Hello,
I want to make my own 'wood' flooring. I have several options that I am considering. None involve using solid wood, all involve taking sheet plywood and cutting it up to make an end product that will look similar to the 'engineered' or 'wood laminate' flooring products. Some of the issues I figure I need to resolve include: - what shape to cut the sheet stock into [I'm considering stripping the sheets in strips/plank like widths? (from 4" - 8" wide) - if I use soft wood OR I might cut the sheet stock into squares (if using a hard woodveneered plywood)] - what thickness should the top layer of veneer on the plywood stock be? (I'm sure I'm going to need 1/16" minimum and more likely
1/8" thickness) - does anyone have a source for thick layer veneer (URL?) - what thickness should the plywood stock be overall? (I'm thinking 1/2" minimum and possibly 3/4" thick maximum...I think I could get away with 1/2" because it will be glued down AND splined) - jointing? (I could go with standard tongue and grove but prefer a double groving with spline in between 'planks' - kind of a false tongue and grove) - surface finishing (paint or stain - painting may allow for the use of a thinner veneer - there would be less concern of wear through because it could be covered with more paint down road) - texturing? (if the top veneer layer is thick enough I could distress OR 'carve') - edging? (I'm thinking of putting a small chamfer all the way around each plank) - adhesive? (I need some advice on adhesive choices for gluing to existing wood based subfloor products or POSSIBLY concrete) - I need to consider the compatability of such a concept with concrete slab floor already in place (I'm sure I could do it...does anyone have any ideas?) PLEASE offer me some suggestions. I know that there are many flooring products out there that are reasonably priced. However, my wife and I don't have any money and we need to IMPROVISE.