Cheapest way to level a wood floor?

[Fifty]

My new shop has around 7000 square feet of 100 year old wood flooring, and much of it has lived a hard life. There are some big areas with newer 3/4" tongue and grove plywood, but much of it is the old 2" boards about 3/4" thick, with all sorts of holes, patches, gouges, nails, levels, etc.

Question is what is going to be the cheapest way to level and smooth some of this floor out? I'd love to lay down some new plywood or OSB but that would cost a fortune. Could I use a floor leveling mix like this:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Custom-B...nderlayment-50-lb-LQ50/100192482#.UmGv2Pk0DJI
Would that hold up very long if it was left uncovered? Could it just be painted?

Some areas we are going to finish out a little nicer, like an office and a kitchen. I found some cheap indoor/outdoor carpet at HD for $0.41/sq ft. Is there any cheaper floor covering?

 

[ozyborn]

Sand the floor. then and nice clear epoxy coat. Would leave a great character look to it all.

 

[larry_g]

That floor leveling grout will not stand up to traffic as the edges will be paper thin and will crumble. At ~$30 for 50 square feet of coverage, sheet goods could be cheaper. Why would want to cover up years of 'patina' The building will have personality, capitalize on that do not hide it.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Fifty]

Unfortunately much of the floor is far beyond just being able to be sanded and cleaned. It's really very torn up and extremely dirty. Much of it has to be patched in with newer boards. I would love to be able to have the original wood showing but it's just too far gone. I'll take a picture tonight or tomorrow.

 

[bigbadktm]

cementitious self levelers do not work on flexible wood surface. It will crack in a matter of days of walking on it...experience.

http://www.westcoat.com/alx-p-6.html

take a look into that. it is not used solely for exterior decks and waterproofing. it can be expensive though, but you can go over it with tile, or do a faux finish with an acrylic based cement. acid stain, water based stain, dyes, tile patterns, stone patterns...the sky is the limit on creativity.

 

[Fifty]

Here's a look at what I'm dealing with. I'd love to have some nice polished 100 year old floors but I think they are too far gone.



Different rooms are all different levels:


The bulk of it looks like this:




I've seen 3/8" OSB before, but I think it was more expensive than 7/16" at Home Depot. If I went to a lumber yard and ordered a few pallets would it be cheaper than 7/16"? Are there any cheaper sheet goods?

 

[WQ59B]

Why not sand/refinish a small section to SEE if it meets your preferences before covering it all up? I could certainly live with the 3rd pic if it was refinished (defects & all).

 

[pauls_workshop]

Have to agree with others. I'd try to save this floor - with some replacements in some areas where needed. Rent a pro floor sander and go to town. Another idea is to minimize replacing some wood areas, you could fill in with an epoxy there, like holes, big cracks, etc. Although epoxy is expensive, you could mix sawdust about 6:1 with the epoxy to fill in and it would stretch a long way. A 1 gallon kit for about $150 might become 7 gallons worth this way. Pre-stain that sawdust to match the final color of your floor you want and mix with a clear epoxy then plane over flat with the floor - wouldn't look too bad. You could use a portable electric hand planer, like a Makita 3 or 4" to plane flat. Sanding the epoxy might not work - epoxy is extremely hard and tough when dry and doesn't really sand much. A few areas, you would have to replace the wood patches with new and do it right, but could be made to look very close. I'd save that old floor if at all possible! It has character and value ! Also, sometimes just on craigslist I see "old wood" advertised from this or that demo project for sale. You can get similar old wood to match your floor for the patches with just a little effort. Good luck !

Also Manufacturers, help here and give some more thoughts - Would my above proposal work well? Or other ideas? I do woodworking but haven't done this before on a floor. I have used epoxy with wood to repair and it works great for that. People use it to repair rotted out parts of beams or log cabins and such all the time. - Paul

 

[theoldwizard1]

Sand it. Save what you can. Replace the rest.

 

[TireTracks]

I would test sand that floor before I went to the expence of covering it up with OSB. It might surprise you how good it might look.

it looks like the part thats the most damaged, was just layed overtop the original flooring, in the 1st 2nd pics.