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E. R. Cedar floor.

Started by Bill Gaiche, July 28, 2010, 04:56:08 PM

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Bill Gaiche

Met a fellow today that has a lot of ERC and wants to use it for a new floor in his living room. I dont have the experience to give him a definate answer to wheather it is possibe or practical. So here I am asking you fellows for your opinion on using it and what would you do if you used it? Tounge and grove, finish?  Thanks, bg

Burlkraft

Ask Jeff, his little cabin in the back yard has an erc floor
Why not just 1 pain free day?

paul case

bill,
the erc i have used green has shrunk more length ways than width. i dont know but i would suspect that it would make a dandy floor and be almost as durable as oak. easier to dry too. pc
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
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pc

Carpenter

I've never used it for a floor, but I've often wondered how it would work.  The white sapwood seems to be about as hard as pine, and pine has been used for flooring quite a bit.  It does not hold up like a hardwood, but it can look nice and refinishes easy.  A cousin of mine built a deck using local ERC as decking.  It's probably 5 years old, looks great.  I have not worked a lot of cedar, I would think that tounge and grove with a blind nail would be ideal, It may split the tounge though, of course the tounge splits occasionally with hardwood too, and it's usually not a big deal, I just put in a few extra nails.  On an episode of This Old House they showed a flooring crew re-doing the stage floor of Carnegie hall, They had to duplicate the original floor down to the hand driven cut nails because they didn't want to change the accustic character of the hall.  The floor that they pulled up was full of splits and a lot of it split when they put it back down.  And of course if all of the tounges are splitting off when nailed I would switch and either face nail or screw it down with finish screws.  And you would still make a stronger floor by using tounge and groove material.
     As far as a finish, so far I haven't finished any ERC so I don't know.  I always wanted to finish a hardwood floor with an oil finish though.  Poly is generally used and of course it is basically a plastic on top of the wood, It shows a lot of wear and wouldn't be my first choice on a soft wood, fact it isn't my first choice at all.  I have read about a mineral oil finish but never tried it.  What I use on gunstocks with good success is a boiled linseed oil cut with turpintine, about 50/50, it really soaks into the wood,  I put several coats of that mix on, let the stock dry and then top it with tounge oil, I just wipe it on with a rag so I get a really thin coat, but it usually takes multiple coats, the last gunstock I finished took 11 coats of toung oil untill I got the look I was going for.  I just wonder if that type of finish would work on a floor?  A gun has to be finished well because they are designed to possibly be exposed to all kinds of elements and abuse, much like a floor. 
     The natural oils in ERC might interfere with an oil finish, but I think it would be worth experimenting with on a few scrap pieces.

      I know there is not much information in this post. But, it is long.   :)
      Keep us posted, I would be interested to know how it turns out.  I need to put some flooring in this house to replace some old worn carpet and I would like to use something off the sawmill. 

laffs

cedar seems awfuly soft for a floor. i built a deck once with red western cedar this was at a cottage the cottage cost 1,200,000 to build. so any way the client came down to look at the deck, and says that looks great. and i told him it looks nice now but , people coming of th beach will have sand and pebbles on their feet or shoes and this stuff dents wicked easy. i had put a couple dents in it already from a couple of pebbles and i showed him. i  went back a week later and they took up the cedar. they called this cottage, catspaw alley. every time ya turned around they was changing something. i b uilt fee wall in there once had a 45 in the wall 7' 6'' high, the next day they took it down and made one 8' 6''
timber harvester,tinberjack230,34hp kubota,job ace excavator carpenter tools up the yingyang,

LeeB

We stayed in a holiday cabin once that had ERC flooring. It was scewed down with the screw holes plugged. Looked great. It was pretty scratched, but that just added to the caricature of it. Cedar can be brittle. You definately want to put down a sub floor. I think I remember them telling us it had been down for over 5 years.
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Jeff

It makes a beautiful and very nice floor to walk on but I don't think I would use it for high traffic areas where people wear shoes in the house.  The floor we put down still looks nice after 4 years. We put down a large rug where the high traffic area is at.   The cedar flooring was made by cedarman and okmulch.  Its tongue and groove and was manufactured so perfectly there was hardly any sanding needed.  I can get some pictures if you want.
Just call me the midget doctor.
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Ezekiel 22:30

Bill Gaiche

Thanks guys for the info. I will print off your ideas and exp. to show him. He doesnt have internet. Maybe this will help him on his decession. Jeff that would be great if you would take some photos, thanks for that. bg

Jeff

Tried to hold back the rug to at least give you an idea. :) I didnt bother cleaning as you can see. I also included a photo showing the closet door Tammy made from left over flooring.







Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

ely

i take it you have a sign fetish also jeff.
nice work on the floor and the door.

Bill Gaiche

Jeff, that sure is a pretty floor! I would think everyone would want one. How wide is your widest board and what did you finish it with? Thanks for your efforts. bg

red oaks lumber

no wonder i couldn't find the state park, the map dosen't show the location at your house...
the experts think i do things wrong
over 18 million b.f. processed and 7341 happy customers i disagree

WDH

It is a great floor, and the little pooch is enjoying the photo op  :D.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Jeff

Quote from: WDH on July 29, 2010, 05:44:38 PM
It is a great floor, and the little pooch is enjoying the photo op  :D.

Hey!  I didnt know he was in there! He has a habit of doing that.  Check out this old photo from 2002. The little son of a....  :D



Bill, Thats all 3 1/3 inch lumber. The actual face of the board, not counting the tongue, is 3 inches on all of it.   We finished it with a satin, water based polyurethane. I don't recall what brand other then at the time, home depot sold it in 5 gallon cans cheaper then you could by 2 one gallon cans.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

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