Flooring advice: Wide plank floor made from plywood

[manfre]

Farmhouse Wide Plank Floor Made from Plywood

Any thoughts or comments about cutting 1/2" plywood in to 8" wide "planks" and using it for flooring? In a few months I'll need to install ~768 sq. ft. of flooring on a relatively cheap budget and my wife came across that post. Our current fallback option is cheap vinyl.

 

[Mike Camp]

If you don't mind stuff getting stuck in the gaps the way they did it would work I think. If you had a lot of time on your hands you could put a tongue and groove on all of them using a router table. This would allow for you to install with a flooring stapler. A shaper would be much better suited for this task.

 

[Mark Gottesman]

Pit it down as sheets and paint a design on it. Poly over that and Bob's your Uncle.

Seams are just dirt magnets. Also strips are that much more likely to squeak (maybe?).

You could route or paint the groves for the look.

Image search: https://encrypted.google.com/search...8Lob29gT5koHgCw&ved=0CC8QsAQ&biw=1572&bih=885

 

[Bas]

Seems doable, although you're looking at 25 sheets! But if you have the people at HD/ Lowe's cut each sheet in half (length wise), they wouldn't be too heavy to lift. And ripping a 2' x 8' sheet of 1/2" plywood is certainly manageable on the table saw. If you know someone with a full slider, this would only be a couple hours of work. Tongue and groove would be much better of course, but also triples the labor.

What sort of subfloor do you have? With 1/2" material, you need a really good subfloor to make this work.

Another option is to install 3/4" plywood, then use a router w/ straightedge and a 1/8" bit to make the grooves. Add staggered perpendicular grooves to make "planks". Much quicker, and the gap would only be ~ 1/4" deep, so there is less chance of junk getting stuck in there. But you won't have as much "character" and grain variation since you're working with full sheets.

 

[manfre]

Stuff in the cracks would be annoying, but would hopefully vacuum/sweep out without too much trouble. The room will be large enough to justify getting a robotic minion, but I'm not sure if they are capable of removing dirt from the gaps.

I'm not sure if squeaking would be a problem. Depending on if I need a vapor barrier (floor will be over an unheated garage), I could glue the planks to the 3/4" plywood sub-floor.

I like the idea of simulating the plank look with routed grooves, but carrying full sheets of 3/4" plywood up a tall flight of stairs is not likely to happen. At least not without a lot of help. I'd imagine a tracksaw could also do the grooves, and I'd rather buy myself a tracksaw to do the job compared to a few router bits.

I wonder if it would be less effort to put a 1/4" or 1/2" base plywood floor over the sub-floor and then cut 1/4" or 1/8" plywood in to planks that are glued and nailed down on top to simulate the planks.

 

[Bas]

I like the idea of simulating the plank look with routed grooves, but carrying full sheets of 3/4" plywood up a tall flight of stairs is not likely to happen. At least not without a lot of help. I'd imagine a tracksaw could also do the grooves, and I'd rather buy myself a tracksaw to do the job compared to a few router bits.

You don't have to use full sheets of course. No reason you can't cut them down to 2x8 first. That would also help with varying the grain pattern too. Or even make a few custom sizes, e.g. 3x6, 4x4. A track saw would be great for making the grooves, although I'm not sure how close to the wall you can get.

 

[Mike Davis]

You could cut the grooves and pre-finish the floor before you put it down. Also if you have some art ability you could paint some faux grain patterns. Or wipe slightly different colored stain on some "planks".

 

[Jeff]

I understand the budget considerations, but think that the plywood flooring idea is penny wise and pound foolish in the long run even with void free Baltic birch. Plywood is notorious for generating splinters along a cut edge which is not good for a foot or toe on an uncovered area. For a snug fit each end should be end matched to its neighbor like hardwood flooring so that they tie together along their length.

I'd consider other alternatives without breaking the budget.

 

[manfre]

You don't have to use full sheets of course. No reason you can't cut them down to 2x8 first. That would also help with varying the grain pattern too. Or even make a few custom sizes, e.g. 3x6, 4x4. A track saw would be great for making the grooves, although I'm not sure how close to the wall you can get.

Different sized panels would definitely help with the varying grain pattern, but varying widths would require a lot more planning at every step to make sure each piece is positioned and grooved properly. Interesting idea of cutting the grooves on the plywood after installing. Seems like even a router couldn't get close enough to the walls to do that. I guess you could dry fit the panels to mark groove locations and then cut after moving away from the walls.

You could cut the grooves and pre-finish the floor before you put it down. Also if you have some art ability you could paint some faux grain patterns. Or wipe slightly different colored stain on some "planks".

My wife is toying with the idea of stenciling a pattern on a solid plywood floor or laying down squares, either 4'x4' or 2'x2', and alternating the grain direction to make the squares stand out and the seems less noticeable.

I understand the budget considerations, but think that the plywood flooring idea is penny wise and pound foolish in the long run even with void free Baltic birch. Plywood is notorious for generating splinters along a cut edge which is not good for a foot or toe on an uncovered area. For a snug fit each end should be end matched to its neighbor like hardwood flooring so that they tie together along their length.

I'd consider other alternatives without breaking the budget.

The exact budget is unknown at this point. There are many other costs (insulation, drywall, electrical, etc) for the overall finishing project that need to be balanced in. We're trying to keep the flooring at less than $1.5 per sq. ft. installed. Most of the alternatives in that price range are not very good. The benefit of 1/2" plywood is it is less than $1 per sq. ft. and we can easily install another flooring on top of it at a later date if we decide to. The various blog posts we found of others who have used plywood have stated that splintering hasn't been a problem in follow up posts. We're also thinking this could be a non-disruptive trial run for repeating in other rooms in our house. There is one room with a carpet that will be replaced as soon as my son is a little bit older.

 

[thsb]

i found laminate for .68/sq foot when i did my basement, as it was the last thing i had to buy and I was feeling very frugal by then. That was 18 months ago but i think you can still find something for around 1.00-the BORGS usually are running a special on one or two limited styles - and you can take what you don't use back. I think with the padding you would still be under 1.50.

it may not be that exciting of an option but i think it could look better and should last a while.

 

[jpr28056]

You might want to look at this place, www.reallycheapfloors.com . They advertise here on craigslist. You may also want to look at Sams Club. We bought laminate flooring there for a $1.69 ft. It looks good and has been down for two years with no issues what so ever.

 

[Bas]

Lumber Liquidators has laminate at extremely competitive prices. I did my workshop for $0.40/ sq.ft, including underlayment. You can get a decent quality laminate for about $1.00/ sq.ft.

 

[manfre]

My past experiences with cheap laminate have been that the floor looked very worn within 3 years of light/moderate foot traffic and a few chairs. That was many years ago and judging by the feedback so far in the thread, it sounds like the quality of lower priced laminates has drastically improved. I tested a $1.22/sq. ft. laminate display at costco by treating it like a lotto scratch off and it didn't leave any marks, so I think I dismissed laminates in the price range a bit prematurely.

 

[jazzflute]

I think plywood will look worse sooner. The outer veneer layer on plywood is only around 1/42", and it will scratch off more easily than the outer layer of laminate flooring, which is thicker, pressure-sealed and polymer-impregnated. Also, the finish/veneer quality on $32 a sheet ply will probably not be very good or consistent. Of course, the labor to put in a true T&G floor is much more involved, so that does have to be taken into consideration as well.

K

 

[junquecol]

Not only is the outer veneer trouble, but the core will have voids in it, unless you buy marine ($$$) grade. A heel, or chair leg could punch right through.

 

[srhardwoods]

plywood would be too soft in my opinion. Let someone with heels walk over it and you will have indentations for ever, or let the heel hit a void in the center of the plywood. Like Kevin said, outer layer is so thin I would think normal traffic in a short time would wear through it.

 

[jgoldbe2]

Check out singcore.com. I came across their website in a google search for high quality wide plank flooring panels. They seem to have a really interesting product and a nice portfolio of completed projects. Let me know what you think. https://plus.google.com/photos/111885244236246151539/albums/5655673905774990273

 

[CarvedTones]

My past experiences with cheap laminate have been that the floor looked very worn within 3 years of light/moderate foot traffic and a few chairs. That was many years ago and judging by the feedback so far in the thread, it sounds like the quality of lower priced laminates has drastically improved. I tested a $1.22/sq. ft. laminate display at costco by treating it like a lotto scratch off and it didn't leave any marks, so I think I dismissed laminates in the price range a bit prematurely.

I definitely agree. We got some discontinued Pergo at Ollie's a while back to do a couple of rooms (and got extra since it is discontinued) at very reasonable prices. We have had Pergo in one room for several years and that room happens to have a door to the kitchen right next to a door to the deck; the dog has done many high speed U turns there and it has held up fine.

 

[Rick M]

My shop has bare plywood floors that are 30-some years old and the veneer is intact, believe me it doesn't get babied. It's 1/2" or 3/8" ply, don't remember which. Rather than cutting all that plywood on a tablesaw I'd build a panel saw.

 

[Mike Wilkins]

Wood magazine published special editions on shops a couple of years ago. One of the shops had a floor made of 6" wide plywood strips done to look like a real plank floor. It did look nice but I had to wonder about the longevity of a material with such a thin top surface of wood. If you check around you could likely find a #1 common grade of oak that may fit your price range. You may end up with lots of shorts but the price may be easier on your wallet.