Ash Floor

[Stephen Walker]

I'm working on building a new shop, have the structure up getting ready to start on the inside. The building is stick built on a block foundation, I used a double layer of 7/16" osb on the floor with the intent of finishing the floor with hardwood. Here's the question: would ash be suitable for the floor? I just felled a large ash today, and the butt log is 25" on the small end, and 21' long. I hate to cut it into firewood, but have never seen or heard of ash as a floor covering. What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance,

Steve

[George Bregar]

They use ash for flooring. Very hard dense wood.

[Don Bullock]

Wow, if you don't use it can you send it to me? Like George said, ash is a very dense wood. My assembly table (old dining table I made back in the early 1970s) is solid ash. I can pound on but it's hard to dent.

[Jim Andrew]

As far as nailing flooring to osb, I'd figure on using some adhesive as well. In my experience osb doesn't hold nails well. For example, if you try to fasten something to osb boxing on a house, nails will just slide in the osb, if you want something to hold, have to use screws.

[Thomas Bank]

While researching for my floor, I found this chart online: http://www.woodfloorsonline.com/techtalk/hardns.html

Looks like ash is in the realm of oak as far as hardness. I ended up going with hickory.

180481

[Ole Anderson]

Go for it. Do you have someone to saw, mill and dry the wood? I would love an Ash floor in my basement shop, but it looks like I will be sticking with the concrete I have had for 35 years. On the other hand if the price of Ash starts to really tumble, what with the Emerald Ash Borer laying devistation to square miles of Ash forest, I may be tempted.

[Joe A Faulkner]

I'd be tempted to saw the ash to 4/4, 8/4 lumber for future projects or even to sell, and buy the hickory seconds hardwood floor from lumber liquidators ~ .99 cents foot. Several folks here have used this with fantastic results - you have to sort through the material, and I recall one woodworker saying that his lots included some cherry and oak. You might ask around for a wood mizer sawyer in the area.

http://www.lumberliquidators.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=2020&categoryId=7&sectionId=1&subCategoryId=0

[Thomas Bank]

buy the hickory seconds hardwood floor from lumber liquidators ~ .99 cents foot. Several folks here have used this with fantastic results

See photo above, that is what I used.

I have to say that I found few pieces in my lot that were unusable - broken tongues, no grooves, splintered, etc. But there were an awful lot of pieces that were about a foot long or so (as you can see). That did make it more time consuming to lay down and a bit more difficult to keep things straight. But I am very happy with the results.

[Gary Pennington]

Steve,
The floor in this post is mill run ash. It's in our family/dining/kitchen & we love it. Have been using the leftovers from the floor installation for jigs & fixtures.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?157354-Credenza-style-entertainment-center

Gary

[Stephen Walker]

Guys,

Thanks for all the response. I guess I new it would probably make a good floor, just hadn't ever seen anyone really advertise ash flooring. That's the part I find interesting AND curious. The plan now is to head to the mill tonight and see about getting this cut and dried, and do as Gary did, lay the floor and use the rest for other projects.

Steve