Well, it’s September of 2014, and it’s been over a year now that we’ve had the plywood plank floors installed. If you’ve watched my video series or read my other posts here and here, you might have wondered how they’ve held up.
In short… they’ve held up great! Way better than I expected.
Here’s a quick video to show you what I’m talking about:
As you can see, they are in just as good of shape as they were when we first installed them.
We were a little worried that as the seasons changed, the big, wide planks would react & start to move. I had visions of them cupping, bowing, cracking, splitting…. you name it. And none of it really happened at all.
They didn’t move and nothing cracked… it was a pleasant sigh of relief. The only thing I really noticed was that after about a month or so, 1 or 2 nails popped up near the bottom of the stair case for whatever reason. I hammered them back in, and they’ve been fine ever since.
Also, there’s no new floor squeaks, just a couple of old ones that were always there in the subfloor. Before we installed these floors, I walked over the sub-floors everywhere and screwed down any squeaks I could find. I guess a couple of them escaped me that day.
Some people have asked how hard they are to clean. Well, they’re really no big deal at all.
First off… yes, the gaps do get some stuff in them sometimes. No biggie.
We sweep them, then do a very slight damp mop with one of those Swiffer mops with the squirter thingy up front… and every once in a while, if a gap looks like it has some gunk built up, we run the vacuum over it. They’re really easy to clean.
It probably also helps that we don’t wear shoes in the house very often, and we don’t have any kids or pets. I could see there being an issue if a pet wasn’t potty trained or a kid threw up on them several times or constantly spilled drinks. But just think how much worse it would be with carpet!
So how much did they really cost?
Someone asked if I could put together a price estimate of what the floors actually cost us, so I checked out prices again today to knock out a list for you if you’re interested.
We bought all our supplies & materials at Menards, so I used their current prices (as of the writing of this post) for this estimate.
1/2″ x 4′ x 8′ cdx sheathing plywood: ~$18/sheet
1-1/2″ 16 Gauge straight finish nails (for air nail gun): ~$8/box of 2500 … ~$4/box of 1000
Flooring Adhesive (pl 400): ~$5/big tube (28oz)
Floor Polyurethane: ~$40/gallon
Floor Sander Rental: ~$55/ 3 hours
Floor Finish Applicator: ~$7
Floor Finish Pads: ~$4
(We already had a table saw, palm sanders & discs, and left over paint for the white wash.)
We estimated that we needed to cover about 1500 sq ft, so this is what we bought:
50 sheets plywood: $900
8500 nails: $28
6 tubes adhesive: $30
5 gallons poly: $200
Sander rental: $55
1 Finish applicator & 2 pads: $15
(Looking back, I should have bought the polyurethane in the bigger 2.5 gallon buckets, which are only ~$70 each… that would have chopped around $60 off the total price).
That’s about $1228 for 1500 sq feet …. so roughly $.82/sq ft finished out (+ blood, sweat, & tears)
The awesome part about Menards is that we bought everything during one of their 11% off, store-wide rebate deals they do every 2 or 3 months.
So if you subtract the 11% … we ended up paying about $1092.92 ($1093) … so roughly $.72/sq ft finished out (+ blood, sweat, & tears)
That’s pretty darn-tootin’ cheap if you ask me! I know these floors aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but we really like them, and they turned out really awesome for a killer price. Yes, there was hard work involved, but the price savings just might make them very tempting if you’re on the fence.
I hope this post helps you out if you’re thinking about trying something like this out and were wondering how well they’ve held up & just how much they really cost.
Later!
Kevin
Hey Kevin, nice 6 part series. I like what you did and will try it on my next flooring adventure. Can’t beat the price and the look. It looks really durable. thanks Pete
Thanks Pete!
Hey, I came across your video on concrete countertops, and found this post. I appreciate the input on the wear and clean up. Most of the time you see a DIY project that seems like a good idea, but no mention on how it works over time.
I have a few rooms with a carpet I dislike, but not a budget for hardwoods. I’ve had laminate floors before, and they’re ok, readily available, easy to install, but the nicer ones are almost as pricey as engineered wood or hardwood.
I also have lil kids, a teenager (and his friends from time to time), a dog that sherds like crazy, and so on. I like the idea of plywood, but I’m worried the gaps left between planks, and I see it done in almost every tutorial, will gather dirt like crazy. Not to mention I cringe at the thought of Sprite, chocolate milk/yogurt, and doggy accidents seeping into the floor.
You mentioned they do not expand or shrink with seasons. I think that’s a reason engineered wood is less prone to expand, too – the wood grain in the planks goes in different directions in each layer, which keeps the wood tighter. I wonder if I could just lay planks tight…
If I ever install these floor again somewhere else, I’d probably install them with a smaller (if any) gap. They haven’t seemed to move on us at all. The main issue with these planks is that they were hand cut on the table saw, so they’re not all perfectly square. There’s probably going to be some gap no matter what. It’s only me and my wife living on these floors, so we’re careful not to spill or get them too grungy. We decided to install them after accepting the fact that there would be gaps that would get some gunk in them over time. We think of them as “old-timey” floor boards in an old general store, barn, cabin, etc that look cool, but are mostly for function. (We still have to somewhat baby them around he cracks a little though. lol)
I was wondering about applying this over concrete? Could I just glue the wood to the concrete?
I have seen hardwood floors glued down to concrete. What they did was completely cover the concrete with a layer of glue (similar to how you would install tile) and then install the planks. The glue acted as both an adhesive and a water barrier (because concrete draws moisture).
Hi Kevin: Thank you for this great multiple part utube. I am definitely trying this on my mountain cabin/house . Really enjoyed your informative and professional presentation. Lawrence
Thanks! Glad you liked it.
soooo love these floors and thanks for all the detail of how you did them.
i was thinking of these in my kitchen/laundry area which has a nice vinyl flooring now. would i need to pull that up or can i apply directly over the vinyl? i am guessing there is a regular subfloor underneath it.
love love love these floors!!!
Hmm, you might be able to install them right over the vinyl, but I think that the combination of the flooring glue and nails is what’s keeping the planks in position so nicely. I’m not sure if just nails would be enough or if the glue would work on top of the vinyl, so you may need to go ahead and peel it up.
Love the idea of using plywood as an alternative to vinyl or carpet when looking for inexpensive flooring. Just wondering about using plywood, cut into a width similar to what you have done and having as little spacing between boards as possible but then instead of a clear poly… painting the floor with a colour like white or light grey. The boards will go on top of a concrete floor but being in a condo, we need a “sound barrier” using a barrier pad – otherwise I would just skim coat concrete and have smooth concrete floors. Thoughts and thank you in advance!!
I’ve seen painted plywood floors before, and they looked good too. If you’re into it, I imagine they will start to patina a little over time as well.