iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

The Wood floor install Job

Started by RK Ron, September 01, 2007, 10:19:02 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

RK Ron

BIG celebration tonight- just came home today w/45 square feet of hand made flooring installed!  Yessiree, I've arrived- peaked- pinnacled and realized what few could ever dream-contracted  a owners logs to lumber to kiln dry to random width flooring to install.  (Did I mention 45 sq. ft. took 4 1/2 hrs.?)  Yep, only 1055 square feet to go...  Figure time wise (running solo) I should wrap this puppy up before CHRIST'S return...
Good LORD this is time consumin'.  Even if I use my head, move the saw and flooring closer to me and drink a bucket of coffee, I still will only realize 20 sq. ft. per hour.  Granted, this is my first time @ bat (I hope the owners aren't reading this..) and there is culling going on, but  I don't recall reading this part in any of the brochures I've been lookin' at.
So what's the expectation square footage wise per hour to install?   Using a air hammer nailer, miter saw,  3/4" oak t&g random width 2 aspirin @ lunch, 2 beers when I get home-
RKRON

sawdust


RK you will be so pleased when you get done! And you may get to experience washerwomans knees too.
I have only installed purchased hardwood flooring, stuff you mill and mould yourself would be even better.

sawdust
comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.

Tom Sawyer

Around here floor installers are getting $4 a sqft.  So, at 20 ft per hour you are making $80 an hour!  Not bad ;D

sawdust


Thats what our installers are making too. Even if they are putting down that snap together floating stuff. I have no idea how anyone can afford to build a house today. Possibly they earn WAY more than me!

sawdust
comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.

Kelvin

Hmmm.  I haven't kept track sq ft wise, but i've always thought it went really fast.  I've done 3 complete houses so far, one with my own flooring.  I milled about 2500 sq ft for our current house, it went down pretty fast.  I made it with shop tools, table saw and shaper.  Maybe you are being too perfect?  Put the piece down, tap it in, nail it down, next one, same thing.  Should stack up like bricks on the floor, though if the walls are narrow, and the laying requires lots of complicated cuts it takes a lot longer.  If i had to guess i would say i would lay out a room that was 200 sq ft in an afternoon, so 40 sq ft and hour?  Also i make my flooring wider and longer, mostly 1x6, and 8-10' long.  Not 2 1/2" shorts.  That might take longer, but i'm no perfectionist either.  Lots of cracks!  Mainly from being to wet when i put it down.  Probably $4/sq ft for installers includes finishing?  That takes some time!
KP

Furby

Random width takes more "hunting" during the install vs. all one size.

RK Ron

Yeah, knarly white oak #3, w/bug holes and spalt.  My straight, long lengths @ 5" wide weren't straight anymore when I got to the job some weeks later (acclimation?).  Found it easier to cut the stick to rid the bow, sometimes in multiple places (knots have a way of changing the stick's straightness).  It was also done inside a closet.  Today I go back and do another closet, full of corners/turns. ( the ugly of uglies get installed in the least visible areas)  Can't wait to "come out of the closet"....
Owner wants a "swedish finish".  What the *#+? is that?  Only swede I know is a welder.  And what do I do with the rest of this poly I've been using as a LOG end sealer?  (Just kidding)
Being a perfectionist?  Had to help my bride off the floor after I read that to her.  But now that you ask, I'll insert that w/my portfolio, stating that people are commenting on my, "perfection".
  It might help my time if I would quit staring @ the work and just finish the floor...
RKRON

Max sawdust

RKron,
Great story :D
You got me smiling..
You will get er done, and make a buck.  :)
max
True Timbers
Cedar Products-Log & Timber Frame Building-Milling-Positive Impact Forestscaping-Cut to Order Lumber

Tom Sawyer

Quote from: Kelvin on September 05, 2007, 07:52:57 AM
Probably $4/sq ft for installers includes finishing?  That takes some time!
KP

Nope.  That is the prefinished stuff from HD.

Engineer

I hired someone to install my floor.  3" soft maple, t&g, took two guys three days to install 1100 square feet.  So that's 22.9 square feet per hour.  And it was all pretty clear stuff, very few culls.  No end-matching either, so the ends just butted together.

Thank You Sponsors!