009

8mpg

Discussion Starter · Sep 3, 2009

10

No pics of the old green carpet. Just pics after tearing it out:

6mil plastic and 1/2" plywood. The plywood is concrete nailed every sq ft

Roofing felt and the floors going down:

Getting there:

Koda supervising:

A new respect for handscraped floors. When they say hand scraped..its literally scraped by hand. Here is the tool to do it:

Stained and 1 coat of polyurethane. The flash on the camera kind of throws off the color

No flash and after 2nd coat of polyurethane:

I have to give props to the guys who I helped...they basically did the work...I helped where I could and learned a lot. Nailed down hard wood floors needs a few tools I dont have: Floor stapler, large trim nailer, table saw, pneumatic concrete nailer.

Total Cost: 1 12 pack of Corona

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bcoop

· #2 · Sep 3, 2009

8mpg said:
No pics of the old green carpet. Just pics after tearing it out:

6mil plastic and 1/2" plywood. The plywood is concrete nailed every sq ft

Roofing felt and the floors going down:

Getting there:

Koda supervising:

A new respect for handscraped floors. When they say hand scraped..its literally scraped by hand. Here is the tool to do it:

Stained and 1 coat of polyurethane. The flash on the camera kind of throws off the color

No flash and after 2nd coat of polyurethane:

I have to give props to the guys who I helped...they basically did the work...I helped where I could and learned a lot. Nailed down hard wood floors needs a few tools I dont have: Floor stapler, large trim nailer, table saw, pneumatic concrete nailer.

Total Cost: 1 12 pack of Corona

Just curious as to why nail down, vs glue down?

I take it those guys knew what they were doing? I've done laminate, pergo, etc. Currently helping a friend do his hardwoods, and he with the glue down.

Just curious because I'll be redoing my laminate with hardwood, and will be doing the work myself. Nail down sure looks to be a lot more labor intensive.

talisman

· #3 · Sep 3, 2009

We went the glue route. Didn't really see a point of nailing it down. Looks great though! Now its time to paint that ancient woodwork.

Chili

· #4 · Sep 4, 2009

8mpg said:
Koda supervising:

One of our dogs is named Koda (short for Dakota).

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1bad306

· #5 · Sep 4, 2009

good job

8mpg

Discussion Starter · #6 · Sep 4, 2009

bcoop said:
Just curious as to why nail down, vs glue down?

I take it those guys knew what they were doing? I've done laminate, pergo, etc. Currently helping a friend do his hardwoods, and he with the glue down.

Just curious because I'll be redoing my laminate with hardwood, and will be doing the work myself. Nail down sure looks to be a lot more labor intensive.

Well... couple reasons. With nail down...you wont ever get squeaks and popping. Its solid.

We have glue down in the kitchen currently and the glue didnt hold as well as it should have due to the cheapass builder not turning on the heat allowing the glue to setup at the correct temperature. It was way to cold for the glue to cure correctly.

With nailing, each board is nailed to the next one. Some people glue the seams between boards, but I have seen a couple installs that they only put glue on the floor. With expansion and contractions, sometimes glue down will get cracks between the boards.

The guys that did the floor recommended staples over glue. They do this day in and day out and said that nail down is the only way to go. A good glue is expensive.

Oh, and the staples were free...If we did glue down, we would have had to pay for the glue

The whole job literally cost a 12 pack of Corona

Eric...that ancient wood is circa 1998. Its a study/office. Its supposed to have the wood work feel. Its not like the 80's full wall paneling

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G

· #7 · Sep 4, 2009

Looks great! What are you going to do with the space now that the floors are done?

8mpg

Discussion Starter · #8 · Sep 4, 2009

RedLilPony said:
Looks great! What are you going to do with the space now that the floors are done?

oh..moved the desk/computer/file cabinet back in...

miketyler

· #9 · Sep 6, 2009

wow - that looks damn good. So tell me about the hand scraping technique. I see the blade on the end of the board, how exactly do they do that?

8mpg

Discussion Starter · #10 · Sep 7, 2009

miketyler said:
wow - that looks damn good. So tell me about the hand scraping technique. I see the blade on the end of the board, how exactly do they do that?

Basically you just kneel down and scrape the hell out of the floors. Just go crazy, no science or method behind it. Just scrape like crazy, then move to the next spot. Use a wet rag and wet the wood on the top (not a sopping wet rag)...just enough to show the color difference. You are looking to take off 1/16-1/8" of wood.

miketyler

· #11 · Sep 7, 2009

So you pull it to you like paddling a canoe? I have been in several executive homes and have seen it. I alwys wondered how they did it. It looks aged and rustic.....and expensive.

Duncan

· #12 · Sep 7, 2009

Nice!

gtownGT

· #13 · Sep 7, 2009

miketyler said:
wow - that looks damn good. So tell me about the hand scraping technique. I see the blade on the end of the board, how exactly do they do that?

The blade in the picture is actually not the right size blade. That one is mainly used for scrapping edges and corners wherever the 3 inch blade does not fit.

And there are two options when it comes to hand scrapping,

1. With the grain- does not remove as much wood but has a finer look.

2 Against the grain- remove alot of wood, which allows for the stain be absorbed deeper into the wood.

gtownGT

· #14 · Sep 7, 2009

8mpg said:
Basically you just kneel down and scrape the hell out of the floors. Just go crazy, no science or method behind it. Just scrape like crazy, then move to the next spot. Use a wet rag and wet the wood on the top (not a sopping wet rag)...just enough to show the color difference. You are looking to take off 1/16-1/8" of wood.

Actually there is alot of method and technique that goes into it. For example it's like whenever a painter is blocking off a car...you have to refer to the board in front and behind the board you are scrapping so a constant pattern can be kept.

And BTW how in the hell did it only cost you a 12 pack?!?!! I'm assuming you provided materials but still.....

thrshr68

· #15 · Sep 7, 2009

Good job. looks great.

8mpg

Discussion Starter · #16 · Sep 7, 2009

gtownGT said:
Actually there is alot of method and technique that goes into it. For example it's like whenever a painter is blocking off a car...you have to refer to the board in front and behind the board you are scrapping so a constant pattern can be kept.

And BTW how in the hell did it only cost you a 12 pack?!?!! I'm assuming you provided materials but still.....

If you want to call it technique, you can. It didnt seem like it had any technique to me. Guess and even look is what you are going for, but no pattern.

And it cost a 12 pack because this was all leftover materials from a big job that they had (6000sq ft) and owed the family a favor. The beer was just something to finish off their long days work.

8mpg

Discussion Starter · #17 · Sep 7, 2009

miketyler said:
So you pull it to you like paddling a canoe? I have been in several executive homes and have seen it. I alwys wondered how they did it. It looks aged and rustic.....and expensive.

Apparently you cant embed in this section:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfNky7a0Hkw

The guys who did the floor went fast. Im talking the whole 150sq ft done in less than45 minuntes. They used the scraper above, not a 3". Also, to get a more "rustic" feel, you want a #2 floor. It has some imperfections that gives it the character.

GRAYHORSE

· #18 · Sep 7, 2009

Looks awsome man, we just did our house as well.

fbracing5

· #19 · Sep 10, 2009

Very nice

spooled

· #20 · Sep 11, 2009

the house we are finishing tomorrow has around 8500 sq ft of hardwood flooring in it and it will all be hand scraped, Ill take pic of it tomorrow to show some of the work we do...

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