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Hardwood Flooring Question

Started by DR_Buck, February 16, 2007, 08:40:49 AM

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DR_Buck

Had a customer ask me about sawing hardwood flooring for him. During the discussion a number of specific things came up I couldn't answer.

1.  If you are putting flooring down directly on the 2x12 joists without subflooring, what is the recommended finished  lumber thickness?  I believe he was considering drilling and screwing down the boards and possibly pluggin the holes afterward.

2.  Can you mix species of wood in the finished floor without having problems from movement from temperature and humidity changes?   His idea is to install a patterned type floor using red oak, white oak and walnut.

3.  Would T&G be the best way to make the finished floor if mixed woods are used?
Been there, done that.   Never got caught [/b]
Retired and not doing much anymore and still not getting caught

ronwood

DR_Buck,

Myself I would not go less that 1in T&G.

Ron
Sawing part time mostly urban logs -St. Louis/Warrenton, Mo.
LT40HG25 Woodmizer Sawmill
LX885 New Holland Skidsteer

tdelorme

I have only laid about 10,000 sq.ft. of wood floor so I sure ain't no expert, BUT, I can not even imagine not putting down a sub floor of some kind.  If he is the least bit worried about movement in the finished floor, the lack of a sub floor will insure he gets some.  And, plugging all those holes will get old in a hurry cause I used to plug the first two rows but I won't ever do it again.  Maybe in a camp cabin, but not laying a sub floor in a real house just ain't right and if you sell him the material he will end up mad at you.

Radar67

When I built houses for a living down here in the south, we always put down 2 layers of 3/4 ply for the sub floor. I would say no less than 1 inch on the T&G floor and no less than 1 inch on the sub floor.

Stew
"A man's time is the most valuable gift he can give another." TOM

If he can cling to his Blackberry, I can cling to my guns... Me

This will kill you, that will kill you, heck...life will kill you, but you got to live it!

"The man who can comprehend the why, can create the how." SFC J

Dana

The kitchen in our 100 year old house was laid without a sub floor.
It's 1" thick maple maybe 2" wide. It held out fine except that no attempt was made to have the ends land on a floor joist. After 100 years the ends started to break as the tongue and groove on the sides no longer could hold the stress.
The rest of the house has a subfloor. No idea why they didn't in the kitchen.
Grass-fed beef farmer, part time sawyer

hiya

I can remember as a boy of a store. they must have been working on something, but I rember of the flooring right over the joist. In was 3/4" thick and about 1 1/2-2" wide.
I have seen some things in old houses 100+ years old that today they say can't work ;D ;D.
Richard
RichardinMd.

Tom

How far the joists are from one another might have something to do with the thickness of the floor.

I put 5/4x8 and 5/4x10 on my front deck.  Granted it isn't tongue and groove, but it moves when I step on it.

Now, I weigh just under 300 lbs.  That's a lot, isnt' it?  But, I know that there are a lot of people around here that are in the same scale arena as I am.  If I were to climb a set of stairs to stand on someone's second floor, I would not feel that comfortable with only 1" boards underfoot.  I would want at least least 1.5" and would feel better with 2".   It's a long way to the next floor.  I'm not sure I could grab a 2x12 joist on the way down.  Even if only one foot went through, that's a lot of weight for 1 leg to stop.  It probably couldn't and I would end up with the off leg hyper or hypo extended as well as the one that went through being scraped pretty bad.  Any way I look at it, it would hurt.  I would feel better if the ends were affixed to a joist as well.  Without that, you are standing on a springboard. :-\

Give me a subfloor or a very thick floor any day.

Fla._Deadheader


When I first graduated High School, I worked for an electrician. We constantly took up floor boards to run wires and install ceiling lights. ALL older houses had single plank flooring. Most of it was Jersey Pine. 1" was about the thickness.

  I believe sub floors came into being, because of modern flooring, tiles, vinyl and linoleum. It just carried over to today's codes.

  My favorite person, my uncle Bill, was a carpenter. Never saw anyone that could match his handiwork. All houses that he built were ¾" T&G Pine, for sub floors. That was in the early 50's.
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Ianab

My 1960's house here in NZ has T&G flooring like that. The spacing between the floor joists will determine the thickness needed. Mine would be machined from 4"x1" I think, so cover a bit over 3". The floor joists would be 6x2s on an 18" spacing. All the end joins meet on a joist. It's just nailed in place, 2 nails at each joist and the then the nail holes filled. Well it's been there 40 years now and it's still fine.

Mixing species shouldn't cause a problem, their expansion will be similar, and any movement is catered for by the T&G joins anyway.

With the T&G and close joist spacing it will work fine, even Tom would feel safe in my house  ;)

Cheers

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

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