Solid oak hand scraped flooring installation..

[Wes]

Hi all,

Recently installed this hand scraped solid wood flooring and thought I'd share. It's called Florence Solid Golden oak purchased by my customer from UKFlooringDirect. Each plank is 125 mm wide, 18 mm thick and cut to random lengths (Well, I only found four lengths that the planks were cut too ). It currently costs £31.60 per metre. Here's a link to the page for anyone interested in this product http://www.ukflooringdirect.co.uk/Solid ... oring.html. <<<<< Mod2, this isn't spam so don't moderate me

I've included a little detail, explaining what you see in the pictures...Enjoy As always, comments and critique welcome, although I know I don't have to point that out

The wood was left for 72 hours opened in the room as per the manufacturers guidelines.

Room before wood acclimatising(Medium).jpg (68.41 KiB) Viewed 5803 times

The first couple of rows were both glued and screwed in places as there was an old concrete fire hearth. Obviously no bitumen paper was installed there..What is bitumen paper? Read on..

First rows fixed, bitumen paper installed(Medium).jpg (47.48 KiB) Viewed 5803 times

I don't always use bitumen paper (I probably should!!), but in a well moisture balanced property where there has been no sign of issues, I prefer to let the floor breath with the property. In this instance, there had been slight moisture issues, so I installed bitumen paper to help protect the floor from any moisture build up under the floor. The previous moisture problems weren't that bad as the original floorboards were in excellent condition..O and bitumen paper is essentially a thin layer of bitumen sandwiched between kraft paper.

Progress(Medium).jpg (52.33 KiB) Viewed 5803 times

Away we go(Medium).jpg (54.64 KiB) Viewed 5803 times

Solid golden oak handscraped(Medium).jpg (66.62 KiB) Viewed 5803 times

Recommended for a great workout for the shoulders and forearms :) Punching 500 cleats in a floor is sweaty business. I've not left the dark ages yet so I'm still on manual tools mostly :) Highly recommended for a solidly fixed wood floor where possible..

Porta nailer (Medium).jpg (79.95 KiB) Viewed 5803 times

Cut round rad pipe leaving adequate expansion(Medium).jpg (63.67 KiB) Viewed 5803 times

Real wood matching rosettes(Medium).jpg (61.02 KiB) Viewed 5803 times

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Solid oak hand scraped finished2(Medium).jpg (55.2 KiB) Viewed 5803 times

Off matched scotia!!! Ouch :)

Solid oak hand scraped finished(Medium).jpg (62.1 KiB) Viewed 5803 times

All done...A few 'H' steps and stair joins but as there were only four plank sizes, it was impossible to not get them unfortunately. However my customer was very pleased.

Solid oak hand scraped finished3(Medium).jpg (56.74 KiB) Viewed 5803 times

Well, nothing spectacular peeps but thought it was worth a post. Let me know what you think and if you've got any questions or wish to spank my practices, fire away

[BillyGoat]

Love the installation as usual Wes, but whyyyyyyyyy when they are spending such money on the floor and the millions you charge wouldn't they go the whole hog and take the skirting boards off?

Really ruins it for me. When I installed that laminate in my kids room, it's the first room where I left them on and installed the scotia - it's also the last.

BG

[big-all]

nice job although its hard to tell how much expansion gap you have all round

[Wes]

but whyyyyyyyyy when they are spending such money on the floor and the millions you charge wouldn't they go the whole hog and take the skirting boards off?

Not everyone wants to go through the hassle BG, but I know what you're saying. Customer gets what they want at the end of day They didn't want the possibility of having to repaper/plaster etc. I only charged half a million

although its hard to tell how much expansion gap you have all round

BA, what's an expansion gap??

[BillyGoat]

Just install it with 9" wire cut nails every 4" and it won't expand anywhere.

BG

[Chop]

Great looking job, Wes.

Not a critique of you but the customer will regret not doing the skirting boards, the lines of the lovely new flooring really show it up.

[Wes]

Thanks for the tip BG

Cheers Chop...It's going to be a music room and will be filled They'll only be a few metres of the stuff on display. I do agree though. Cosmetically no scotia is always far better. Short of threats I couldn't push them to go the whole hog

[speed]

nice fit wes, i did some bnq oak that only had 4 lengths with lots of short ones probs made in the same factory

no air assisted porter nailer

for the skirtings i prefer no scotia but when you add up the cost of ripping off, its old skirting so theres bound to be plastering issues then you have to paint any new plaster but you cant patch it so the whole room needs painting then the new skirts need the 3 coat treatment, so you are looking at half day for plastering 3/4 day for skirting then 2 days for the deccy then the price of materials, before you know it you are £500+

if it was a new build where the skirts are just pinned to plasterboard then go for new skirts every time, the skirts prob cost less than the scotia anyway

[Wes]

no air assisted porter nailer

Not that posh I know when I get my hands on one, I'm going to be regretting all them years of manual nailing

for the skirtings i prefer no scotia but when you add up the cost of ripping off, its old skirting so theres bound to be plastering issues then you have to paint any new plaster but you cant patch it so the whole room needs painting then the new skirts need the 3 coat treatment, so you are looking at half day for plastering 3/4 day for skirting then 2 days for the deccy then the price of materials, before you know it you are £500+

Exactly, If it's a full top to tail job, then it's good times..But talking someone into all that when they just want you round for the floor is tough going. You can sometimes see the blood drain from their faces

if it was a new build where the skirts are just pinned to plasterboard then go for new skirts every time, the skirts prob cost less than the scotia anyway

I flipping love new builds for that very reason!!!

[wine~o]

Love the installation as usual Wes, but whyyyyyyyyy when they are spending such money on the floor and the millions you charge wouldn't they go the whole hog and take the skirting boards off?

You know the saying, BG.. You can lead a Horse to water...but you can't marinade it for 6 hours....or summat like that...

[Bikergirl]

Looks as fab as I would expect from you! (except for the scotia, of course. Doh)

[philprime]

Looks good wes

I agree about removing the skirting but it's always down to the customer

[Wes]

Thanks bg

Thanks Phil

I'm with you both and the general consensus We're just a big bunch of scotia haters

[nick200]

Looks great and we do ours I will probably have a look at your work for tips

[Wes]

Thanks Nick

I'll keep an eye out for any posts and gladly help where possible