plywood floors?

[quote:mattschoenholz format=text/plain]Jennifer,

I was looking at your site, and the info on the Rocio Romero site. You mentioned in one of the pages in the blog that you would try to post information here in realation to the budget details for your project. I am in the process of purchaseing land for an LVL or an LV, and would like see the actual budget/details if possible. You can email me or post them here.

Thanks,
Matt[/quote]



Matt et all,

I have posted the Luminhaus budget details on a new yahoo group site that was started by Gregg S.
You can reach that site at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LVHomeFans/

Jennifer

Steve-

Thanks for the great suggestion re: aluminum strips for OSB seams. I think the two materials would compliment each other very well.

RFH

I saw the combination of birch or maple plywood (4' x 4') and an aluminum grid system on a floor at a Dallas store called Danish Inspirations. I asked about it and the salesperson told me that it was not for sale, but she came across as not knowing much of anything about the floor.

Next time I am in there, I will take my digital camera and upload a picture. Maybe it can be recreated with easily available materials.

arby,

After joining the squares together, we just put on a couple of coats of polyurethane. It's been awhile, so I don't remember the brand. I'm sure we picked it up at Lowe's or Menard's.

[quote:halocrime format=text/plain]arby,

After joining the squares together, we just put on a couple of coats of polyurethane. It's been awhile, so I don't remember the brand. I'm sure we picked it up at Lowe's or Menard's.[/quote]

Keep us up on how it's wearing (or tearing)...

I've done the aluminum grid/plywood system using the appropriate H-channel extrusion from Youngstown Aluminum Products. I went pretty cheap with the 1/4 thick stuff. It fully floats. Probly doesn't look as jaw-dropping gorgeous as what halo did.

It's the quickest of all the possible methods, though.

If you want to keep the original birch colour, I can recommend a product called 'Traffic' by Bona (http://www.bonakemi.com/productspecs/pdf/traffic.pdf).

This gives a very 'flat', hardwearing finish which does not colour the wood at all. We prepared by sanding with a commercial orbital floor sander per the product instructions and the results were very good. The ply does dent fairly easily, so no-shoes is a good policy! Coming up on three years of use now with no issues.

Grant

Ok folks...I did it! Had the idea from this thread. Was going to go pergo, but ended up with Birch Plywood. Got the fourth and final coat of Traffic on today, and here are some pics of the results. I will never be mistaken for a professional installer, but I am happy with the results.

It is 3/4 Baltic Birch on a foam pad, screwed into the subfloor. Sanded with 80, then 120. Wood filler between seams and in screw holes. 1 coat of Bona X sealer, then 3 coats of Bona Traffic. Sanded with 220 in between coats, and spot fixed if there were drips and such. Very, very happy with it. Now if I could just afford a couch...

It really looks great. Standard practice is 1/8 gap between sheets, I'm sure you can get away with less. Did you leave some gap?

The floor looks great - the alternating veener segments makes it look like really big planks. Is it like that in person, or did the camera flash bring up the grain?

This thread has given my husband and me encouragement to try plywood as our finish floor........only difference is that it will be going over a radiant heating system. Could anyone weigh in on whether we should float the system (biscuits) or attach to the sleepers underneath (screws). Seems like floating would be the safest because of the heating aspect. Do tell. Thanks.

If you try to rout a recess for molding or aluminum extrusion, do some testing. When I tried this method, I found that I got way too many splinters going across the grain. Sanding them off took too much time.

Hey folks...latest updates:

http://www.whirledmedia.com/ffr/ffr.html

The room is about done, thankfully. It was a lot of work, but so far its been worth it!

The plywood floors look great in here though...I highly recommend them to all!

Mike in Boulder

Hey - the fireplace turned out well. I remember you asking about that.

We used 4 x 8 sheets (ripped in 4 2x4 panels) with exposed fasteners for a painting studio. We beveled the edges and each panel got 6 screws.
The panels were laid out in a running bond pattern and slightly sanded and then finished (3 coats).
The concept being that if a panel or two got worn out, over painted, over worked/dented, etc.- it could be flipped and reused on the other side.
The perimeter has a contiuous flat maple 1x6 on flat for a border.
Pretty affordable and somewhat bombproof.

Overall as all have added, plywood is no more a liability than laminate, etc.- at least it's all wood instead of particleboard with a cladding.

See attached picture.

Good luck.

Scott in NC.

I thought I'd pop in and say that our floors have held up great. We've had them for 2 years and have not noticed any problems, such as buckling. In fact, when we move to our newly-remodeled power plant (in January, I hope!), we're planning on using this method to do the floor of our office. Yay, plywood!

Coupla comments coming in late to this discussion.

I’ve experimented a lot with cheap softwood planks, which I mill and install with screws and plugs. These are warmer on the bare feet than hardwood, and I leave them unfinished as I like the feel.

Most any kind of finish woodwork I do these days involves fastening with screws and plugs. I find this much more acceptable than countersinking and filling. Filler never quite looks right, IMO, whereas plugs create a sort of craftsmanly image. I like this system, too, because if there is a problem you can just dig the plug out and get access to the screw right away.

As I posted elsewhere, I saw a commercialized OSB product at a trade show the other day, called Loft Clic from Kronoply. This looks like a painless (if more expensive) way to do the OSB floor idea, as it’s beveled, finished, glueless and low-emission.

http://www.krono.com/cms/beitrag/10005385/32191/

Mike, your project looks like it turned out great, congratulations. Are the cables for the display running up the chimney?

My husband and I are remodeling kitchen/dining/office in the DIY spirit. Thispost has inspired us to use birch plywood for our dining room and office flooring. We completed the project 1 week ago, and I wanted to share our experiences. The end result is directly from all the great ideas and comments posted on this topic. I can't thank everyone enough for the insightful details and pictures.

Our goal was not to try to resemble some professionally-finished hardwood floor. Rather, we were going for a purposeful, rather industrial, distressed look (I don'tthink that is the best description, but it'll do). Basically, we didn't want people to look at the floor as a cheap ripoff of real hardwood.

We first cut all of 3/4"x4' x 8' sheets into 4' squares. Then wesecured them to the underlayment using 12 1-5/8" wood screws per sheet. We rotated the squares so that the grain from one square ran perpendicular to the grain in the adjacent square. We countersunk the screws, but left them exposed. Next we lightly sanded the surface using 220 grit sandpaper. Finally we finished with 3 coats of satin poly with a sanding between 2nd and 3rd coats. Now I'd like to give you all the ugly details.

First and foremost, we are not professional craftsmen. Our finished product has some minor flaws, but we regard them as "character marks". As someone had mentioned in a previous post, it is very difficult to get cut plywood boards flush w/one another. In one spot we hada 1/4" gap that tapered to a flush corner due to a not-so-straight wall corner. For that gap we had to fill in with wood putty. In another area, we had a 1/8" gap. Since this gap was so small, we used clear bathroom/kitchen caulk.

Another problem is that when you cut against the grain, the saw rips through the veneer, even if you cut the plywood upside down. So there are boards where the veneer is missing, but we left it that way. Again, labor of love indications .

We also ran into a problem applying the polyurethane. We used Minwax Super Fast Drying Poly for Floors in satin finish. Thisproduct is designed to dry fast so there is no sanding in between, and the job can be completed in one day. However, this is NOT for newbies, as we found out the hard way. We used lambswool applicators to apply the poly, but in some areas we had too little and in other areas we had too much. We even had drips that we didn't notice until after the poly had dried. After putting on two coats in this fashion, we let the 2nd coat dry overnight. We then lightly sanded off the drips using 220 grit sandpaper and orbital palm sanders. The third coat was meticulously applied using a 2" angle brush. This tookabout6 hours (my husband flew solo on this part), whereas the previous coats had only taken about 1.5 hours each for two people.

The end result, despitesome imperfections, is gorgeous. We are very happy with this.

I do have a follow up question, and I hope you can give me some input. The dining room plywood meets kitchen slate flush at the surface. However, I'm not sure if we should install a threshold piece. We like the obvious delineation of the two spaces, but several people have commented that it looks unfinished. Please share your thoughts on the attached picture.

those are pretty cool looking floors. just one thought, and i'm certainly not a woodworker by any stretch, but to get a nice cut ont he veneer you can use a utility blade to cut a straight line. run a blade against a Tsquare a few times to get through the veneer, and then cut with a circular saw or whatever as close to it as possible. then you still have a nice edge and can get a decent length too.

i like those floors though. i am thinking of using some thin stuff for my basement ceiling, but not sure yet. 4x4 with perpendicular sections looks cool.

FYI: Often when cutting veneers across the grain, woodworkers place a strip of masking tape down on the plywood, mark the cut line and cut. The tape helps hold the veneer together, reducing and usually eliminating tear-out. Of course, you must remember to place the good side down if using a circular saw, and good side up if using a table saw. You want the blade coming down onto the veneer, not up through it.
schmona: I think a very minimal aluminum T-track would be a nice transition from slate to plywood, maybe with a 1/2 face, no more. You could tap it in with a little epoxy, and that should do it. My 2 cents...


-R.

Thanks to both organzero and richierod for the input on getting a smooth cut on the veneer finish. We are planning on installing plywood in our living room, and I will make sure that we take your advice.

Also, I like the idea of using the T-track for a transition piece. However, I'm not sure where to find this. Would Home Depot or Lowe's carry it? The transition pieces I've seen at Home Depot are wooden thresholds. Sorry, I'm new to all of this!

Shmona -
I'm not sure, but I think Home Depot would carry some stock aluminum extrusions. It may not be as delicate as what you need, though. Look around town - you'll find something for sure.
On a different note, as cool as these pics of plywood floors look, I am just too worried about the thickness (or lack thereof) of the veneer wear layer. That's why I am looking into using this stuff called biofibre wheat straw board. It comes in 4x8 sheets and is made of compressed wheat stalks. Since there is no veneer, no veneer-type worries... there is no wear layer. The look is more refined than OSB, but perhaps not as much as a plywood. Does anyone have any thoughts for me concerning using this product? I'd appreciate the input...


-R.

Somebody posted this here a little while ago and I bookmarked it:

http://www.paramountextrusions.com/index.htm

They will have just about any aluminum shape you could need.

Wondered if anyone had advice on arbell's post about plywood and radiant floor heat...
Also, with a wood subfloor, would we need to put any underlayment (luan, backerboard,plastic, foam)down before the plywood?
Thanks,
Lorina

Jennifer, I really love your home. I am thinking about doing the same thing to my apartment. I am trying to save $$$ and I don't want to go the purgo route. Would you send me any pics or info regarding this process? My e-mail is motzekryen@hotmail.com. Thanks so much for your time.

-Ryen

P.S. Here are some pics of my carpet-infested place.
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b287/Motzek/ThePlace3.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b287/Motzek/ThePlace2.jpg[/IMG]

ok.so ive read this thread at least 20 times. and finally i have registered so i can jump in.

i want to rip out the carpet in my bedroom and install a new floor...a plywood floor. these are things that i know...

1.) i dont want to glue down the floor.
2.) i dont want to use biscuit joinery.
3.) i dont mind seeing the hardware used to secure the floor
4.) i want to use a variety of sizes...maybe some 4 by 8 sheets,some ripped into various smaller sizes. kind of like a puzzle....

my questions....how close can i make the joints? and are there any other methods of filling the seams (beyond what has already been brought up) thats easy,cheap,durable, and will look ok?
can someone tell me what they would recommend as a product (size type of ply???)...and finally would there be any advatage to install some sort of roll down underlayment like is used for floating floors?? i now this sounds odd for a screwed down floor...but just curious...

thanks.

hi
i am also writing from boulder, CO. i just bought a TINY 450 sq. ft. condo and have been looking for affordable flooring options. i have already decided on black so i would be interested in hearing Rob's info on his process. and i would love to see images!
i was originally looking at plywood, but was discouraged by people saying it would not be durable. i'm into an industrial look so don't mind it looking distressed, but want it to last as this will be rented in the future.
also- suggestions on varnish? i'm into matte, not super glossy.
and could i cut the plywood into 6in planks? too much trouble given all the variations stated in this forum?
so glad to find this forum with pics and all!
thanks for any relies!
joni

Love all the pics of plywood floors...and hoping for your knowledgable input!
We are soon to be breaking ground on a new house and am interested in plywood floors. A builder friend of ours thought the best, cost saving idea would be to use a 3/4 to 1 inch tongue and groove plywood as the subfloor and ask (nicely...) for the trades to be as gentle as they can be on it and when all is done, sand all imperfections out and apply finish.
Is there anything he is missing?
Lorina

The thing about the TG plywood idea is that this stuff is usually made with a softwood veneer. So, it won't be as able to stand up to dings and dents as a hardwood will. It is, however, made with a thicker veneer layer than hardwood plywood. That said, though, there are plenty of pine floors out there that have stood the test of time, but you coudln't say they didn't have character (dings and dents).
If you try this idea, you might want to cover your TG floor with something really inexpensive while the place is being worked on. You could use something as inexpensive as rosin paper, or possibly find some cheap carpet pad that would give you better protection.
jonimadere:
My view is that plywood will not be durable enough, though the opinions on this thread certainly seem to put me in the minority. But in your case particularly I think plywood floors are not a good idea. One, ripping them into 6 planks would be an installation nightmare, and two, people who occupy rentals are usually much harder on the property then the owner (at least in my somewhat limited experience as a landlord)so I would especially be concerned with the durability issue in your case.

-R.