Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Can this be done?

I saw this in the latest edition of Small Room Decorating Magazine. A woman re-did her kitchen in an 18th century style. She said that her son nailed random lengths of 10" wide southern pine boards directly over the existing flooring (hardwood of some kind). Then, she used a regular sponge mop to apply a coat of Early American Stain and a single coat of matte polyurethane.

Can it really be that simple to install a wood floor? We have carpet in one of the rooms we want to put a wood floor into, so would have to remove that. Can we just nail pine boards over the subfloor? In the kitchen and dining areas, there is linoleum flooring...can we just nail boards over that? It sounds so easy the way she explained it....and sounds much cheaper than getting the pre-finished wood planks at Lowe's or Home Depot.

She didn't say anything about sanding it. Is this possible?

Jodi

Well, it can be done. That's what has been in our dining room for 25 years. I just double checked, and found one gap between boards at about 3/32 inch. No other major gaps.
Mine is just about in need of a new finish. Sanding over the nail heads will present a problem. May have to touch each nail head with a bit of paint to match the stain.
Acclimate the boards at least a week or ten days in the house before installing them.
First check to see if the lino will come up easy or not. It will be easiers to find the floor joists for nailing.
I would suggest two or even three coats of poly for more protection.

good luck,
fred

Also if your going with wide planks i would recomend you run a small beed of adhesive on each edge and down the center. Also watch the way the grain runs and make sure to put the crown down. We did an entire bicycle store out of smooth on one side rough on the other 12 in pine glued and face nailed. Stained with 3 coats of poly. It sees allot of traffic and is holding up well.

Phil

Thank you both for your replies! What a relief! I thought it was going to be way more involved than that. Finally, we will be able to have hardwood floors w/o spending a fortune!

Can I ask...what do you mean by "put the crown down?" Sorry, I'm not a handyman...er...woman...lol.

Do you know if it's safe to butt the boards up against a fireplace? I guess if the carpet is safe, the wood would be. What would I use as an edge between the wood floors in one room and carpet in the next? I'm not up on the flooring lingo, so forgive me if there is a specific name for the edging. Luckily, my husband is helping me...he's not as clueless as I am...lol!

Thank you!

Jodi

Except that pine is not a hardwood, and modern pine is not nearly as hard as the very old pine used for floors 100+ years ago. Make sure you can live with the inevitable denting that will occur. And yes, even hardwood floors can be dented.

Hi Jodi,

Crown down: when you look at the end of the board(flat) the rings sh be on top and pointing downward toward the outside edge..
Although 'crown down' is more for outdoor decks(helps drainage). When I or Norm build a table we alternate boards, crown up, crown down, etc. Indoors it reasllly doesn't matter. Stabilizing the wood to indoor conditions is prob the most important thing to do.
Yes, butt the boards up to the fireplace.
For the carpet to wood floor you need a transition strip, but you may have trouble finding one in pine.

fred

if this is your first floor ever that you will put in yourselves. Do use a floor nailer when nail the boards. Floor nails are designed to have more holding power than regular nails that will keep your floor from making squeaking noise. Put a little bevel on the edge of the board, like 2 degree, that is the top of the board is wider than the bottom which will help to conceal the gaps from wood movement. Pine is not a stable wood at all. When I installed new floor in my house, I left the flooring in the house for 3 months before I started. You know that tongue and groove flooring has been around for more than 100 years for a reason. If you do like rustic style, that's another matter. Anyway, to get some 2x4 or the alike in Lowe's or HD is okay, hardwood floor? That's a no-no. Shouldn't even be thinking of getting floors at those places!
Check out the floor I designed and installed in our master bedroom at www.geocities.com/ct6832
and I am not a carpenter, I am a software programmer.

Thank you, Fred, for clarifying that!

ct287...lol, I'm not a carpenter either...I'm a MOM! LOL! I have absolutely no woodworking experience other than wood shop in 7th grade....like 21 yrs. ago! I made a little tool that pulled out and pushed in the oven rack. HA! I did love that class though.

I do like a rustic look, but not a sloppy look. I don't think we will be able to afford a floor nailer. Can they be rented? Your floors are beautiful! I think I need a little more experience before I attempt anything like that! We're looking to do this inexpensively, which is why I thought the 10" pine boards would work well for us.

I do like the dinging and scuffing that hardwood floors can get...adds character. Of course, we don't live in a 100 yr. old home...we live in a late 1970's home that was built cheaply! I'm hoping the rustic character will look ok in this subdivision home. I love the 1800's and antique furniture. I do like a more rustic look than a formal one...I like to be comfortable, so the pine flooring should suit my tastes just fine.

Thank you for your advice! I'm sure I'll have more questions once we actually start working on this.

Jodi

it's just that the hardwood floors in HD or Lowe's are overpriced cheap stuff in my opinion. That floor I did using clear Brazilian cherry with solid black walnut inlay, master bedroom and hallway (walnut borders), total about 330 sq.ft. cost me about $1300, I mean everything including finish and tool rental. You can rent nailer, floor sander from Home Depot. That floor with inlay was the first floor I ever installed. Actually, my wife got couple of quotes that were around $3000. We did have carpet and linoleum on the old floor that we took them all off before putting down the new floor. The Brasilian cherry is so hard that I could not face nail the borders, I used screws and plugged the holes as you might notice the dots in borders.
Anyway, 10" pine may not be cheap. I am not sure about the rustic grade. Last time I bought some clear pine to make a cradle, that was as expensive as red oak at $4/boardfoot.
Good luck with your floor project.

CT