End grain floors

[jim king]

Does anyone know how end grain floor tiles are dried ?    I would think that putting them in a kiln would be a disaster.   

[Ironwood]

Dont know, we have TONS of old industrial floors in warehouses and shops here around Pittsburgh that are end grain.

 Ironwood

[jim king]

Do you remember if the tiles laid tight together and seamless or does the floor have grout like ceramic tile.

[ohsoloco]

I recall seeing an end grain floor being laid on one of those home shows years ago...This Old House or Bob Vila's Home Again.  They started with dry cants (perhaps reusing old timbers) and cross cut them to thickness.  There was a healthy gap in between the tiles, and they were "grouted" with some mixture of sawdust and resin.  Nice looking floor 

[beenthere]

The first end-grain wood floor I remember seeing was in the Alcoa Aluminum plant in Davenport, IA. 1954
It was Douglas fir, and the blocks were about 4" long. Were told they were very easy on the fork trucks and other wheeled equipment moving around with heavy loads. Apparently absorbed a lot of the shock. Being in this mill, and it being a foundry setting, there was plenty of dirt and dust that worked its way into the joints between the blocks.

 A thin tile of end-grain, would be a different problem, and may be troublesome to dry without problem checks.

There would be some tricky sanding to be done if a floor and needed to be flat, and moisture changes that might tend to keep it from staying flat. 

[Ironwood]

The ones I have seen were floating free.

        Ironwood

[Mooseherder]

This is a question asked on and is from the "This Old House Website"

 Q: I've seen floors made of end-cuts of wood. How do you lay this kind of floor? How is it attached to the underlayment, and what's the right grout to use?

A: Tom Silva replies: You don't use a grout. Usually end-grain flooring comes in panels and is applied with a glue. You trowel it on, using probably an 8 by 8 trowel at a 45-degree angle. You put the glue on the floor, tip your trowel up, and it fits little notches in the panels, and then basically it just lays in place. The only ones I've seen have been tongue-and-groove. So you lay the tongue of one panel into the groove of the next, slip the panels together and that's it.

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Here ya go, Jim

  http://www.kaswell.com/

[scsmith42]

Harold, that is a pretty interesting link.

Jim, the basement area of the merchandise mart in Chicago is paved with wood block panels laid back in the '20's.  They do not have grout in-between them.  I don't know how deep they are, I presumed around 6" - 8".

[laffs]

this old house did it with reclaimed timbers sliced about 3/4 thick dont remember what they used for grout. but they laid them then sanded then some sealer. grout im not sure about.
brent

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Scott, did you go to the History section   There is good info on how it was, in the old days .

[jim king]

I am back to the drying.  I have not tried it yet but I think the problems of kiln drying 1 inch thick end grain slices would make a guy very old very quick. 

But maybe when the 4 x 6 peice is not in a round with full tension ans stress from being round it would be easier ?¿?¿  (jungle logic)

Drying a 5 x 7 timber and then slicing it does not seem to be a solution as it would be full of visable cracks and hairline cracks ready to become visable. 

Is the solution simple air drying ??

[Den Socling]

I was standing in a very large and old manufacturing building one time and when I looked down at the floor I was amazed to see that what I had thought was bricks was actually end grain wood. It was cut into rectangles. If there was ever any grout, it was long replaced with dirt. It apparently was very durable since it showed no more wear than adjacent sections of concrete. Thinking back, it could have been put down as "streets" for wheeled machines. So, drying "2 x 4's" may be the way to begin. A 2x4 or 3x5 would see fewer drying stresses than a round, for sure.

[fishpharmer]

Jim King, interesting post.  First I ever heard of flooring or paving with end grain exposed. 
Harold, neat link, I enjoyed the historical information.

[Texas Ranger]

Local bank was built a couple of years ago, the flooring is 4x4 end grain mesquite.  When I was asked, they were put down as individual tiles.  The tiles had been cut from 4x4 cants.  Once down they had only standard wood floor finish applied.  Out standing looking floor, and being mesquite, will be here long after the building is something else.

[Tom]

Grout in the old floors was usually left to the accumulation of dirt, grime, dust, grease and wax from everyday living.  The wide pine flooring that was installed in the lodge I brag about, on the Satilla, has this accumulation and it not only raises the surface of the crack to the level of the wood, but is rather attractive as well, as long as you don't tell prissy people how it happened. 

[jim king]

These are not good photos but you will get the idea of end grain in the tropical woods.  Do you think it would make flooring ?¿  The little blocks are about 4 inches long and the pink wood photo is of a limb and the colored part is about 8 inches in dia.



 


 


 


 

[Fla._Deadheader]

 This is the only other info I could find.

Endgrain is easy to make. Start with air dried for five years plus, cross cut, dry in Nyles, redimension, glue down, finish, and grout.

  From a contributor on another Forum. Shows photo.

  Having used Tropical hardwood, I would think it would be great for flooring.

[Dodgy Loner]

Air-dried for five years plus? Seems a little excessive to me. Once wood reaches equilibrium, it don't get any drier unless the air gets drier.

[scsmith42]

 Scott, did you go to the History section   There is good info on how it was, in the old days .

Harold, I did go to that section - pretty fascinating.  Some of the links were too.