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DIY - Plywood Floors

Installing plywood flooring in a second-story bedroom was a wonderful way to give this space the great look of a wooden floor for a fraction of its cost.

This is the second part of this plywood floor installation, You can check the first part on how the plywood planks were cut and finished during my previous post right HERE.

The first step, even before bringing the planks into the room, was to clean up the sub-floor. Yep.

I had to remove the carpet, the pad, the tacking strips around the room, and the many staples that were holding the carpet down.

After a good cleaning, the sub-floor got painted. I used a dark green paint remnant. As I said before, I followed a tutorial done by Addicted2Projects, they used black paint. I didn't have black and the darkest I had in my stash was this green, so that's what I used. It worked nicely.


While the paint dried, I made a sketch of the room on a piece of paper, drawing the way I wanted the planks to be laid out. I didn't want many cuts. 

Following the plan, the first boards to be brought into the room were the ones I didn't have to cut.


They were laid perpendicular to the floor joists. Then, like a puzzle, the remaining pieces were brought in.
For simple cuts across each plank, I used a circular saw. For other cuts, like the one around the air vent, I used a jig-saw.

All the cuts were done with the planks facing down. At first, I thought I was going to have shattered edges on those cuts, but nope. They were mainly, clean cuts.
Most of the time I tried to install that rough edge (without stain and poly), against the wall.


The picture below shows the dry fitting of the planks.

It was now time to set them onto the floor.
I began at the wall alongside the window. The first and second lines of planks were removed. After setting a level line, the real installation began.

Liquid nails adhesive was used.

A squiggly line was applied. I went with less is better, in case I have to remove them later on. ;)

After gluing each plank in its place, they were nailed down with 2" brad nails in each corner and along their sides.

My inspiration used nickles to space the planks. I tried to use nickles but they kept on getting buried in between the two planks. So, I went ahead and used quarters. The gap was a bit bigger but I'm OK with it.


Thanks to the dry-fitting, the installation went very fast. The only part that took me a long time to finish was the last board, the one at the entrance of the room.

It had to go underneath the door trim. Using an oscillating tool and a scrap piece of flooring as a guide, the trim on both sides of the door was cut.


I had a really hard time installing that board. The part alongside the wall had to be trimmed, but since it had to go underneath the door trim and I had already glued and nailed the previous board, it was almost impossible to install that last board, fitting it down the trim/jamb. >:/

I removed the door trim and nothing! Finally, gentle persuasion made the trick. ;)
Using a mallet and without gluing it, that last board was finally pushed in place!

The lesson: Glue and install that last row alongside the wall/door before installing the previous line.


Well, these are some final shots of how it looks.







Woohoo, my first-floor installation is done! Overall, I'm very satisfied with how it looks and how it all went.

The price per square foot for this solution was about $1. Compared to the $3+ of the lowest price I could get them on the market, I think is huge savings. :)

The next phase in this room makeover is building and installing the shelves around the head of the bed.

Stay tuned!

:)

The following are all the links to each of the projects done in this room:










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43 comments :

  1. awesome job! we've been similar $$ option for flooring for our home.thnks

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  2. You did a fantastic job and my son just went through the same gymnastics at the door jamb. lol Live and learn. It looks great and a good savings at about 1/3 of the cost! xo Diana

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    1. Thanks Diana! It usually happens to us, rookies! That's why is good to talk about it, so it doesn't happen to others.

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  3. Oh my gosh - you're just so amazing you know - this came out fabulous !!!

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  4. Looks amazing..good job!!

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  5. You amaze me every time. This is gorgeous.

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  6. Those are so, so, so amazing!!! They look great!

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  7. These floors are incredible. Would love to install in my townhome. First floor is foyer with with doorways to garage, powder room , front door and bi-fold doors on closet. Also staircase going down to basement and up to 2nd floor. Opening to kitchen and and direct to living room. "L" shaped dining room off living room and eat-in galley type kitchen. Approximately 800 sq ft in all. Assuming walls are not 90 degrees nor straight, where do we start and what direction do we lay the boards? Direct line from front door thru foyer and living room to sliding door access to deck?

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    1. It's hard to visualize the whole layout. The installation should start at the longest unobstructed wall. The planks should also be laid perpendicular to the joists underneath.

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  8. I would never dream that you used plywood for this project...it looks awesome!

    xoxo, SS

    The Southern Stylista

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  9. OMG, just fabulous!!!!! Next time you should try bleached plywood floors!!!!! Maybe you could do it in mine?! ;-)

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  10. Pretty cool....it looks like you sealed the boards pre-installation.....right?
    Anyway, very cool....I'm sure it was more affordable too...very cool.
    Nancy
    wildoakdesigns.blogspot.com

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  11. This looks like the real thing. It is just gorgeous Cristina. You are just amazing!

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  12. It turned out really well. I am impressed with the end result.

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  13. Wow Cristina! This looks awesome! I honestly have considered this in my home, but the square footage is so big where I need it, I would sanding and staining and applying poly for months! Maybe I should tackle a small room first! I love it, you are so amazing!

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  14. Hola Cristina querida !! Guauuuu tu colocadte sola ese piso , es un trabajo muy profesional y muy difícil

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  15. This is what I want to do in our new home. Do you have your own table saw to cut the planks yourself, or will they cut it for you at HomeDepot, or Lowes?

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    1. Kelly, no, I don't have a table saw, I'm still afraid to use one of those. I bought the material at Home Depot and yeah, they did all the cuts for me.

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    2. That is great news! My husband is getting out of the Military in the summer, and when we move home we are buying our first home! We've already agreed that wood floors are a must with pets. I'd cut it myself, but I'd have to buy a table saw just to do it, and I rather not! What you've done here is wonderful, and it is exactly what I will be shooting for when we tackle replacing floors next year!

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  16. You did a great job! It looks beautiful. I love the color.

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  17. This looks fabulous! I love the wide planks! 2 questions: did you use the 7.5" planks, and if yes, where and is it noticeable? And also, exactly which plywood did you use? It it 3/4" sheathing or something else? I went looking at HD the other day and there were several different varieties of 3/4" ply available. Thanks!

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    1. Thanks Lindsay! Most of the planks were cut at exactly 8" the final is shorter 7.5" because of the amount the blade eats in. I don't know the exact name of this material, but it looks rough and the price was around $23 per sheet. I'm thinking on upgrading to a better quality material -trying to minimize the amount of sanding for my next flooring project.

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  18. Awe-mazing!!! I was considering doing this too. Would like to know how your floor has held up since installation. Thanks so much for your time in blogging this!

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    1. Thanks so much Sheila! It still looks brand new. This is my son's room, you can see it right here: http://goo.gl/6So13w - There's not much traffic in there, that's one of the main reasons why I chose this type of flooring. There's carpet around the bed, so that's protecting it. The only part where I saw some scratches after six month of use, is by the office chair/desk area, not surprisingly, the casters on the chair have done the damage, nothing big, but I already placed some carpet tiles to protect it. Other than that, no trouble at all. they feel nice on your feet.

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  19. Couple of questions did you use 5/8" or 1/2" thick plywood? Did you putty the cracks? What color is the stain? Sorry for so many questions but we are starting this project this weekend for my mother's day present. Thanks for your help and they look awesome! Gave me lots of inspiration and motivation to finally do mine! Not to mention the hubs saw these ones and I finally sold him on this look

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    1. Hi Kayla, I used 5/8" or the closets to ¾" material. No, I didn't use putty, cracks and even nail holes were left as is, and they don't even show or I don't notice them much now that everything is set and done. The stain I used is Varathane wood Stain - Ash, but all the info on materials and how it was applied is on my previous post. the link is above at the beginning and end of this post.
      It's almost six months after we installed them and they're holding really good. I had to bring some carpet tiles to the area where the office chair is located, the casters on the chair were creating some scratch marks on them, but other than that they're still looking great. ;)

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  20. This looks awesome! Just finding your blog!!! I've been looking at a few tutorials and keep wondering how they are when it comes to heating and cooling? I really want to do this with my upstairs, but I am worried that they'll just make my house FREEZING... any thoughts? Did you or would you put some sort of padding or insulation underneath?

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    1. This was done upstairs on a second level bedroom. I haven't noticed much change on how the room feels -cold, hot- I didn't add insulation. One year later, I'm still loving this type of floor.

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  21. Hello. They are beautiful. Doesn't dirt get between the planks? I'm concerned that lots of dirt and dog hair will get trapped between the planks. Please advise. Thank you. Regular hardwood floors don't have spacing

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    1. Thanks Candace! As I said in my previous comment, I'm still loving this type of floor in my son's bedroom. Now, I think yeah, dirt will accumulate in between the planks if it's not vacuumed regularly. I wouldn't install these planks on the main floor because of that gap and having in mind that pine is not that strong material for areas with lots of traffic. I'm using it on the second floor where there's only bedrooms that for most of the day are empty, we don't eat there and we have no pets, so the accumulation of dirt in between planks is zero so far.

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  22. The floors look beautiful! I keep seeing people using nickles or quarters to space the boards... but I can't for the life of me figure out why? Wouldn't you want the boards right next to each other so dirt and dust can't get in the cracks?

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    1. Thanks! Like all wood products, plywood and even OSB will expand or shrink slightly with changes in moisture. If the planks are tightly butted, there will be no room for expansion and buckling can occur.

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    2. Would this still be necessary if you let the wood acclimate in the house? Or should I just space it to be safe? Thank you so much for the quick reply!

      Also, what was the exact size/type of plywood you used? I'm getting ready to order some now and I just love the way yours turned out :)

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    3. I think spacing them would be the way to go, especially if you live in an area with distinct seasons.
      I really don't recall the exact kind of plywood I bought, but it was cheap and needed quite a bit of sanding. Whenever I'm ready to finish the other rooms I'm gonna try to use a better material to avoid that.

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  23. Doesn't stuff get stuck in the cracks? Thanks!

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    1. Yes, that's one of the reasons I don't recommend them for the main areas of your home. I installed them in a bedroom where regular vacuuming has kept those gaps free of stuff.

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  24. Hi Cristina,
    I just emailed you about being featured on Remodelaholic, but my emails don't always make it to inboxes (darn spam filters!) so I wanted to leave a comment here as well, as insurance. :) Please drop me a line at hello@remodelaholic.com. Thanks!

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  25. So far I've done the kitchen floor, then our bedroom floor with plywood. My wife LOVES it.
    On the kitchen floor I used one color stain, then 2 coats of poly. I'm about ready to make a light sanding and put another coat. It's been down over a year.
    The bedroom I went crazy and did multi colored stains. It was a pain but it looks awesome. Trying to get different colors from touching was a chore. Mixing some stains helped a lot. The next bedroom I may use one color. Maybe natural color.

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    1. Wow, you're at it! I would love to know how the floor has held up in the kitchen, since that's the room that's most used in a home.
      The ones I installed in the bedroom still look great, like new. I also want to install them in a natural color in the other rooms. I want them in a natural/medium color because the ones I installed show every piece of light hair/dirt.
      I would love to see a pic of the one with multi color stains, how cool it must be!
      Thanks for stopping by and letting us know how it's worked for you. ;)

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  26. Is there a reason that you sanded and stained before install instead of after?

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    1. I was trying to save my back. Working there close to the floor would've been painful for me. That's the only reason.

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