How to make a hardwood floor?

[Faustino Dina]

Hi Guys,

Does anybody knows where I can find info about making a hardwood floor by myself? Just starting from barebone wood...

Thanks in advance

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

It would actually be easy, although not cheap, with the right tools. If you scored a great deal on wood, it might work out better to have a local mill prepare your wood.

One of the local wood suppliers in CT supplies 20-30 varieties of hardwood flooring.

You'll need to joint the face and an edge, thickness it, rip to width, groove the back and cut the tongue and groove with a shaper. That's really all there is to it, not much different than any other woodworking from rough stock. It's just like any other board, but with some groves on the back and shaped edges.

Barry

[Edwin Pawlowski]

And they thickness plane both sides in one pass and have the equipment to do the other operations just as fast.

While doing it yourself is a noble goal, it may be cheaper to buy it when you factor in the time. Ed [e-mail]

[John Crea]

Not all that difficult. Joint the edge, and face, then plan to uniform thickness, then rip to uniform width, then mill/route tongue and groove

John

[Kevin Craig]

Take some hardwood. Nail it across the floor joists. Voil

[Greg Carter]

(snip)

Barry, why groove the back? I'm assuming you'd nail it to the subfloor, so no need for glue.

Greg

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

I'm really not sure. All I know is all the wood flooring I've seen has a textured back. I doubt mills would go to the trouble of putting it there if it wasn't necessary.

Barry

[Mo' Sawdust]

That groove has the purpose of providing a relief so less is needed to plane or otherwise remove to get a flat fit. Not all sub-floors are flat as what the finished floor is to be.

Same concept as why casing and baseboard are most often relieved.

Top ________________ | ________ | |_/ \__|

Bottom

Little effort required to remove material to get 'the fit.'

______________ | | |_____________| Have to plane the whole back side when removing material.