Alright, so if you remember in Part 1 of my plywood plank floors post, I mentioned how we were renovating the entire interior of our barn house and were looking for a interesting floor that was both low cost and durable. Searching around the interwebz… I found 2 examples of plywood floors that I liked… one from the Hindsvik blog and one from the Picklee blog. We decided to go with the more rustic-relaxed Picklee style, but the interior of the house would look more like Hindsvik’s modern Scandinavian style. And it turned out great!
In Part 1, I showed you where to start by figuring out how much wood to buy, how we sanded & cut our planks, how we white washed them, and how we made repairs to the floors to prep them for install. The post got kind of long, so I split it off into two parts. Now I’ll show you how to install and finish the floors. I think you’re gonna like how they turned out!
Before we even thought about installing the first row a planks, we had to clean the floors. They were covered in a bunch of drywall dust and just general renovation gunk. They were bad! We went through the house and vacuumed & damp mopped all the floors that were going to be covered, so that the glue on the bottom of the planks would actually stick to the floor and not just a layer of dust.
To begin the install, the first thing we did was find an area with a long run that stretched between a couple of rooms for the first row of planks. We started upstairs, and both rooms up there are joined by a little hallway, so that was the perfect spot.
We took a square, lined it up to the wall (it actually slid under the drywall a bit & butted up to a 2×4 underneath the drywall as you can see in the picture), and measured out the width of two planks (8″ each) and then came back in 1/2″… so a total of 15-1/2″. We made some marks along that wall in both rooms, and then used a chalk line to mark our layout line. That chalk line would then be used as a guide for the first row of planks we’d install.
The reason we went out 15-1/2″ was so that we could line up and install the second row of planks first, and build out from there into the rest of the room. Then when the rest of the planks were down, we’d come back and lay in the planks that butt up against the wall. Remember how I told you in Part 1 that when you slice your plywood sheets, the last plank would be narrower than the others? Well, we used those narrower planks up against the wall and were able to custom slice them down even narrower if the wall happened to have a slight bow to it or whatever.
We also made sure to keep about a 1/4″ – 1/2″ of wiggle room between the edge of those planks and the 2×4 boards that were just peeking underneath the drywall just in case the planks wanted to move as the seasons changed. Once installed, they were tucked under the bottom edge of the drywall a bit and were totally covered up by trim later.
Once the chalk line was marked, it was time to start installing the planks. We flipped over the plank and added a good squiggle of flooring adhesive to the bottom side like this. I’d recommend adding a bit more than I show in this picture, but you don’t have to go crazy. Maybe just add some globs in between the curves and you should be good to go.
We butted the end of the first plank against the far wall (with the long side lined up to the chalk line) and I face nailed it down using 4 nails across the plank about every foot or so. I shot them in at a slight angle (2 towards the right, 2 towards the left) to help them stay in place just in case the planks tried to lift at some point. This pic shows how I did the very first plank with 2 nails sort of on each side… but I realized I liked the look of the 4 nails spread evenly across when I installed the second plank, so that’s how I did the rest of the planks.
Also, I should mention that I was using a 16 gauge air finish nailer with 1-1/2″ finish nails. The reason I used 1-1/2″ nails was because our subfloor was 3/4″ thick, and the plywood planks were 1/2″ thick. Add in the fact that I shot them in at a slight angle, and the 1-1/2″ nails were about all I really needed. 2″ nails would have been fine too, but anything bigger or smaller wouldn’t have been too good.
Oh, and also… I used a bunch of nails. Like a WHOLE bunch. I bought nails in boxes of 2000, and I burned through more than 4 boxes. I estimated that I used around 8500 nails for the entire 1500 sq. ft., and I only screwed up and had to pull out & re-shoot about 5 or 6 nails. Not bad! 😉
We used Picklee’s idea to use the metal square as a spacer in between the planks as were installing them. It helped put about 1/8″ of gap in between the planks just in case they wanted to move as the seasons changes.
Now that we’ve had the floors down for a while and have seen how little the planks moved (if any), you could probably get away without it if you wanted, but we wanted to play it safe. Plus, we really like the looks of the slight gaps. They definitely have a very old school, wild west, general store’s floor look going on. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but we really like the look.
I wanted to throw in this picture to show you the zig-zag pattern we used to install the planks. We basically just went back & forth from the first room’s far wall … through the hallway … over to the second room’s far wall. When we got to the planks that would touch the walls, we measured and cut them to fit.
Then we started the next row with the cut off piece left over from that last plank we just installed. We made sure that the cut off end of the plank faced the wall, so that it would be covered by trim later and the sanded & slightly rounded off end butted up against the next plank to prevent snags, splinters, etc.
If the cut off piece was less than 12″ long, we started with a fresh plank … and if the piece was really close to the same length as the installed plank, we chopped it down a bit. We tried to not have any plank end seams too close together to keep them all random.
When the first room was just about complete, all we had left was the planks that we had to slice down to custom fit against the walls or cut to fit around door & closet frames, etc. This was the first look at how the floors were going to turn out …. and we LOVED it!
Now, one thing I wasn’t able to show in the video was how to fix gaps caused by the planks that ended up having a slight bow to them (whether it was from being accidentally cut with a slight curve or just naturally springing into a bowed shape when sliced down).
You can see here how the plank starts to bow out a bit about 12″ from the end. To take care of it, first we nailed it down like normal all the way to the section where it started to bow…
… then we screwed down a block of wood a couple inches out from the plank, so we could start to wedge it into place…
… and then we hammered a wedge to squeeze the plank in place. Once the gap looked even, I nailed that puppy in place and it looked great. I was slightly worried that maybe the planks would try to bow back into original shape after a few weeks or months, wreaking havoc to the floors… but it’s been a year already, and I haven’t noticed anything like that. I think maybe 2 or 3 planks did slightly bow back to touch the plank next to them, but the abundance of glue & nails held everything in place really well, and there was no cracking or lifting going on.
We installed the floors the same way downstairs. We started in the little hallway in between the front & rear rooms (you can just see it in the top left corner) and worked out from there. The only other challenge downstairs was the weird, round, air vents in the floors. When it came time to install the planks in those areas, I just had to measure the vent holes really well and mark them on the planks to cut out. They ended up not being a big deal at all.
Once all the plywood planks were installed on the floor, we stopped for the day and took it all in. We really liked how they were turning out. We wanted that relaxed-modern Scandinavian look, and we really got it. The wide planks were looking awesome with the board & batten ceilings, the simple wall lights, and the wood trimmed windows.
Do you remember how messy and cramped the living room looked with all the junk in Part 1? Well… these floors REALLY opened up the place. You may not be able to tell in this picture, but between the last pic and this one, I went through the house and added a little more white wash to some of the planks to lighten them even more. We wanted to make sure the floors were not going to turn out too golden yellow once the poly was down.
This was our first look at the sea of bright, open space we had created after months of renovations. It was really coming along. Now that the floors were down, we still had to top them with polyurethane, add wall trim, and paint the window trim to really finish everything out.
We let the floors dry after adding the extra white wash, and then we swept & vacuumed them again before adding the polyurethane. We made sure to buy high traffic poly in a semi gloss, so that it would be durable and not too glossy.
I applied 3 coats with a full 24 hours of drying time between coats 1 & 2 … and about 12 hours or so between coats 2 & 3. If I had to do it again, I’d consider applying the poly with a roller instead of the pad like I used, but I would test it to make sure it didn’t leave any bubbles. I bet the roller would help speed up the application and maybe even help put the poly on a little thicker too.
The floors did darken up a bit once the polyurethane dried, but we still really love the look! We love the varied wood grain & texture of the plywood, the different tones of white we got by white washing some planks more than others, and the old school look of the 8″ width of the planks with the slight gaps in between.
The floors turned out very fitting for our barn house and look & perform even better than we hoped. They “popped” even more once the rest of the house was finished and trimmed out. I really love how they look up against the black & white checkered VCT floors we did in the kitchen and dining room. It has that sort of a vintage modern Scandinavian look that will always look great.
Alright… so there you have it!
That’s how we made and installed the wide-plank, plywood floors in our house. Yes, there was some hard work to get them ready, but the actual install was just as easy, if not easier, than installing any other wood flooring. Plus the cost was a BIG bonus. They were probably a bit cheaper than putting carpet in, but these should last much better than carpeting ever would.
I’ll post an update of how they’ve held up after a year, and I’ll also put together an estimated pricing guide to help give you an idea of about how much they really cost …blood, sweat, & tears not included 😉
If you want to try these floors for yourself, I’d love to see how they turn out. And if you have any questions, I’ll try to help you out with everything we learned while doing it ourselves.
Oh, and if you haven’t seen Part 1, make sure to check it out as well.
Also, I just recently did an interview with DIY April about how I made these floors. Go check that out, too!
Later!
Kevin
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Thanks for sharing! I recently came across Picklee’s blog and her experience from a detour on Pinterest, and instantly fell in love with the look of the plywood plank floors. As she originally installed the floors in her shop, I decided to do a bit more research to see more “homey” finishes, to ensure I was indeed ready to take the plunge. With a quick google search, I managed to stumble upon your blog, and I must admit, I’m very glad that I did! You’ve completely sold me (and more importantly, my husband, as he’ll be doing the work) on the floors. Thank you so much for the in-depth tutorial, and sharing your experience. Needless to say, I’ve bookmarked your page!
We were originally thinking of doing cork or rubber (!!!) flooring, but I saw a few pictures of plywood flooring and loved the look. They turned out nice, have held up great, and if we ever do flooring again in another house, we’d probably do them again.
Thanks for that! It’s just the answer I needde.
Fantastic! Well done!
I live in Chicago and on my ground floor I have concrete slab.. I would like to lay down some insulation over the concrete and then add the planks.. is that possible?
It could, but it would require something underneath to act as a moisture barrier. I’ve seen hardwood installs over concrete using a floating plywood subfloor (with a plastic waffle shaped layer attached on the bottom of the plywood) to hold the flooring up off the concrete. I’ve also seen an install where they just completely coated the concrete with flooring glue to act as both a moisture barrier and adhesive. I’ve only installed them on our wood subfloors, so I’d recommend doing some more research to see what other’s have done on concrete.
Hi guys..
Great work on the plywood floors, they look amazing!! We would love to do the same thing here in our home in South Africa. Few questions that I was hoping you could answer or provide some insight on..
Firstly.. We have a concrete subfloor, and are not really sure if we could lay it straight down on that, and if so what you’d use to nail them down in place? We considered laying a first layer of plywood sheets and then the plywood planks on top, this obviously doubles the cost which sort of defeats the purpose..
Secondly… We love the high gloss painted white floors you see in so many Scandinavian homes.. Do you think this would be a viable option for the plywood as obviously that would require a bit more upkeep and washing of the floor.. How have yours held up to the odd water spill and cleaning over the years? And would you recommend painting the planks befor or after installation? We love the rustic look, and the spacing that helps replicate the solid wood floor.. We are just worried that painted them once they were in place might cover over the spaces, and ruining our white plank floor dream! 🙂
Sorry for the overload of questions… But you definitely seem like the right person to ask!! (Ps we have about 200sqm’s to do.. So don’t want to dive head first into the deep end without some sound advice first! Ha ha)
Yes, you’ll want something between the planks and the concrete to keep moisture away. I’ve seen hardwood floors installed on top of a plywood & plastic subfloor like you mentioned, and I’ve seen an install where the planks were glued straight to the concrete (no nails). The glue was applied heavily over the entire floor to act as both a moisture barrier and an adhesive. That would be something to research a bit more.
I’m a fan of the white Scandinavian floors too. Some of the blogs I follow showed them painting directly over the old, wide plank subflooring to achieve that look. But those floors also had fairly big gaps that still showed afterwards. Over time, they do wear down in high traffic areas (which becomes part of the look if you’re into that). Ours have held up fine from small spills, rainy days, snow, mud, etc… but we do make sure not to get them too wet. It would probably be easier to paint them after installing all the planks, but like you said, there’s a chance that the gaps could fill in or not quite show up like you want. Maybe make a few test planks, install them on a small plywood sheet, and see how they look after painting?
Hi, we are interested in trying this ourselves but are a bit worried about how the soft wood would hold up to dings, scratches, etc. Now that you’ve had them for almost a year, how have the plywood floors held up?
Yeah, pine is a really soft wood, so if you drop anything really heavy on them or drag heavy furniture around, it will leave marks. There’s a couple of depressions under our couch legs and a couple of small dings where I dropped the corner of some heavy furniture projects, but if you didn’t know where to look, you wouldn’t notice them at all. We knew they might get a little banged up when we installed them, but we were ok with any “character” marks that might be on them as long as it wasn’t too crazy. They’ve held up great and we’ve been sure to take care of them too. We don’t wear shoes in the house, we don’t have any pets, and we don’t drag stuff all over them like we sometimes did at our old apartment that had carpet. We’ve had them for almost 2 years now, and they still look like they did when we first installed them. The oil based poly has yellowed a bit as expected (I’d probably do a water based clear if I install them again somewhere else), but other than that, they’ve been great.
We are about to install our plywood plank flooring. Did you also do the planks on your stairs, and if so, did you do any kind of stair nose? I don’t have any stairs but I do have a sunken family room and I can’t decide how I want to handle the step down.
Our stairs are just regular wood steps that we painted to match our interior doors, but there is a bull nose at the top where the stairs meet the second story floor. I built a new nose by ripping & cutting a 2×4 to the right thickness to match the new floors and nailing it in place. I ended up painting the bullnose to match the steps, but I could have also whitewashed & poly’ed it to match the floors.
Kevin, Thanks for sharing and producing this series on the plywood plank floors. We currently have older asbestos tile flooring in our upstairs (approx. 774 sq. ft.) We love the plywood plank idea and are willing to give a test look in one of our rooms upstairs that has been remodeled. What are your thoughts of putting the 8″ planks over the tile flooring? It should be noted that the floors are mostly level. There are some slight dips between some of the floor joists. I can also screw down some of the squeaky spots prior to install. Maybe I should nail with a 2 – 21/2″ nail gun?
I would think you could install right over it. It would probably be safer and less messy than trying to tear it out. Depending on how thick the tiles are, you probably wouldn’t have to use 2-1/2″ nails. The 1-1/2″ – 2″ nails would probably still be enough. If the tiles feel secure, you could probably use the flooring glue like I did for added holding strength.
Great idea! How has the floor held up now that its been a while?
It’s held up great! It’s been about 2 years now and still looks like it did in my 1 year update video. We’re really happy with it.
Looks good. Wondering though how much dirt and dust collects between the planks. Thanks
They do get some dirt in the bigger cracks, but it’s nothing that a quick run with a vacuum can’t take care of. We sweep & lightly damp mop them and then occasionally run the vacuum over them if we notice any build up in the cracks. I’ve also realized after living with them for a couple of years now, that they can probably be installed much closer with little to no cracks. The planks have not really moved on us since install (plywood is much more stable than solid wood planks), so the gaps probably aren’t that necessary, although we do like the sort of rustic, “wild west” look of them.
Some questions.
1. We have carpet upstairs and need to replace but want wood. If we pull up the carpet there should be some sort of wood subfloor. Could we do this plank method right on top of that subfloor? Any “leveling” required? And instead of buying plywood and cutting I guess we could buy thinner lumber – like 1 x 3 or 1 x 6. Or even leaving entire sheets of plywood?
2. You used polyurethane stain etc. Does that “seal” the wood? Even between the cracks?
Thanks in advance for the advice.
Your floors look great!
Thanks! We really love the floors and they’ve held up great. Our downstairs was covered in really gross carpeting when we bought the house. We ripped it up, and the only prep work we had to do was pull out all the staples that used to hold the carpet padding down and repair a couple of rotten sections of the subflooring where the old windows & dishwasher had leaked. We then just swept, vacuumed, & damp mopped them before applying the planks right over them with glue & nails. Our subfloors were level. If yours are off quite a bit anywhere, yes, I’d recommend leveling them back up.
Yes, the poly does seal the wood. If the planks are installed closer, and you go heavy on the poly, they should be protected really well. I think if I ever install a floor like this again, I’d probably not do the gaps. The plywood planks have been really stable (unlike solid wood planks that tend to move, warp, etc as the seasons change) and haven’t really moved on us at all. So with tighter gaps (or no gaps), plus good coats of poly, they’ll be protected nicely.
You can butt them up tight. Plywood will not swell & contract like hardwood.
What’s your thoughts on installing the sheets without cutting them like you did?
You can definitely do that. I’ve seen them installed in full 4×8 sheets, 4×4 squares, and 2×2 squares. It would be a lot less prep work and still look great. If you do cut them down into 4×4 or 2×2 squares, it looks pretty cool to rotate the grain in a checkerboard pattern.
Good Day!
I’ve been admiring your flooring project via YouTube, and am ready to begin our project. I had no idea that you could poly over pickle. It’s a beautiful floor!
Thanks! We really liked the super white pickling effect we got and didn’t want the poly to change it too much. But since I used oil based poly, it definitely added an amber glow to it. We do love how they turned out though. I may use water based poly if I ever do these floors again somewhere else just to keep them more white than yellow.
I was thinking of grouting the space gaps, say 3/16″ or something.
I haven’t yet seen any wood floor with grout , so not sure if grout with wood works. Maybe a flexible rubber caulk.?
The edges would need rounded sanding for the grout, I think. Like ceramic tile.
Any thoughts?
I personally wouldn’t grout them, but the caulk might work (although I probably wouldn’t do it either).
Ok, so this is a dumb question but I can’t resist. Would it be possible to use your circular saw and just cut some 1/8 in groves along the length of the 4×8 without cutting it into strips? I know you’d have to use some jigs/guides, but I’m lazy! Then, you could install entire 4×8 sheets. Or do you think that facing the boards in opposing directions is important? I’d think that because the plywood is laminate layers, you don’t need to swap directions like you were edge-gluing?
I have a cabin in northern MN that freezes each winter, and am looking to put something over some old asbestos tiles!
thanks, Bob
You could cut groove if you wanted. You’d have less a real gaps to deal with, but I’d imagine it would still add quite a bit of work. I’ve seen full sheet of plywood installed as flooring and it looked pretty good to me.
shoot, I just saw you already answered this! sorry,
Hey Kevin,
I have been wanting to do wood flooring for years but the cost has always been a hang up..Loved all the videos..Questions tho…..is white washing necessary if I go darker than you did…? And white washing has to be done one board at a time??
No, we just wanted light colored floors, so we white washed them. You could leave them alone for a yellow/amber look or add stain as well. I did the boards one by one so that there would be a variance in the amount of wash on each one. Then I could pick & choose as I was installing them. If you just want a solid stain color, I’d install them, then add the stain & poly after.
Question: what if!!! Is it possible to score the plywood with fake cracks and lay the whole sheet? Might be more trouble but just wondering. My concern is the gaps and cracks but you have already addressed that as not being a real issue. Just a thought!!
You could possibly run the plywood over a table saw to cut some “gaps” and make it look like several planks. I’ve seen regular (no faux gaps, etc) full sheets of plywood used as flooring and they looked pretty nice. It’s a bit different look that what we did, but still looks good. You could also cut them into half sheets, quarter sheets, etc. and install them checkerboard style.
Did you fill the nail holes with wood filler then repaint over them afterwards? What kind of polyurethane did you use.I have heard that Minwax poly will ‘yellow’ the finish and they say not for use on white or light stains.Their Polycrylic is for light stain but not for floors. What product did you use and has the color stayed true?
thanks!
We just left the nail holes as is. I thought about filling them in, but there was over 8000 of the, so I didn’t think it was worth the effort. I don’t remember the brand of poly we used off the top of my head. (I’m pretty sure I show the container in the video.) Pretty much any oil based clear coat will turn yellow/amber, while a water based clear coat will stay clear. The oil based poly on our floor did darken the white washed boards with some amber color. We clear coated our steps with water based polycrylic after painting them dark gray and they stayed clear with no amber color, although there is just a slight white haze to them. I don’t think the haze would be noticeable on lighter colored paint or on top of wood though.
hi there – could you send us a picture of your nail pattern and end result of what the nails looked like. Do you have to glue it down or will just nails do?
We going to follow your lead. We like the idea of closer gaps and heavy finish to avoid dirt traps.
thanks for great post and we looking forward to trying it out.
kw
I shot 4 nails across each board about every 12″ along each plank. The two nails on the left side of the plank were angled towards the left, and the two nails on the right side were angled to the right to give them just a little more grip into the subfloor underneath.
I have just one question really. We live in a mobile home that is about 5 years old. We have been discussing pulling all the carpet out and laying wood floors, I just haven’t found any that really liked until now. I love the floor. Would you recommend laying this type of flooring in a mobile home? If so what type of wood/plywood would be best as we have 2 very small dogs, and lots fairly heavy furniture?
I think it could work just fine. I’d probably stick to the 1/2″ plywood like I used because it’s affordable and easy to get. If you don’t like the “built it” texture of the sheathing grade plywood that I used, you could get the pre-sanded plywood that has a smooth, finished side.
Hi Kevin,
LOVE LOVE LOVE your work. You’re Scandinavian/western look is really right up my alley. I noticed in video 4 you barely touched on how you managed to get the wood around corners (such as the closet wall to the hallway on the upper story). In the video your edges looked very close. I have seen in other tutorials people cutting off part of the wall corner to fit the wood underneath so it appears flush. Did you do this or did you pre-measure. If you pre-measured, how did you accomplish it?
Thanks in advance!
We cut the planks to fit around walls, corners, doors, etc, but we did cut the door frames a bit so that the planks slid underneath. We laid the planks in position, measured & marked where the wall corner, door frame, etc. were, cut that section out of the plank, then test fit to make sure it worked before gluing and nailing them down.
moving ahead with this project this weekend we install the planks we cut at a buddies with a $2000 table saw (he’s getting some beer). The room is 560 square feet to be used as a studio. I did something like this about 15 years ago in a rental property it held up great at that house we just put down the 4X8 sheets of plywood and I did a faux wood finish. The tenant had 2 roommates and 4 sled dogs. I think what kept the floor in good shape was the finish I used.
I’m not seeing anything like it on the market now so I will be mixing it myself.
This finish requires about 4 to 6 days to cure and smells like hell but for 15 years of heavy wear i think its worth it. You will need a lot of ventilation and do not have tung children sleeping in the aera until it cures.
The mix is turpintine (not the orderless stuff) linseed oil and tung oil. It is applied fat over lean. Meaning the 1st coat should be more turn than oils. If your test spots are staying sticky too long (more than a day in most climates) you need to cut the mix with more turp . The water born poly’s are basically a plastic film they stay flexible but are subject to peeling. With the oil mix the linseed gives you flexibility and the tung oil gets VERY hard and it gets harder over time. The other benefit is that you can go back in and touch up scratches and other boo boos.
Oh wow. Thanks for the finish tip. I’ll have to try that out sometime. Sounds like something fun to experiment with.
how much poly or stain did you end up using?
If I remember correctly, we used about 2 gallons of white paint (that was then thinned to make the white wash), and we used about 5 gallons of poly.
This is fantastic. Thanks for putting this together. I’m curious about a few things:
1. I’ve seen several examples of plywood flooring and one thing no one does is level the floor or use an underlayment prior to installing the plywood. Underlayment is used in traditional hardwood floors, so I’m wondering why these steps aren’t necessary with plywood floors?
2. I’m looking at a mixed media approach – tile and plywood combined. Your response to a previous question was not to use grout – in that case how would you recommend securing the tile between the plywood planks?
Thanks for your time – Lucian
The underlayment is used under traditional wood floors without any issues because the flooring has tonge & groove edges + nails to keep them in place. On these plywood floors, they are bare bones basic cut planks, so they need the support of nails + glue to help hold them down. The glue needs to stick to a solid subfloor surface instead of a floating underlayment.
As for the tile, I suppose you could grout where the tile meets the wood. I imagine it might crack over time as the wood does move a little as the seasons change. If you plan do it where one room is plywood and another room is tile, I’d probably install a transition piece to cover the joint.
Would it be ok to not to allow spacing between planks? Also I thought of doing this throughout my house. Do I need transitions going from room to room like laminate? Thanks
We’ve found the plywood to be very stable and hasn’t moved at all, so I think it would probably work out ok to not have the spacing.
We installed old barn wood floors a couple of years ago. I love the look but I’ve grown tired of the NOISE. They creak and pop like crazy. Now that you’ve lived with this for a while, do you notice a lot of noise.
Our plywood flooring doesn’t squeak, and I think that’s mostly because we used glue and nails. There are a few spots where the house’s original subfloor squeaks during certain times of the year, but in general, the floors don’t have any of those old hardwood floorboard style squeaks.
Just wondering, is it really necessary to glue them down or would just nails be enough?
I’m not sure if those little skinny air nails would start to work loose over time or not, so the combination of glue and nails seems to work best here.