floor covering

[bookwormom]

I'd like your opinion on some project I have coming up soon. we need to put a floor in an upstairs bedroom. so far it has plywood down and nothing else. It needs to be low cost and something I can do by myself. heavy, bulky things are out of the question.
Before I put down flooring of any kind it needs some kind of underlayment that sounds sort of hawaiian, a kind of plywood. I can not handle sheets of plywood by myself. My idea was to have it cut into 2 foot squares, staining the squares different colors and then put clear, heavy duty floor sealer on. ( I saw some stuff at a store that sounds like bass pro shop, forgot exactly, but they have stained concrete with clear sealer and people walk on it all day. It looks really good. I took a careful look.
anyway, has anyone here done something like it? I may have to paint the squares as there are screw dents to hide. I am wondering also what to use for "grout". It just came into my head and I have to draw an outline and see if maybe I can make the squares in patches of different sizes. all kinds of possibilities. Input appreciated :)

[Deberosa]

THere was an article in BWH magazine a while back about a painted floor. It was done with multiple coats of plain latex, if I remember right and it was very durable. It was a pain to put on a whole floor but you could paint the squares firt maybe.

Anybody remember that issue?

[AlchemyAcres]

I posted basically the same cheap floor question last year....
I decided the cheapest solution was a faux wide plank plywood floor.

The article Debbie remembers was also discussed quite a bit.

The Forever Floor by David Lee

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/lee92.html

Why doesn't this forum have an archive? >:(

~Martin ;)

[MadTripper]

You can make a cheap wood putty by mixing standard wood glue with sawdust (maybe for your "grout" and covering the screw/nail marks). *I'm sure you could get pretty creative with coloring and so on. *I would suggest using a construction adhesive as well as screws/nails. *This will really keep things in place and tight even during expansion periods. *We tiled our entire house with the exception of bedrooms and we love it. *I managed to find some tile that was fairly inexpensive (@$1.50 per 12x12 inch square) and fortunately had some friends who are quite possibly the best tile guys in the business. *Depending on your room size and needs, you may be able to hit up a local tile shop for leftovers. *You would have a mix and match but that can really look nice if positioned correctly.

I'm curious however, if you have plywood there already, why not just paint and seal what you have for the time being? *I have freinds living on painted subfloor for 5 years now. *That would give you time to save some money and put whatever flooring you might desire.

[AlchemyAcres]

I'm curious however, if you have plywood there already, why not just paint and seal what you have for the time being? *I have freinds living on painted subfloor for 5 years now. *That would give you time to save some money and put whatever flooring you might desire.

That's essentially all a faux plank floor is....I drew lines with a fine tipped permanent marker (Sharpie) on the plywood (3/4 inch tongue & groove) to simulate wide planks.....dots at the end of each "plank" to simulate nails...then stained and sealed.....it's quite convincing...and less than $1.00 per square foot...

~Martin :)

[bookwormom]

thanks, you opened a whole new perspective. I have to see how heavy one of those rolls of roofing is.

[DaNgEr_KiTtY]

i have painted several floors over the past few years for many different types of situations. an oil based or epoxy paint will be much more durable than any type of latex. industrial acrylic or waterborne type paints would be my second choice.

[Quietgentleman]

I put a floor in a spare bedroom at my sisters using pallet boards that i ripped to 3 and a half inches wide and ran through a thickness planer. Then I biscuit jointed the ends. The first coarse I laid down I snapped a chalk line 3 and 3 quarters inches from the wall. I laid my first coarse with the edge of the flooring right on the line and nailed the boards down. 2 brad nails in each end. I biscuit jointed every 6 inches for the sides. I didn't glue anything I just dry fitted everything together and nailed. After it was done i puttied the nail hole and da sanded the whole floor to smooth and level it up. Laid down a varnish that home depot advised. I will say it was allot of work but it sure did turn out nice. It did take me a month of evenings and most saturday mornings to get it done but it was a cheap floor money wise for my sister.

QGM

[bookwormom]

you are a good brother QGM

[flatwater]

I just finished an upstairs room. after puting exterior 3/4 inch chip board down I clear coated the chip board to seal it good then after it dried I laid some indoor outdoor carpet on it. the stuff is inexpensive and lasts for years and it has a rubber backing so it does not slip around.
flatwater

[CarolAnn]

If you end up using plywood cut into 2' squares, you may find it's almost impossible to get the squares "square" - which will leave gaps and uneven cracks. You might check around to see if you can find some old wood to recycle. My sister and her friend tore down a barn, got paid for it, and also got the wood that included some nice butternut and oak. If you get the wood free, you'd be able to afford having someone plane it to a regular thickness & that would also make it nice and smooth.

If you need to use wood filler, my favorite is Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty. It's cheap, comes in powder form that you mix with water, and when it's dry, you can sand it like wood. It's amazing stuff & worth a few bucks for a small can to experiment with before you use it in a real project - this, so you know how thick you want it, and how it performs in your application. It doesn't suck up stain like wood, though - but if you do use it you might experiment with adding pigment or water base paint when it's wet to make it match the stain.

I helped a friend and her kids do a "rug" with latex paint once, by painting a rectangle, made a border around the outside, and made stamps with shape-cut sponges glued to backing to make them sturdy. The inner design was leaves and berries, while the outer design was a leaf design cut into a sponge roller and just rolled on. We used a huge paint brush to make "fringe" on the ends - it looked great! We coated it with polyurethane to make the paint last longer. You might try something like this if you end up with plain plywood.

[clawhammerdan]

My wife and I put in 16oo sq. ft. of tongue and groove flooring two years ago. We put it down over some plywood sub floor. As an underlayment, the guy who sold me the flooring materials said all I would need to put down was black feltpaper, which I used. My floor came out great and it wasn't as difficult as I expected it to be, though it was rather time consuming. Have kneepads, and with two it goes a whole lot faster than if you're working by yourself. Good luck.