Oak Flooring

[dan blocker]

As someone as already said - the bigger the pieces the more movement you’ll get. I would season before you plane as it will move when drying out. You’d have to get it down to 10/12 % moisture content before working which would be difficult in your part of the world🤔, kiln drying is the way to go. Then machine. Stack it in the room for a couple of weeks to acclimatise before fixing. The thicker your boards the more stable it would be. Consider sealing ends of boards with bitumen/ or similar  ? To slow down the drying process and therefore cracking? I was told about 40 odd years ago that quality oak for building manor houses etc for the landed gentry was left in the wood yard for at least 20 years before being used - then it was seasoned🤔, not sure how true that was, only they could afford to have wood hanging around for so long🙄

[difflock]

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Edited November 16, 2021 by difflock

[Baldbloke]

When looking for floating flooring materials earlier this year our local supplier/fitter had solid T+G maple planks which from memory were about 20mm thick and between 125 to 150mm wide. But their advice was to screw plywood to the concrete sub floor and bond the planks to it, rather that use solid planks for a floating floor. Very nice but too expensive and so we went for a prime oak engineered board click system.  

Andrew

 

 

Totally agree.

I’ve a friend that does flooring as well as giving trusted advice.

We’ve recently had engineered oak put down over a 37 square metre floor and having a smaller room done in a couple of weeks.

I could’ve bought oak planks without the seemingly tacky ply attached but was warned by him that it would likely warp slightly and require resanding on occasion. He also suggested that sanding doesn’t stop gaps appearing,

I went with his advice and took the engineered oak,- inspite of it actually being dearer.

 

In my previous house I bought maple planks from the demolished Cadbury Edinburgh factory to put into a sitting room floor. No issues there except for a weekends work with sander hire.

 

[bilke_user]

We did a couple of rooms in the  estate castle in oak.  Originally we were going to mill our own, dry it and then plane and t&g it.  
Ended up buying in reclaimed oak flooring which has been perfect.

What put us off using our own was that it would take too much time to dry it, and when it was dry it would then need a LOT of work to get it flat and ready to t&g.
The reclaimed stuff worked in at about £40/m2. 

The logosol moulder is OK, but in reality any home grown oak when dry will test it to the absolute limits, blades and bits take a hammering on dry oak knots. It's really designed for softwoods.  We use a local joiner who has a spindle moulder costing many thousands of pounds more than the wee logosol one and when we bring in some oak for him to mould for us he makes many whistling noises through his teeth and many mutterings about his precious blades.  

[ucoulddoit]

2 hours ago, Baldbloke said:

In my previous house I bought maple planks from the demolished Cadbury Edinburgh factory to put into a sitting room floor. No issues there except for a weekends work with sander hire.

 

 

There are some good reclaimed materials available. I used reclaimed oak parquet from the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, for my workshop floor. Bonded onto the underlying concrete as I was looking for a wooden floor over the concrete, able to tolerate machines being moved about on small hard wheels. Took an age to scrape off the tar from the underside of the blocks and clean the tongues and grooves. But it worked out an economical solution and still looks spectacular 10 years on, as my wife likes to remind me when comparing it to the lino in the kitchen........

 

Andrew

[trigger_andy]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. A lot of food for thought as there is some conflicting opinions. I think Id still like to go for it, but can see me keeping the lengths below 4m for ease of milling and to minimise movement. Think I'll still mill at 1-1/4" or 1-1/2".

 

Hopefully make a start in the new year as I need to mill 50t of Spruce into 6" Beams to semi-season before Moulding into Log Cabin Logs. And thats after I get back from Norway doing that day-job for the next 3-4 weeks. The joys of having to put food in the table and not just play all the time.  

[Woodworks]

I laid some random width oak floor boards in my parents place. Boards were up to 12" wide. Just nailed down with cut nails. It is an old farmhouse so slightly rustic is fine but to be honest it looked pretty tidy and no movement at the edges that the T&G would put in for. Can get pictures if it would help. Think they were just 1" boards but can check

[trigger_andy]

Just now, Woodworks said:

I laid some random width oak floor boards in my parents place. Boards were up to 12" wide. Just nailed down with cut nails. It is an old farmhouse so slightly rustic is fine but to be honest it looked pretty tidy and no movement at the edges that the T&G would put in for. Can get pictures if it would help. Think they were just 1" boards but can check

Pics would be great.

[Woodworks]

Its 20mm thick and planned both sides. It was kiln dried wood so little shrinkage after laying but noticeably larger gaps near the Aga but pretty good joints away from it for a rustic floor. Laid it 20 plus  years ago and people still comment on how nice it looks. Seems to remember pre drilling the holes for the cut nails as they tended to split the wood without but they dont half hold well. Had a water leak a few years back and it was hell trying to lift them.

[Squaredy]

2 hours ago, Woodworks said:

Its 20mm thick and planned both sides. It was kiln dried wood so little shrinkage after laying but noticeably larger gaps near the Aga but pretty good joints away from it for a rustic floor. Laid it 20 plus  years ago and people still comment on how nice it looks. Seems to remember pre drilling the holes for the cut nails as they tended to split the wood without but they dont half hold well. Had a water leak a few years back and it was hell trying to lift them.

Very nice indeed.  I like the nails showing like that - not trendy any more perhaps, but a very honest way of doing it, and at least you know where the nails are, unlike glueing or secret nailing.