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June 18, 2009
floor instalation
I'm having a contractor knock down a wall and lay down a floor-- I am getting the lumber myself (antique heart pine). Only the contractor now is subcontracting the floor to someone else, who is asking 12 dollars a square foot to install and finish the 220 square foot room. The guy at the lumber yard thinks he is crazy to ask so much. Also, I would like the wood installed "buttjointed" not "tongue in groove" and the floor guy is talking about using glue, which the lumber guy also thinks is absurd. In short, I'm confused and would love to find someone who really knows old floors and charges no more than 8 dollars a square foot. This job needs to take place the second week of July. Any ideas?
THANK YOU!
--j
Comments
Antique heart pine is beautiful. However, I would get it milled tongue & groove, it will give you the best results over time. It should be nailed not glued. I would hire my own flooring guy too . Your contractor is farming it out with a mark up for sure. That is understandable but it should be done correct, no matter how small the room is.
Posted by: Rick at June 18, 2009 5:37 PM
From what source are you getting the lumber and what are the widths of the boards? How it is sawn will affect the movement of the wood planks.
Posted by: southslope at June 18, 2009 5:43 PM
yu should never butt joint a floor...there will be no mechnical, physical joint between floorboards, leading to warping, cupping and seperation...wood expands and contracts, and that is the reason all floors are t and g.. glue will not help, and will eventually fail..also, really important, remember that flooring should be given two weeks to acclimatize to the installation space...otherwise you will be looking at a disater, since most of this stuff is shipped from places like georgia, where the humidity is way higher than brooklyn
Posted by: eman1234 at June 18, 2009 9:43 PM
Eman is spot on.
What is your subfloor? The proper fixing of the subfloor is 70% of getting the finish floor to come out right. Is extensive repairs to sub-floor why the estimate is so high?
What your contractor is saying scares me. Either he or you has a serious lack of knowledge.
Bruce
Posted by: brucef at June 18, 2009 11:24 PM
What eman says is true. Especially the point about acclimatizing the wood to your location if it does not come from this area. Also, you don't know whether they've store it outside in a barn. The humnidity of the past two months will cause a lot of people problems down the road. Tongue and groove is a must. The flooring supplier should do it, otherwise get a different source. I got mine from www.sylvanbrandt.com in Lititz, PA. Do not glue.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 19, 2009 8:28 AM
I'll install it. Flooring does need to acclimate. Everything needs to acclimate. All materials expand and contract. You can butt joint if that is what you want, you just need to be aware of maintenance issues that will most likely arise. I was just working on a place that has had flooring all face nailed, and it looks just fine. There are ways to nail and screw to minimize movement. T & G is best but the world won't end if you choose to face nail.
I'd like to see the stock.
Typically a Rosin paper is used as a vapor retarder under wood floors and obviously gluing to paper does nothing.
I have many happy clients in Brooklyn. Email me at salemfilm@mac.com
Posted by: masterbuilder at June 19, 2009 9:59 AM
P.S. I just remembered the existing floor in a brownstone I otherwise gutted in 2007 was all face nailed 3/8" oak. It was gorgeous. If you contact me regarding the work, I'd like to talk to your vendor regarding source, etc. I've got some Brazilian species samples coming in the mail, and that vendor goes to Brazil himself to select from the stands...
I like to shake out my stock and examine the grain prior to install. I could do that with you present, so you'd have a better idea of how a tree becomes a floor.
Posted by: masterbuilder at June 19, 2009 10:10 AM
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