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Thread: Hard maple wood flooring

  1. #1

    Hard maple wood flooring

    I’m looking to put hard maple floor in my 10x10 shop. The floor is decked with 3/4” tongue and groove OSB. The room is climate controlled (it’s in my house). So I will be milling all boards by hand and cutting the tongue and groove by hand as well.
    I’m looking for any info on putting in a wood floor as I have never done so and would like to hear any good sound advice for or against

    Thanks

  2. #2
    Maple is a pretty common wood for floors, think gyms, bowling alleys, and basketball courts. One thing about maple is that it is a bit prone to moving, and it could move a little after milling. For regular width flooring it probably isn't an issue, but it might be if you go wide. Depending where you are red oak may be cheaper and it is more stable, same with ash. White oak, hickory and other woods get used, but they tend to be more expensive. My last house (built in 1909) had beech for flooring, and I would not recommend that; it was still unstable after 100 years. My parents house (1912) had some kind of birch.

    When you say cutting by hand, I'm assuming (hoping) you mean by hand on a machine, doing a floor's worth of planing tongues and grooves sounds miserable.

    I like wood floors in a shop (your back and tools will like them too). I'm too cheap to put a hardwood floor in mine right now, but I will probably put in SYP plywood at some point and maybe go over it with hardwood someday.
    Last edited by Andrew Seemann; 05-17-2018 at 10:14 PM.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Andrew Seemann View Post
    Maple is a pretty common wood for floors, think gyms, bowling alleys, and basketball courts. One thing about maple is that it is a bit prone to moving, and it could move a little after milling. For regular width flooring it probably isn't an issue, but it might be if you go wide. Depending where you are red oak may be cheaper and it is more stable, same with ash. White oak, hickory and other woods get used, but they tend to be more expensive. My last house (built in 1909) had beech for flooring, and I would not recommend that; it was still unstable after 100 years. My parents house (1912) had some kind of birch.

    When you say cutting by hand, I'm assuming (hoping) you mean by hand on a machine, doing a floor's worth of planing tongues and grooves sounds miserable.

    I like wood floors in a shop (your back and tools will like them too). I'm too cheap to put a hardwood floor in mine right now, but I will probably put in SYP plywood at some point and maybe go over it with hardwood someday.
    Yes I work with hand tools lol I have a cordless drill 😬. I live in the Deep South so humidity is a big factor but for the most part I’m able to keep RH around 50-60% and ash is a fine looking wood and about the same as maple per board ft

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Lafayette, Indiana
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    1,378
    If this is going in your house, you might reconsider and go with the pre-finished stuff from one of the big box stores. It will likely have a much more durable finish than you are going to be able to do by hand. The pieces will be milled to a level of precision that will make the install very easy. If you mill the floor yourself by hand, I'm guessing you will get substantially wood movement. Plus, when you put the finish down, the odors in the house will be substantial. At $4-$5 a square foot for pre-milled, pre-finished 3/4 x 2 1/4 stuff that is already finished and available in a variety of species and finishes, I'd go that route. We had locally milled red oak put down in a 24x24 addition 15 years ago. It looks okay, but I regret going with locally milled stuff that was finished in place over the more durable finishes available from the major brands.

  5. #5
    Very sound advise, sometimes I just need to hear better options from others lol and honestly deep down I agree with you lol but I am a hand planing fool 🤣 and you and my wife are correct

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Timothy MacMurtrie View Post
    Very sound advise, sometimes I just need to hear better options from others lol and honestly deep down I agree with you lol but I am a hand planing fool 藍 and you and my wife are correct
    Save your hand planing energy (and blades) for something you can't buy off the shelf

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Lake Gaston, Henrico, NC
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    8,973
    I'm a planing fool too. For my work, sometimes I'm planing something by hand all day long. However, for what flooring costs, ready to go down, making floor with hand tools gives a whole new meaning to "planing fool".

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Longview WA
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    Howdy Timothy and welcome to the Creek.

    Do you already have a match plane to do the tongue and groove work?

    If you go through with this, you might want to invest in a plane dedicated for the job instead of trying to do a full floor with a combination plane set up for the job.

    http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan7.htm#num48

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  9. #9
    No matter how good and how enthusiastic you are with your match plane/combination plane, you won't come close to the uniformity and quality of prefinished stuff from the BORG or from Lumber Liquidators; you'll see tear out when grain reverses that leaves a mangled edge aris, inconsistent depth and straightness of grooves or shoulders when your depth stop moves or your alignment falters, followed by warping, bending and twisting of the boards after planing, and a less durable and less uniform finish when you're done. Instead of the 15% allowance for waste you need with off-the-shelf flooring, you'd be wise to allow at least 30%. When you're done, you may need acupuncture treatments for your shoulders and upper back from doing the job in hard maple. Unless you use No. 2 Common, it's quite possible that you'll pay more than the easy stuff would cost, take 10X as long and look like a POS when you're done and your wife won't think you're a fool any longer; she will know for sure!

    In other word, it's a usual and customary Neanderthal project. Pictures or it didn't happen.
    Fair winds and following seas,
    Jim Waldron

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    You MIGHT also look into something called Car Siding......Pine.....is tongue & grooved and ready to go either on a wall, or onto the floor. The siding has two different faces, one side has a v groove down the middle, the other has none. Can be nailed down, or made as a floating floor.

    Drop a chisel onto both Hard Maple, and the Pine....and see how that sharp edge of the chisel reacts....

  11. #11
    Yes I have a dedicated T&G plane from LN and use it often on tops and panels (not flooring) lol and I thank you all for helping me maintain a level head and my wife thanks you as well

  12. #12
    About 10 years ago, we put down about 2000 sq. ft. of SYP (Southern Yellow Pine) in our new house. It was just over 11" wide. It was not tongue and grooved. We stained it prior to laying it. I pre-drilled holes for cut nails and face nailed it. This floor has been very stable, and still looks great in our reproduction saltbox. I would recommend it for your shop. It has a pleasing, rustic look, and was less than half of the cost of narrow, prefinished floors.

  13. #13
    If you are going to make your wood floor from scratch you’ll need to make the equivalent or buy a Stanley #74.

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