Meanwhile, back at my own homestead,
I've had lots and lots of emails/questions regarding this:
it's kind of made the rounds on Pinterest. So! Let's talk plywood flooring, shall we? The goods? The bads?
Incidentally, and on a side note, if I didn't contact you back on the plywood flooring, it's because I couldn't find a way to contact you through email or your blog.
This is where I beg of everyone in the whole wide world: pweety pwease with sugar on top-- connect your email to your profile (or leave an email address with a comment if you need a reply). I have gotten some awesome comments from totally awesome, hilarious, they-should-be-my-new-bestie kinds of people, and I type up this big reply and go to hit "send", and it is going to "no-reply". So sad. (Find out how to here).
But back to plywood flooring!!
The main question! Did my husband ever come around and love our plywood flooring? NO. No to the no no no. Heck to the no. He's indifferent to it now, but he does not love it.
Do I love it? Eh. I have to be honest. I don't love it. It's not the right style for my house (I shouldn't have painted), it's in thee most dirty/heavy traffic part of our house by far, and frankly, I don't clean it. Ever. Plus my mudroom is always like a bomb went off, so there's that, too.
Does this mean I think you won't love it either? NO. Because you, my friend, will be smarter than me. And you probably clean your floors more than once a year.
I really believe you can pull this off and make it awesome.
Take a tip from me here:
1. Do not space your boards like I did. I wanted a "country" look, and so the boards are spaced (the size of a penny stuck between them).
This is a no-brainer, but all kinds of total crap will get stuck in there. Make your boards tight.
2. Paint or stain?
-It doesn't matter, but what does matter is that you seal them. Seal them good. I recommend a water based poly, because from my experience, those will not yellow.
These two:
are tried and true, honest to gosh clear poly's. Just so ya know.
3. Don't use the cheapest pine plywood you can find. I did because I wanted a "country" look (yes I'm feeling dumber by the minute). But if you want a hardwood floor at the cost of ply, get a decent grade of it.
Couple other things I've been asked a lot?
I laid this right over the top of the linoleum. Yep. I did. It's fine. I nailed these to the floor with my trusty nailgun and 2 inch nails. Yep, I did. It's fine-- they don't move. No problem-o.
Do I think this is the best way to do it? Pfft. Heck no. Here's another way it's been done:
and I think it looks great.
Also, check out these plywood floors just for fun.
Hope this helps. And this has been a public service announcement. Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
8 comments:
Well I guess I'm not alone in loving how that floor looks. But thank you for being Honest Abe and sharing the 411. I am totally going to poly my garage steps when I repaint them one of these days. That is so smaht, why didn't I think of that? Hope your "other" house spruce up is going well!!
Love the checker board paint on the floor!! Fab!!
Hugs
SueAnn
I like to do what Ms. Frizzle says: Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!
I have plenty of projects I don't necessarily LOVE, but I don't regret doing them, because it's a great learning experience, and like you, can now pass on your superior knowledge to the rest of us mere mortals.
I think your floor rocks!!
Found you on Pinterest and my husband and I are really lookin ginto this.
His question is, Has the wood bowed in any way? How have you taken precautions to ensure this doesn't happen?
If you've written about this, let me know, this is one of the best info posts about the floors that I have seen.
Thanks
I did plywood floors about a year ago and LOVE LOVE THEM! No one who comes to my house can ever tell that they aren't hardwood and they are easy to keep clean. I used a higher quality pre-sanded plywood which cost about 5 more a sheet and was worth every penny. I also sanded the edges of each cut piece to give it more of a wood look, and I stained it with a dark stain. I don't love the cracks either- and still intend to fill them with something one of these days, but for now, I get down and vacuum the crap out every few weeks (or months). Its not so bad ;)
you can see my floors at everyday-creative.com if you are interested. I LOVE the black and white floors pictured above!!
What grade plywood did you use?
I'm dying to do this, the thing about the cracks: I was reading that despite it being plywood, as some say it doesn't happen with plywood, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me, studies show plywood does expand and contract. So though I am a slob, and would have stuff in the cracks all the time, having it buckle seems worse. Maybe coats of poly over the top would help this, I guess I'll find out one of these days. Thanks for the this :)
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