Here is how we installed a DIY wide plank pine floor in our home, using 12" pine boards. I'm sharing how we installed the floors, the mistakes we made, and the problems we had to overcome.
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We are moving full steam ahead on the renovation of our attached mother-in-law apartment in preparation for my in-laws to move into it. This past week we tackled one of the biggest projects, replacing all of the flooring in the great room and kitchen. The kitchen and dining areas still had the original linoleum and the rest of the great room had the original carpet. Everything was in pretty bad condition and really needed to be replaced.
One of the goals in our renovation of this house has been to make choices of materials that fit the house well and honor its uniqueness.
The floor of the kitchen in our house is original to the build. It's 12" wide pine planks that were top nailed into the joists.
The builder and original owner of our home was a wood reclaimer way back in the 1980s, before it was cool. The next time I see him I've got to remember to ask him where these boards came from because everything in this house has a story.
By the way, when we renovate the kitchen, this original floor will be refinished.
We were able to source the new #3 grade Ponderosa pine boards through a local wood supply company for $1 per square foot, and had them delivered.
They are a pretty close match to the originals.
We let them sit in the room for about two weeks to acclimate to the house.
Once we were ready to get started we began going through the boards, grading them from best to worst and stacking them accordingly.
We checked for knots that went all the way through, edges that weren't perfect, discoloration, warping, and bowing.
This photo is from toward the end, I forgot to take a photo earlier.
My Tip: Mark each defect with a piece of blue tape. By midway through the install the boards were all starting to look the same and we wasted a lot of time looking for the defects again to decide if a board was usable.
We laid down a layer of this vapor barrier paper.
We set the first board in place and realized the threshold piece that butts up to the tile in the hallway needed to go in first. So my husband cut a piece to fit.
In keeping with the history of the house, he repurposed one of the 2x4's from a wall we took down. Now it remains a part of the house.
After each board was cut to size, we sanded a small bevel on the top two long edges. This gave a nice v-groove accent between the boards.
We used 1/2" thick blocks of wood as spacers between the boards and the walls. This will allow for movement in the boards with settling and expansion.
We measured from the walls to the seam in the plywood subfloor to see if that line was square, and it was. So this gave us a good way to make sure our first board was laid square.
With each board we used a flooring nailer to nail the edge down and help keep the joints tight.
Then we used a framing nailer with 3" screw shank nails to top nail the boards into the floor joists. My husband made this template to keep each set of nails evenly spaced and consistent.
We adjusted the nailer to set the nails about an 1/8" above the wood because the plastic collated nails we used made shards of plastic that shot into the wood and blew out the hole. We had already invested in these nails so we made it work. For future projects we will definitely use different collated nails.
Update: This is the nailer we used for the next floor and it worked so much better than the one shown in the picture above. And these are the nails we used with it.
So because of this issue, our workflow for each board was setting the nails, cleaning up the plastic shards, hammering the nail heads flush with the board, and then using a nail set to recess the nails slightly below the wood surface.
When we had a butt joint of two boards, only one board actually was nailed into the floor joist. In the photo below, it would be the board on the right.
See how those nails line up with the nails in the other boards? We used Liquid Nails for subfloors to basically glue the ends of the two boards together, so they will move together with expansion and prevent cupping on the ends. I didn't get a shot of the glue itself, but you get the idea.
Then we cut about an inch off of some nails to use in the board on the left.
We pre-drilled the holes through the boards and then nailed through into the subfloor. This way the nails didn't blow through into the basement ceiling below.
We used a jigsaw to cut out the holes for the floor vents.
A few times we ended up with a board that wasn't lining up well with the previous board, leaving a wider gap than we wanted at one end. We ended up using our car's tire jack, braced against a board that was solidly screwed into the subfloor, to gently close the gap before we nailed the board into place.
It all came together beautifully, and thankfully square to the last board!
No, it was not easy, but it was totally do-able if you have some experience.
And we will be doing it again in other rooms as soon as we can.
So here it is all done. Scroll back up and look at those before's to really see the difference!
Here's the breakdown of the cost of this floor:
The room was 450 square feet.
The wood was $1 per square foot and we ordered about 20% extra, so $719 with delivery fees.
The vapor barrier was $114.
The nails were about $80.
So this floor came in at about $900.
This post is getting so long, I figured I would break it up into two posts. See how we sanded, stained, and finished the floor at DIY Wide Plank Pine Floors [Part 2- Finishing]
Update: Please see these other posts for further information on how we installed 12" wide plank pine tongue and groove floors next.
Living Room Renovation | One Room Challenge | Wide Plank Floors
Living Room Renovation | One Room Challenge | More DIY Wide Plank Floors
Living Room Renovation | One Room Challenge | Week 7 Sort of Reveal
Bold & Eclectic Log Cabin Living Room | The Big Reveal
Thanks for joining us on this crazy renovation ride!
