My oak floor

[Therms]

I nearly forgot to post some piccies of the oak floor I laid.

This is before

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This is during. As you can see this was one of the surprises with an unsupported internal wall. This wall runs up two floors and is therefore structural. It was just built on the floorboards.

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This is with the noggins and insulation. I had to nog every 450mm because the joists ran the wrong way.


And this is with the ply down
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Now the fun bit:
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Surface nailed
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and oiled
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I've now added the skirting and built a couple of radiator covers witht he left over oak.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Looks nice. Make sure you maintain it every 5 to 6 months to keep it healthy and looking as nice as it does now.

 

[Therms]

I will do, thanks. I got three coats of oil on. I’d have liked a fourth, but the drying time is too long and I needed to start putting furniture back.

I surface nailed and chamfered all the edges. I think it looks great, but I’m biased.

It was a lot more work than I thought, but long days and graft paid off.

I’ve finished the room and even made some rad covers with the leftover oak.

It was expensive, but unlike carpet will get better with age.

Thanks to all those that helped with advice that gave me the knowledge and confidence.

 

[mattysupra]

looks good. Well done.

One question tho, why face nail and not secret nail?

Was that the look you wanted or another reason?

 

[Therms]

Good question Matty,

Surface nailing seems to be a little controversial and I don’t understand why. Everyone wants to secret nail their wood. I bought some really decent oak and I didn’t want it to look like laminate, so I ran a block-plane down the edges and surface nailed.

I’ve seen it in a lot of older places and I thought it looked good. Hiding nails seems to be a modern thing. I used rose-head cut nails, so they look good when beaten into the wood and I put them in at a slight angle to stop them lifting.

It wasn’t an easy choice because what I decided to do was going to be there for ever. Some of the nails are dummies. The boards run over pipe, so I put a little Gripfill down, cut the nails off, drilled and hammered them in.

Do you not like the look?