Hello all,

I'm new to flooring, all remolding really, and I want to fly in the face of conventional wisdom with my new wood floor - so I have questions . . .

I'm wondering - the best methods for creating a floor out of wide plank boards. I know about all the standard practices for wood flooring, but I do not want to use the standard. I want something different from the typical, but still functional and affordable.

Here is what I want for rustic flooring in my new (country) kitchen -
A large-plank wood - about 8-10" wide. 3/4" thickness.

I wanted hard-wood, but cannot afford it. So I'm going with spruce or cedar and plan on distressing it before staining to disguise future 'distresses' I'm also going to use thick mats up against the counters to protect the flooring in heavy work areas.

I have OSB on my floor joists, and plan on some type of underlayment between the OSB and the wood planks. Something to absorb sound. Any suggestions on this when using wide plank boards?

I plan on screwing the planks down, and plug (wording) the tops to hide the screw heads. Screwing should make the floor very solid, but I'm not sure about the best placement of the screws on the boards. I'm thinking every 8-10" on both sides and 3 on each end - is this to many?

I really like a darker look in the seams around the boards, so I'm considering using spacers to leave a bit of a crack between broads for more of the stain to seep in. Anyone have experience doing this?

I will use a color stain and then finish with several coats of clear urethane to fill in cracks, gaps and dings.

Additional questions are:

- When screwing down (with plenty of screws) would there be any advantage to using T&G no-V? I understand the floor will expand/shrink a bit, but if it's screwed well and not floating I wouldn't expect gaps to be a problem.

- What size screws should I use? Heads or no heads? And how should I space them?

- Any suggestions on using washers to space boards out for more staining in the cracks? Or maybe using an easy sanding technique to take off a bit of the edges for more stain?

- If I'm using plenty of urethane, the edges of the boards shouldn't be a big issue - right? Thoughts on this?

Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it.

~Jami

End cut - rounds.

Like the winner of the floor of the year is done.

Cedar is not a good choice for a floor. The grain will start to splinter with normal use. A cheap hardwood like poplar is better. T&G is the best choice for any area that you would use for food preparation. Do you think that a 3/4th inch deep gap between boards will be possible to clean when something gets spilled? If you like dark edges, make a little bevel on both edges of the planks, this will help prevent splinters, also. The square edges can be susceptible to splintering when chairs or other furniture is slid across the rows of planks and they become out of alignment over time. The T&G will help keep the edges in alignment, but there is some movement between plank edges after the floor is laid because the T&G is not a perfect fit, so they can slide together more easily when the floor is installed.
Screws are a supplemental fastener that can be a primary fastening system if you add enough. It takes more labor and will give the floor a more rustic look. Every 12 inches, both sides and also at butt-joints would be a minimum. 12 gauge screws are what we have used, with a countersink head, which fits the pilot hole, and allows the plug to seat best. Top-nailing with 8d nails is an option to hold the floor, setting the heads below the surface and filling the hole with wood patch to match the species used, and will take one tenth of the time that screws take.
Make a small sample panel so you can see how your idea will look.

Thanks for the info -

I plan on covering the floor and cracks with poly thickly so that splinters and dirt do not have a place.

Wonderful help, thank you.