wide plank plywood flooring how to

the new flooring has been installed in Megan's farmhouse kitchen

remember what it used to look like

this is what it looks like now - minus the base molding 

 

 

the farmhouse is over 100 years old and the floors are sort of wavy in some areas

because the plywood is only 1/4" thick and very flexible it worked well on the uneven surface

 

the kitchen measures 17' by 13'

ten sheets of 4' x 8' plywood were needed to make the floor

they were purchased at The Home Depot for $19.37 each for a total of $193.70

we also purchased six (we ended up using five)  28oz tubes of  PL400 Heavy Duty Sub-floor & Construction Adhesive $4.98 each  totaling $29.88

 one box of flooring nails $17.00

1 gallon of Benjamin Moore flat latex ceiling paint tinted rockport gray $13.00

 gallon of Varathan floor finish $59.00

total materials cost $299.58 

the plywood was cut on the four foot side into six 8" width sections so that there would be no waste

we painted them using a wash technique using 50% water 50% paint then put the boards in the sun to dry

here they are lined up outside to dry

the top layer of original vinyl  was easily pulled up from Megan's kitchen floor, we attached the new wide plank floors directly to the sub floor that was underneath

the boards were then cut into shorter lengths - we used 4, 5 and 6 foot pieces with shorter ones as needed to avoid waste.  They were placed down in a random pattern.  Once we figured where the plank was going to go we covered the back with the flooring adhesive and nailed it into place. 

we used a penny as the perfect spacer.  A few hours later we pulled out all the pennies and applied the first coat of varathane water based floor finish using a lambswool pad

the next day a final coat of varathane was applied, it was dry in a few hours.  The dogs have been testing it out for durability - so far so good

here are some more things we have been working on

these linen curtains were made from an old bed skirt

these are the industrial brackets that I picked up for $10 with some barn wood shelving

we have nine more days to go till the dead line.  See you soon, Lori