Benchtop from T&G flooring

Hi,

I'm in the process of renovating the kitchen and bathroom and would like some advice on building a kitchen benchtop and shelves using some

19mm T&G oak floor boards. The initial plan was to strap the floorboards every so often by nailing them into a 25x35 joist (similar to laying actual floor), then running around the edges with 45mm oak beading.

I've since been doing a bit more reading and another possible solution is to glue the boards over the top of a piece of MDF or plywood in addition to putting screws up through the MDF into the hardwood. If I use this method, I'm not sure how thick the MDF should be?

Can anyone suggest the best solution for the job?

Cheers,

Reply to
crmay
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I'm coincidently just finishing a workshop bench top that spans three workbenchs, about 12' long, using left-over wood flooring (in my case, Jatoba).

I used a 1/2" plywood underlayment. Because of the length, I had to use two pieces of plywood, so I overlapped them, so that together they were 12' long aligned them, then cut a "W" through the overlapped sections (throwing away the unused overlapped bits) so that section #2 would stay in alignment with section #1. Then I screwed a starter course to the edge of the plywood and glued/clamped subsequent courses. On one end I was careful to align the tongue ends of each course. I trimmed the other end square with a curcular saw, then added a groove with a router and inserted a length of wood into the groove to form the tongue part of a tongue and groove join for the edges.

I edged the front and sides with additional pieces of jatoba, trimming off the tongue and groove and making a new groove on the underside, to be glued to the tongue on the front and sides. I installed a backstop in a similar fashion. A cross section of the jatoba would look like:

_________________] [

The flooring is T&G on the ends as well as the sides, but for the front trim, where I had to join three pieces of flooring, rather than use the T&G, I cut a miter at 45 degrees on each piece so that they overlapped. The reason for this is that I found when I first put the backstop on, that there are gaps when you look at the end-to-end T&G (which would be invisible in a floor, but are visible when used as edging.

I'm also taking some of my sawdust and mixing it with white glue to create some filler of the proper color to fill in a couple of voids, and I'll probably use an oil finish.

The work went slowly because it needed a LOT of clamps.

Regards -- JimR

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Reply to
JimR

I prefer the gluing to a substrate, using construction adhesive. Do it after screwing the substrate to the supports from BELOW, and then sanding off any screw tips that protrude. Also, before applying the finish wood, I very strongly suggest painting the substrate on all 6 sides with several coats of polyurethane varnish to keep it stable in a humid/dry situation.

Nonnymus

Reply to
Nonnymus

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the response. I ended up going with the joists for the bathroom shelf. The reason for this is I'm concerned that if the timber shrinks and water gets into the MDF, it will deteriorate. I've nailed them in and just finishing sanding.

You said that you mixed white glue with the sawdust to fill the holes. This sounds like a great idea, but I'm not sure what you mean by "white glue"?

I'm planning on staining the boards in a very dark colour and leaving the beading natural. Then finishing with a two part clear gloss finish. Can you please (or anyone) suggest how I should fill the nail holes and sap veins? I've got some polyester resin that I could mix with the sawdust, but will this stain unevenly?

cheers,

Reply to
crmay

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