A Herringbone Parquet Floor, From Scratch
I alluded to a big project coming up a while back in my Do-All saw thread. I hoped to get started on it over the winter, but other things got in the way. Now that it's finally nice and warm out, I'm ready to begin the next phase.
This project actually began in March of 2006 when I picked up about 12,000lbs of freshly cut hardwood from a nearby supplier. Previous to this, I had been to multiple flooring stores and big-box stores looking for a suitable floor for the house. What I found didn't impress me. It was then that I decided to build my own floor.
Here's the wood in a rented truck. Most of the hardwood is Sugar Maple, although some is Walnut which will be used for the floor border and window trim throughout the house:
Once back home, it was stacked, stickered and end painted in the driveway to begin the drying process. It is important that the drying process proceed slowly by remaining outside, especially when the wood is near the fiber saturation point. The surface of the wood can give up moisture to the atmosphere faster than the core can transport moisture to the surface. Thus, if the wood is dried too quickly the outer case of the board shrinks over the saturated core. The result is a massive number of cracks parallel to the grain structure, called "case hardening" or "honeycombing".
Wood also loses moisture significantly faster from the end grain. This is to be expected, after all the end grain is how the tree transports water up the trunk and through it's branches. End splitting is the result. To minimize end splitting, the ends of each board are painted.
After spending approximately 9 months outside in the weather, covered only by a tarp, the wood had reached an equillibrium moisture content of about 20%. At that time, it was brought inside for final drying. Last fall I tested several pieces of wood, including this piece of Walnut and found them to be at equillibrium. About 7% moisture content is to be expected for wood in unconditioned interior locations:
That brings us to today.
Why build a floor instead of buying?
In a word: Quality.
For the past 9 years I have been building my first and probably last house. The house, when complete, will have a hybrid radiant floor heating system. As a consequence, the floor temperature will change dramatically between seasons as the heating is turned on and off. This leads not only to thermal expansion and contraction, but expansion and contraction due to changes in the moisture content of the floor. Due to the possibility of cracking and buckling as a consequence of thermal and moisture expansion, standard 3/4" T&G floors are not recommended for installation over radiant floors.
Instead, most radiant installations are covered in click-together "floating" floors. These floors are not anchored to the subfloor, but "float" on a layer of foam, thus alleviating differential expansion issues by removing restraints on the individual components (nails) and providing the floor with room to expand.
However, "floating" floors are not necessarily the be-all and end-all of hardwood floors. Having installed several expensive "floating" floors for others, these floors do not impress me from any standpoint. A well-built hardwood floor should "click" under a woman's heels, a floating floor sounds like loose linoleum by comparison. Further, a "floating" floor has obvious seams which collect dirt, loosen over time and just lack the beauty of a traditional hardwood floor. To a discerning eye, a "floating" floor is obviously mass-produced.
My solution is a hand-built floor, which will be thermally stable, yet look and feel like a traditional hardwood floor rather than a mass-produced wooden Lego project. I'll be making all of this in the garage and installing it as time allows.
More to come!
I alluded to a big project coming up a while back in my Do-All saw thread. I hoped to get started on it over the winter, but other things got in the way. Now that it's finally nice and warm out, I'm ready to begin the next phase.
This project actually began in March of 2006 when I picked up about 12,000lbs of freshly cut hardwood from a nearby supplier. Previous to this, I had been to multiple flooring stores and big-box stores looking for a suitable floor for the house. What I found didn't impress me. It was then that I decided to build my own floor.
Here's the wood in a rented truck. Most of the hardwood is Sugar Maple, although some is Walnut which will be used for the floor border and window trim throughout the house:
Once back home, it was stacked, stickered and end painted in the driveway to begin the drying process. It is important that the drying process proceed slowly by remaining outside, especially when the wood is near the fiber saturation point. The surface of the wood can give up moisture to the atmosphere faster than the core can transport moisture to the surface. Thus, if the wood is dried too quickly the outer case of the board shrinks over the saturated core. The result is a massive number of cracks parallel to the grain structure, called "case hardening" or "honeycombing".
Wood also loses moisture significantly faster from the end grain. This is to be expected, after all the end grain is how the tree transports water up the trunk and through it's branches. End splitting is the result. To minimize end splitting, the ends of each board are painted.
After spending approximately 9 months outside in the weather, covered only by a tarp, the wood had reached an equillibrium moisture content of about 20%. At that time, it was brought inside for final drying. Last fall I tested several pieces of wood, including this piece of Walnut and found them to be at equillibrium. About 7% moisture content is to be expected for wood in unconditioned interior locations:
That brings us to today.
Why build a floor instead of buying?
In a word: Quality.
For the past 9 years I have been building my first and probably last house. The house, when complete, will have a hybrid radiant floor heating system. As a consequence, the floor temperature will change dramatically between seasons as the heating is turned on and off. This leads not only to thermal expansion and contraction, but expansion and contraction due to changes in the moisture content of the floor. Due to the possibility of cracking and buckling as a consequence of thermal and moisture expansion, standard 3/4" T&G floors are not recommended for installation over radiant floors.
Instead, most radiant installations are covered in click-together "floating" floors. These floors are not anchored to the subfloor, but "float" on a layer of foam, thus alleviating differential expansion issues by removing restraints on the individual components (nails) and providing the floor with room to expand.
However, "floating" floors are not necessarily the be-all and end-all of hardwood floors. Having installed several expensive "floating" floors for others, these floors do not impress me from any standpoint. A well-built hardwood floor should "click" under a woman's heels, a floating floor sounds like loose linoleum by comparison. Further, a "floating" floor has obvious seams which collect dirt, loosen over time and just lack the beauty of a traditional hardwood floor. To a discerning eye, a "floating" floor is obviously mass-produced.
My solution is a hand-built floor, which will be thermally stable, yet look and feel like a traditional hardwood floor rather than a mass-produced wooden Lego project. I'll be making all of this in the garage and installing it as time allows.
More to come!
