hardwood floor installation project, with pics! Options

[presure2]

so as some of you may know, i install and refinish hardwood floors for a living, and since i had some left over wood from previous jobs, i decided to install some in my living room.
i have done many "straight" install jobs, where the boards are just layed side by side, across the room, and figured it'd be a good chance to try somthing a little more difficult.
so, i decided to try a "border-laid" configuration, where you create a border around the center of the room.
here are the results:
first, a couple pics of the pre-exsiting floor:



this floor is OLD southern yellow pine, very typical in this area, and mostly used as a subfloor. the gaps between the boards are quite large (some over 1/4") and that would let cold air thru from the basement (i live in a 1st floor apartment) not good in the winter, at ALL. lol
i had some red oak left over from previous jobs, so i decided to use that as the border, and "mill-run" maple as the center.
so, i layed down some 30lb roofers felt, to cover the gaps, and to help stop squeeking ect later on down the road, and started laying the first board:


then continued on with the border from there:

a close up of the border:

once the border was laid, i started filling the center with the maple:

[presure2]

then just continued on till it was finished:

once it was all sanded smooth, i started staining it with a natural stain to bring out the highlights of the grain in the wood:

once that was dry, a couple coats of water based finish, and call it done!





not too shabby if i do say so myself for a first attempt at boarder-laid!

[jgreening]

Wanna come to Illinois for an install?

[bloodrain]

very nice... but to do it CORRECTLY you should have made a 6GC logo in the wood on the floor. That would have been pimp.

[97lestyousay]

Looks awesome Manny. Lots of work but really looks great.

[ILuvMyCelica95]

Wow Manny that looks great!!!!

[shin]

very nicely done manny. too bad i have tiles instead of wooden floors. i would've called you to come do mine

[popstar]

Nice mate

just a question, and not a bitch or nothing......

why a staggered joint in the corners and not a loose tunged mitered joint ?? plus what finish did you use on it, you got a great finish

[presure2]

thanks everyone,
pop, i had never tried the staggered look like that before, something new.
the finish is an aluminum oxide water based finish called Trex plus.
it has a 15 year wear thru warranty, its SUPER durable.

[playr158]

veryyyyy niiice....beats teh floors in my house by a goood amount

[Defgeph]

Looks awesome man.

[Phat_99CeliGT]

that cat is FREAKING ME OUT MANN!!
lol

looks awesome man.

[Jen]

I love it. I have always loved hardwood floors. Good job!

[lagos]

awesome work manny ... its a shame you live so far away, cause i would definetly have some work for you. we had our downstairs floor done a few years ago, but the guy bailed out before finishing the stairs and the upsstairs hallway.

[Cutrara]

Nice job. My dad flips houses for a living and I work for him. I'd say in the past few years I've refinished 6 rooms (gonna do another 3 1/2 this month), and laid 8 rooms of pre-stained, tounge and groove hardwood (none of that lame snap together stuff) and I can appreciate the hard work you did.

It's a great feeling when it's all done isn't it?

Also, I have the SAME pancake compressor. It's nice.

[creis]

dang, that looks good, we did that not too long ago but when costco style with there snap in stuff.

[CLYCK]

nice floors but yo whats good with that cat? lol?

[vangSTa_celica]

Hawt pic.

Looks great. The floor I mean.

This post has been edited by vangSTa_celica: Jan 26, 2006 - 9:07 AM

[madmods]

Thats awesome Manny! I'm a big fan of hgtv, and always telling my girlfriend, I can do that. It came out great.

[presure2]

thanks for the props guys.
your right, its a great feeling when you take a crappy old floor and make it new and fresh again..installing is nice, its decent $$ too, but 90% of my buisness is refinishing old floors, and thats where the real instant gradifacation comes in...you take an old, beat up and run down floor, and make it look like new again...its the part of my buisness i like most.

[snapshotgt]

Great Job...looks awesome

~snap

This post has been edited by snapshotgt: Jan 26, 2006 - 12:38 PM

[devilsden97]

come do my house!

Looks SWEET!