Have any of you flooring guys/gals out there ever installed high-quality plywood floors? If so, wondering how they hold up. Here's a pic and here's the link where I read about them. What do you all think?
@ Janet J. Love this look too! In fact I've read this blog post before. When we first got married we lived in a really dumpy old trailer house.Had I known then what I know now, I would have put down painted plywood and gotten rid of the horrible cheap 70's carpet in a heartbeat! Anything to have lightened up that dark place we called home ;-(
Yes, Ruth M, plywood is plywood. How it looks to one may be tacky but how it looks to another
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may be beautiful. Here's a comparison: A former neighbor hated their existing, in beautiful condition, oak hardwood so much they glued sheet vinyl over that! To me, that was right up there with sin itself. LOL! So I guess it all comes down to taste.
THE FORMER OWNERS IN OUR HOUSE USED THE CHEAPEST LAMINATE AVAILABLE. I HAVE NEVER HATED FLOORING SO MUCH--IMPOSSIBLE TO KEEP CLEAN & ALREADY SHOWING CRACKS & CHIPS--HATE IT WITH A PASSION! DID I SAY I ''HATE'' IT?!
SO MANY PEOPLE PUT DOWN LAMINATE AS A ''SELLING FEATURE"---NOT!
I think some of them in that link you posted are gorgeous! Especially the white ones. I personally got sick of the carpet in our bedroom a few years back, tore it out, painted the plywood a dark chocolate brown using a porch/flooring paint. I say go for it!
I have put plywood down as flooring in my house. Its was an attic bedroom. A roomie moved in and i told him i was giing to put flooring in, but he said no, he like the plywood floor made it look like cool space. I said ok whatever... Saves me sime money. I put a semi gloss poly varnish down and it look really good. It was the plain old cheap plywood it had knots and a couple ridges here
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and there.. Just added more character. Liked it so well i did the other room. Dogs and traffic no problem. The only priblem i had and it was my own fault. Is didnt put enough poly on it. Or probably should have gotten a mat for the chair. But me sitting at me desk and rolling around eventuall wore through the varnish and pky wood started flaking? For lack of better word.. But if its a rustic country charm you are after. It works great!
sorry was typing on my phone.. anyway it worked so well i will be doing this in my next house (sold the last one) using cabinet grade plywood cut in 3 foot squares and will be making like a checkerboard out of the squares and a few good coats of poly....
We purchased plywood, cut it into 8 inch wide boards, sanded it, stained it, sealed it... it looks very nice..... BUT............. I would NOT do it in a heavily used area.... furniture leaves impressions in it and it just is not as hard as regular hardwood flooring. I imagine that eventually when we can afford it, we will be replacing the plywood with real hardwood.
Jeana---what room did you use the plywood flooring in? Was it a high traffic area? Did you have pets, who like are ours, can get rather rambunctious? ;-)
We did the plywood flooring in our living room, which gets moderate use . I do have crazy dogs (border collies) and they scamper through the living room, but I don't really have problems with their nails scratching the floor. I DO have a problem with indentations caused by furniture though... mainly a smallish wing chair that tends to slide a little bit when my kids flop down in it. I really like the look of the floor, but another thing I'm not thrilled with is it has a little bit of
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a hollow (for lack of a better word......) sound when it l's walked on.
Oh, I just wanted to add, we did put those little felt things on the bottoms of all the furniture... it hasn't helped much with the indenting. Also, for those of you considering it, and curious about cost... the room is approximately 14x13 and the approximate cost of all supplies (plywood, stain and poly) was about $160.00.
Here's another photo, this one is after the plywood was laid down, and the first coat of stain was being applied.... (first of 3 coats)... on the right side of the photo you can see the original unfinished (only sanded) plywood. That link that Janet put up..from frugal farmhouse ...that is EXACTLY where I got the idea from. We did it basically the same way they did, using a penny in between each plank... but if you do leave a small gap, you need to make sure you darken the little bit of
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floor that will show through the gap, and also, you need to stain the SIDES of the plywood planks otherwise you will get a bit of a striped effect. In retrospect, I would stain each board and the sides of the boards PRIOR to installing the planks.
I spent yesterday cleaning up my art room. Came out and told hubby we can do this first in there! I paint and am constantly dripping something on the floor, carpet. My chair doesn't roll well in there. I'm thinking high grade smooth sanded chip board! Patchy look will hide spots :)
We have 2 small dogs and 3 lazy cats. A teen, a garage we work in alot. I'd rather sweep and damp mop by the doors than vacuum and constantly have to spot clean with a steam vac. I will put
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traffic rugs where the main flow is to the kitchen and our room. Keep the carpet for our private rooms. I grew up in a built by my folks house. Loved the wood under my feet til they installed vinyl a few years later.
I want old look :)
After seeing the pics, hubby's all for it! I am sick of this carpet! Puppies, kittens, kids, spilt drinks, 12yrs, ick~
Carlene....I totally understand your frustration with carpeting! We've only lived in this house since Jan 1 and I've got such a love/hate relationship with the carpeting that was here when we bought the house! It's so nice and warm underfoot for the winter but with two dogs, it's always looking just plain icky :-(
I so miss all the hardwood in our old home. However, we have two bedrooms with exposed
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hardwood now and we're almost certain the other bedroom and hallway are hardwood under the carpeting. We'll take that up eventually. The thing we don't know about is the living room. If we're lucky and DO have hardwood under the LR carpeting, oh man...that carpet will be gone, gone gone!
Our house is 200 years old, and we have exposed a lot of the original plank flooring and it's in pretty good condition....... When we tore out the carpeting in the living room with the intention of refinishing that original flooring we were surprised to find a lot of damaged areas....... at the time we did not have a plan B built into the budget... hence the plywood planks in the living room. So, my advice for ripping out carpeting, be prepared (financially) for whatever you find under there!
I have a concrete floor. Would love to put big sheets of plywood down and do like the hometalk picture but, my problem is how do I secure it to a concrete floor. We have laminate down now but, of course each piece connects together. Don't want to put holes in my concrete. Any suggestions?
Beverly...the panels could be set with construction adhesive....but I would pity the poor soul who would have to tear it out in the near future...(plywood would not be able to be re-finished like a "real" hardwood floor)
If you have a concrete slab why not tile it?...for long term durability and ease of cleaning nothing beats tile.
To Jenna...You can also get nice wood floor protectors, that are used under grand piano legs, from a piano technician. The protectors come in several different stained colors as well as black. You can get unfinished ones too and finish them in your own stain. Check here to find a technician in your area to order these for you. www.ptg.org (My hubby's a Registered Piano Technician so I know you can get these.)
Jeana G, you can go to WalMart and buy rubber cups to put under your chair to stop the moving and displace the weight. As for the hollow sound, the next time you put down wood, go to one of the big box stores and buy the "silent" pad that goes under the manufactured floors. We have that phony (manufactured/laminate?) flooring and are absolutely crazy about it. I guess we were lucky that we got a well built one! Ours went down in mid 2005 -- now almost 8 years old and looks brand new!
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Absolutely no problem! We put it down ourselves and have never had a separation problem or any problem!
Yes, Ruth M, plywood is plywood. How it looks to one may be tacky but how it looks to another ...»
SO MANY PEOPLE PUT DOWN LAMINATE AS A ''SELLING FEATURE"---NOT!
I have put plywood down as flooring in my house. Its was an attic bedroom. A roomie moved in and i told him i was giing to put flooring in, but he said no, he like the plywood floor made it look like cool space. I said ok whatever... Saves me sime money. I put a semi gloss poly varnish down and it look really good. It was the plain old cheap plywood it had knots and a couple ridges here ...»
We have 2 small dogs and 3 lazy cats. A teen, a garage we work in alot. I'd rather sweep and damp mop by the doors than vacuum and constantly have to spot clean with a steam vac. I will put ...»
I want old look :)
After seeing the pics, hubby's all for it! I am sick of this carpet! Puppies, kittens, kids, spilt drinks, 12yrs, ick~
I so miss all the hardwood in our old home. However, we have two bedrooms with exposed ...»
If you have a concrete slab why not tile it?...for long term durability and ease of cleaning nothing beats tile.