End grain flooring

[Joe Hillmann]

I am tearing up several layers of flooring in what will soon be my new store front to get to the hardwood floors that are down there somewhere. From experience of refinishing the floors in other areas of the same building I expect there to be lots of areas where the hardwood floor is missing.

In the other parts of the building when I came to a spot where the hardwood floor was missing I filled in the gaps with tile mosaics and they are one of the first things people notice when they walk in. I had planned to do the same thin in the part of the building I am now working on but recently got the idea of patching in the missing areas with end grain flooring. The problem is I am having a hard time finding information that I trust on how to install end grain floors.

If anyone here has any experience with installing endgrain floors I would love to hear how you do it and how well they hold up over time.

[Richard Shaefer]

End grain flooring was not very uncommon in turn-of-the-century industrial shops. It wa cheap, and it was usually nothing more than cut-offs laid soldier style and locked in place with sand. There's a guy in Fairfield NJ who sells end grain style flooring that's 4/4 thick and he recommends basically isntalling it like tile
here's the link to his site: http://www.woodboardsandbeams.com/cobbleblockfloors.html

253569

[Joe Hillmann]

Richard,
I looked at that site but I don't understand how they should be installed, It says to use grout and sawdust.

[Jeff Duncan]

I've done some work indirectly for Kaswell flooring which is one of the few places that still does endgrain flooring. So much so that they work globally. I don't know exactly their procedure....but it's essentially gluing the block down with a mastic that stays just a bit flexible, and then sanding and leaving the dust in the cracks and crevices as a filler. Of course that goes against everything I've ever read about finishing hardwood floors, but it works for them;)

As far as durability I see one of their floors fairly regularly....it's in the Children's Museum and it seems to hold up well to some moderate traffic;) Actually I believe end grain was used extensively in factories for many years presumably b/c it does hold up well.

good luck,
JeffD

[Peter Quinn]

We did some glue down roasted flooring at work and the flooring guys we know commended a bostic elastomeric product. This is a good place to start. http://www.bostik-us.com/market-products/flooring/k#efa

[Jared McMahon]

This might be some interesting reading as well:

http://www.pa.msu.edu/services/machine-shop/shopfloor.htm

[Jerry Bruette]

That's what the Navy had on the shop floor in the Machinery Repairman school in San Diego back in 1978. Seemed to hold up to daily use and it swept up nicely despite all of the chips from the machines.

Jerry

[Joe Hillmann]

I did a small 1 square foot sample of end grain floor last night. Half of it was made of nice, square on all four sides hickory with no grout joints. The other half was made of aged 2x4 that had quite a bit of cup to it. On the section that was made of 2x4 I left about 1/8 inch gap between pieces and filled the gap with sawdust.

The section made of hickory has no character to it. The section made of crappy 2x4's looks wonderful (to me). I will be using this method to patch whatever problems I find in the floor that is under the carpet. Like they say in trim work, if you can't hide it accentuate it.

[John Poole]

If you're in California, here's a source for walnut billets that measure 13"x2"x2" for approximately $130 a pallet -- yes that 's about 1,800 lbs of walnut. Probably 70% is usable for wood working, it's sold a firewood and they are not often available as they are left overs from special runs. I'm going to be making a 28" x 48" x 4" end grain butcher blocks with much of it.

http://www.calicohardwoods.com/

They also sell just chunks of walnut, a pallet's worth weighing about 1800 pounds. I paid about $70 for it. Oh, by the way, they don't deliver, you pull your truck into their yard and load it up. I've been making all kinds of useful jigs and small parts out of this exquisite stuff. Practically everyone else who buys it does so for using a firewood. Pity.

[Jeff Duncan]

Joe, FWIW I think your better off that way anyway. Remember it's still wood and it's still going to move so trying to make the joints too tight could be problematic. Of course now the problem is your going to want to keep on removing old floor to make way for the new:eek:

good luck,
JeffD

[Joe Hillmann]

Jeff,

Your are exactly right about wanting to remove more of the old floor. Looking up at the subfloor from the basement it looks like there used to be two stair ways going into the basement that were boarded over wit rough cut planks before they laid the tiles that I am pulling up. Those areas are in what will be my work shop area rather than in the store front. I am thinking of cutting out as much flooring from the store front as I need to patch those two stair ways and then do an endgrain mosaic in the store front area that I pulled up.

I find it interesting that when redoing old floors like this you can do all sorts of things that you would NEVER do if you were installing new hardwood floors and it still looks good with a rustic look.