I’ve been a contractor for 37 years, and contractors can be unnecessarily critical, but that turned out better then i thought it would... sometimes homeowners can do a better job because they put 100% effort into it,
Most people go through life with the idea that you should only ever do something the way you've been told. Thinking out of the box and challenging the norm are what we should all be doing. Good job! This looks excellent!
Looks great! Every project I have done on my house has been away from the cookie cutter norm. Half the fun is hearing the positive feedback from friends and family. And then seeing them moving outside of the box to create something different. Great job
I think it turned out really beautiful! For those who don't like it, they can do what they want. This is a great opportunity for people to have a real wood floor that they "created" and will be something they can take pride in.
WHAT A BLESSING...You remind me of my country upbringing...My dad used to say do the best you can with what you have. BEAUTIFUL WORK! Thanks for the inspiration.
Dude, forget all the haters. It looks great. What do they think all the other flooring is made of? Even if it is actual planks of wood, it still has the grain finish. So if you want an oak floor just use oak ply wood. Good job dude!
And plywood will never have the grain of lumber. Lumber is cut from a log and has a section of grain. Plywood is made from piles, peeled from logs on a lathe and with the entirety of the grain spread across them. I'm not saying lumber looks better than plywood but it definitely looks different.
Birch ply or stain grade pine may be a really choice because the woods use a normal thickness layer and could be hand or palm sanded. Still wouldn't want to use a big drum sander tho, but i think this is a fantastic budget idea.
If your worried about looks far as grain then go with good furniture grade plywood But I like it. If I do it I'd might go with a smaller width but other than that no big deal. To the grain naysayers have you ever looked at the grain of hard wood flooring lol.😂 it's all mismatched
Been refinishing various surfaces for 35+ yrs. Painting, staining, restoration. Done a few floors before, tho not my primary work. You did Fantastic work. Well done! Impressed. Now I need to tear up sone old beat carpet in my condo, & know what to do! Thanks!
A mohair roller, usually pink in color, is what you want to use for polyurethane. Lamb's wool will leave fibers in the finish. The roller will also leave enough to soak into the joints as well. Polyurethane continues to harden for 7 days. You can use a pole sander for drywall with 400-600 grit, very quick, very light sanding. I have finished for over 30 years. This looks great, I think that your time could be cut in half from the tips I am giving you.
Came out nice brother, I did this with ¼" ply on my ceiling ripped random widths to mix it up a little. It's nice to see someone think about something, planning it, prepping it, and doing it. I'm sure it the 3 years since this video you've done some amazing things. Good luck with your imagination my man 👍
I agree that your economy wood floor alternative looks pretty good. Better than I thought it would. I'd like to offer a couple of suggestions for others thinking of doing this. If you have the tools to do so, it would be good insurance to add splines between the planks. Splines would help insure that the plank surfaces would stay even with one another. They would also make any gaps that open up look better. The gap would only be ¼" deep vs ¾" deep exposing the underlayment. Alternatively one could use biscuits or dominoes. These wouldn't hide the underlayment if exposed, but they'd keep plank surfaces even. My other suggestion is to use a wood conditioner prior to staining. This will help the soft pine plywood take the stain more evenly minimizing the light and dark areas.
Adding splines would essentially be like tongue and groove. Cut matching grooves in the 'boards' length and ends about ¼" deep. Insert a spline. This would keep the boards aligned with one another and hide and any deep gaps should the 'boards' separate. That said and upon further reflection, splining to hide gaps shouldn't be necessary. These 'boards' are plywood. They really shouldn't shrink or swell. Gaps are not likely to open up. Adding splines to help keep the top surfaces aligned with one another would be a good thing, but biscuits (or Festool dominoes) would do the same and do so much easier. If your sub floor is really flat, then even this may not be necessary. A real wood floor can be sanded to remove imperfections. You'll sand right through plywood's top veneer lickity split. This is a big deal if you're finishing the floor, but not if you're painting it. Another thing one could do with this kind of flooring is the bevel the top edges. This would be for both functional and esthetics reasons. It'll make the floor appear to have v-grooves between the planks. It'll also relieve the sharp edge between the boards and help hide any surface misalignments. This kinda of floor is a money saver. The rest is just how much time do you want to invest? A real hardwood floor has all this stuff incorporated.
Stanton Taylor thanks to you comment I fucked up on the bevel, kicked myself 3 times then.made I right love it, thanks always nice to.learn something new and hopefully I'll get so far as being able to make my own DIY vids(still puttering about in the dark half the time) have good one
You did an amazing job!! I had this idea and my husband told me I was crazy. I came today researching for videos and I found yours. He watched it and now he's been sold on the idea. :)
+SSLFamilyDad should we do it or not? I need to know ASAP. We are in the process of doing the floor in a new construction so we can't wait much longer. If you just please answer my question if we should do it? Thanks!
+Joan Belmont I'm surprised you're doing new construction and contemplating ply wood floors. If you can't tell the difference or just don't mind then plywood would be fine. On the other hand this would probably imply you are doing it yourself, so in reality any wood you get through a distributor or local tree cutting service is likely heavily discounted. Personally I would just buy the wood for the floors and do the rest in a nice more common flooring hardwood. It's not going to be as durable as a flooring, afterall this was not made to be flooring. I'm sure you'll get sources ranging from a year or two to "7 years and counting the perfection" tales. Personally I'm a fan of engineered hardwood, of course this entirely defeats the purpose of us saving money ;) Typically it would be said this type of flooring can't be sanded very much for refinishing, and a decent amount of suggestions for refraining it to low traffic areas.
Jess Vagnar hello! I got the idea of plywood because of a special situation we encountered with our new construction. Our home is a small cottage on blocks. So we got this flooring "expert" came in and told us he was charging us $4,000 to do a 560 square feet of the main area with fake planks, it wasn't even hard wood! So I say wait a minute why don't we just buy the plywood since we need to add 3/4 inch extra to the osb base boards and do it ourselves. My husband thought I was crazy. That's when I did research and found out I wasn't crazy and I show him this video. His reaction was "WOW, I didn't know you could do that!"... Long story short we went to the local hardware store. We purchased solid red oak plywood for $50 a piece. We got the guy to slice it at 6 inch size and right now we are working on the project!!!!! It's coming out beautiful I'm in love. If you want to see the project progress and final results sent me an email on the Contact Us Page of this website: www.mitchcohncontractor.com
We're getting ready to start this project and I've read just about every blog post I could find on it, but having the added visual of a video was super helpful. Thanks for taking the time to create this, your floor turned out beautifully!
You reference hardwood flooring cost, yet you use softwood material. Over $1.50/SF for your material plus labor, yet the cost of bamboo flooring is $2.50 to $3.50/sf. Should have used wood conditioner.
I have been walking around on my sub flooring for 25 years and the plywood is still looking great! I even mop it. Plywood is a lot more durable then i ever thought!
We're just very tired of the old carpet in our tv room, but we don't have the funds for hardwood flooring. I started researching plywood floors, and, lo and behold, it's a thing! I really appreciate your video - you're the trail blazer, and we get to follow in your footsteps. Lots of good advice that will help us to do our project as well as we can the first time! Thanks!
We used to refinish furniture for a living in college. Best applicator- Insert a thick feminine pad in pantyhose all the way to the toe, turn and pull the pantyhose over for another layer. Repeat so there are 3 or 4 layers and tie off the end. It gives the smoothest finish - no lines and no bubbles. Now this was in the 1980’s so the pads were simple - no adhesive and no wings. And yes, trolls, I am telling the truth.
Lol. I love hearing strangely awesome uses for maxi pads. A lot of my firefighter friends use them all the time for the forehead pad on their helmet because they are soft, absorb sweat, and with the adhesive backing they are super easy to stay in place, and then replace it after a fire job.
Wow! Amazing results! When you first started applying the stain, I thought, "Yuck..It's way too dark." But the sheen from the poly made all the difference. It turned out gorgeous. Good job!
I've been in the flooring business for many many years and I've never even thought of doing something like that.. looks really nice too kind of like an old plank rustic floor.. 👍
For glass-like finish you need the final two coats to be in a gloss finish poly. Semi-gloss has additives that render a lustre finish, not a true shine. Then to achieve the best results you must "rub-down" or polish the coating with finer grits (above 1000 grit) or use pumice powder and rotten-stone. The higher grade finishing techniques are usually reserved for furniture. Overall, it looks quite nice.
I got to say, when I first started watching this I thought you were crazy. Plywood on a floor. Cutting them into planks? I thought this was crazy. But man, you made this look beautiful. I might have to try this myself.
Great vid. I've been trying to come up with a cheap flooring idea and actualy am just thinking of using regular, cheap 1x4s. Cost approx, $1.33 sqft. Seeing your floor tells me my idea will work. Thanks for posting this.
Found this while doing homework before getting started on my own very similar project. Found 2 items in my plan that needed to be corrected. Haven't kicked off the project yet, but already saved enough for a case of some adult beverage.
I used t&g plywood on the floor of a cabin i built in the woods many years and sealed it in a gloss water based varnish . It held up pretty well for the seven years that i had the cabin. Your idea is a step up from what i did . Looks great 👍
When you post DIY videos for other people to learn from, you must expect criticism especially if others have knowledge you have not thought of. It's called improvement, otherwise we would have stopped with the invention of the wheel.
Great job!! Think I'll give this a try, the walnut stain is rich looking, but I'm going to use a honey color see how it turns out. I love the large planks. Thanks for the video.
I think it turned out great! I was admittedly a little skeptical on this one, but you proved me wrong. May God richly bless you and your family in all that you say and all that you do, today and always. Amen.
Very nice. Of course finishes are a matter of personal taste. My neighbor, after sanding his original heart wood fir floors fished the surface with three coats of clear hard finish material. I loved the light finish. Yours is excellent too.
While this guy in the video did a great job doing what he did here I have to agree with Max Ostrinsky, don't do this to your house. If you were to ever sell it you are screwed if the would-be buyers notice it.
You did a great job, and you inspired many people! Many folks value real wood, rather than fake laminate. Yours looks like the beautiful antique pine floor that you would find in heirloom homes.
This was a great couple of videos on putting down this floor. I never would of thought of using plywood but now it makes perfect sense. Thank you for posting this. The floor looks great. 👍🏽
Thanks so much. This was really informative. I am planning to use plywood for my formal living and dining rooms. 3 X 3 tile look. I am not so nearly freaked out now!
it honestly looks great , remember we all do things differently and i may have an opinion but no one can say that that floor is nothing but very pretty! i’m very impressed by you skills and did great telling how you did this
Thanks for the pro tips ,just now buying my first home 2000sq of carpet must go my budget for the flooring 4500 .your project won now to find some to do the job.
As far as getting the stain to go on more even in the future, there is a process called "water popping". It works very well on hardwoods like Oak but would help on pine as well. Basically, mop the floor, after you sand it, with a damp mop. Let that soak in and dry for about 20-30 minutes and then immediately apply your stain. This helps to open up the pores on the wood and accept the stain more evenly. Looks good man!
We did a light oak and use clear pledge future shine for 30 years and people still ask if it's oak flooring and we left them in sheets. it was supposed to be temporary but everyone like it so we left it.
@@mountaingirl1797 It was supposed to be temporary until we put down a wide pine flooring, but after a while and so many people thinking it was really nice we left it. The plywood was 3/4 inch plywood not the nice birch; it has many imperfections but the house is really rustic so it works. Just make sure any writing is on the under side. It was put down with regular construction nails on top of rough cut spruce, but I think square head nails would have looked better if we had known we would keep it. The light oak stain was applied with a rag and what used to be called Future Floor Polish and is now Pledge Premium Finish is put over that. We never even had to polyurethane it. Clean it like the bottle says usually just soap and water and a mop. It's been thirty years and people still think it's fancier than it is. We use a red barn stain in three rooms including the bathroom. There's a antique rug in front of the claw foot tub and we've had no real problem with water, just wipe it up. Hope this helps.
finding magic FANTASTIC‼️... and sooo nice of you to reply... retired now and have to watch the 💰closer 👌🏻....I think this just might work 🤷🏼♀️would rather just have the whole sheets put down ...and you think it would work... maybe even more durable than laminate ... right... ❓also, you didn’t use any underlayment ❓hope that is not necessary....
@@mountaingirl1797 Honestly I don't care for laminate so haven't used it. My brother spent a fortune on dark stained Brazilian hard wood that was supposed to not scratch or dull. I helped clean for his family and found it more work and costly to clean, it did scratch, dent and mar easily. After a few months it was more dull than our "cheap" floor that was laid down years before. I know that cutting the plywood into board like strips probably would be a more realistic flooring but we have braided rugs all over so it wouldn't show anyway. I've seen where a man cut lines in his to make it look a little more like boarding, then nailed it down and also put it on his walls like ship lap. Much faster than nailing each board on.
Did a good job. I'm a carpenter for 20 years and have my own company in NYC. it was something different but nice. the applicator you used was wrong. You could've used the lamb skin one which is really great.. it's a great way to save money if you are handy enough to do.it yourself.
At fist when you started laying down the stain, I thought it was going to look terrible, but I have to admit, your final result looked pretty amazing. I'd love to see what it would look like with a deep red cherry finish. Thanks for sharing.
So, I loved watching your 2 videos. I am thinking of doing similar at my cabin and am wondering how it will hold with the temp changes. How has yours kept up with the years?
To be very honest with you... from the beginning I though the plywood was making to look it very "cheap"... but sincerely the final result is awesome!!!!! congratulations, for sure this hard work gave you a agrate satisfaction. Enjoy it.
I really love this whole idea! Thank you for putting these two videos together. I have a question: do you think pre-finishing the planks prior to installation would work? I've purchased pre-finished hardwood floors before, so I thought I'd ask.
I had seen that some people did that and I think that would be ok. Two reasons I didn't do it. I figured I wanted to finish over the nail holes. And also it is super cold here and I didn't want to work in the garage or basement:)
I couldn’t help but notice that his tin of epoxy had semi gloss finish written on it. Surely that has something to do with the finish not being insanely shiny. :-)
Fantastic job! Love it! I’m a diy person myself. I just pulled up the carpet in my master bedroom. I painted the floor to look like concrete. Came out pretty good, for my first time!
Should have used bona traffic water based finish much stronger than oil based. Also if ya water pop the floor before applying stain would have been much better blend
Awesome alternative to hardwood? You got to be kidding us!! Little bit of moisture will destroy this, and it is a soft pine. Not everything that looks shiny is a gold!!
Are you kidding me If he had to He could redo this because of dents n crap Which by the way ppl pay good money for "antiqued "wood already done like that He could redo it literally 20 times almost For the price he was quoted Not to mention he was going for least price alternative JUST BECAUSE IT COSTS AS MUCH AS GOLD dONT MAKE IT BETTER A-HOLE So wheres the video of you doing your wood floor STFU THEN
Looks great!! We sanded and refinished our living-room floor, it was old hardwood from a local gymnasium put in about 30 to 40 years ago. We found that the applicator wasn't the best choice either. We have a bedroom we might consider trying the plywood idea you used. Right now it has carpet that we will be replacing some day -it would look great with that kind of flooring.
+Joyce Mastaw I should have called you before I did this for advice! That is an awesome idea to get old flooring from a gym or other old building and reuse it. I will let you know how durable this is over time before you put in your second room up there.
This looks great and nice videos. I like the look of plywood and it is often used in restaurants and other commercial buildings. The grain is beautiful.
My solid bamboo flooring cost 1.25 a square foot. Also most of the hardwood flooring here in AZ, and only about 5-7$ a square foot, and the laminate is only around 3.
I think the color turned out great. May I add a suggestion, if you were to do this again or for anyone else reading this. If you like the dark look and also want to make the contrast of the grain pop. Try running a weed burner over the ply strips before laying. It turns out great.
This is amazing! My husband and I tore out the wall between our small kitchen and living room (we have 8 kids and we're trying to make our little house function better.) We plan to build new cabinets, but we'd really like to get new flooring to match throughout first. The expense of buying finished flooring means we were going to have to wait a good long while, but after seeing this, I think we might give it a go!
I’ve been a contractor for 37 years, and contractors can be unnecessarily critical, but that turned out better then i thought it would... sometimes homeowners can do a better job because they put 100% effort into it,
That was a nice comment
Agreed. This looks SHARP!!
Most people go through life with the idea that you should only ever do something the way you've been told. Thinking out of the box and challenging the norm are what we should all be doing. Good job! This looks excellent!
Looks great! Every project I have done on my house has been away from the cookie cutter norm. Half the fun is hearing the positive feedback from friends and family. And then seeing them moving outside of the box to create something different. Great job
I was a flooring contractor (hardwood and laminate) for nine years and never thought about doing a floor like this. It’s beautiful! Great job!
I think it turned out really beautiful! For those who don't like it, they can do what they want. This is a great opportunity for people to have a real wood floor that they "created" and will be something they can take pride in.
WHAT A BLESSING...You remind me of my country upbringing...My dad used to say do the best you can with what you have. BEAUTIFUL WORK! Thanks for the inspiration.
Dude, forget all the haters. It looks great. What do they think all the other flooring is made of? Even if it is actual planks of wood, it still has the grain finish. So if you want an oak floor just use oak ply wood. Good job dude!
Oak plywood is expensive. And only has a thin veneer. So it couldn't be sanded in the future.
And plywood will never have the grain of lumber. Lumber is cut from a log and has a section of grain. Plywood is made from piles, peeled from logs on a lathe and with the entirety of the grain spread across them. I'm not saying lumber looks better than plywood but it definitely looks different.
Birch ply or stain grade pine may be a really choice because the woods use a normal thickness layer and could be hand or palm sanded. Still wouldn't want to use a big drum sander tho, but i think this is a fantastic budget idea.
If your worried about looks far as grain then go with good furniture grade plywood
But I like it. If I do it I'd might go with a smaller width but other than that no big deal.
To the grain naysayers have you ever looked at the grain of hard wood flooring lol.😂 it's all mismatched
i agree although there are a couple of things i would do differently its still a great looking floor for pennies !!
Owner of a new home and found your page . Love all the home improvement videos you’ve put out . GREAT JOB
Been refinishing various surfaces for 35+ yrs. Painting, staining, restoration. Done a few floors before, tho not my primary work. You did Fantastic work. Well done! Impressed. Now I need to tear up sone old beat carpet in my condo, & know what to do! Thanks!
good job man.I been doing carpentry my whole life pretty much and never did a plywood finish floor before.Looks darn good.
Fantastic. I did this in my office and painted the floor before poly, for a cottage look. I am considering doing this through the rest of my house.
A mohair roller, usually pink in color, is what you want to use for polyurethane. Lamb's wool will leave fibers in the finish. The roller will also leave enough to soak into the joints as well. Polyurethane continues to harden for 7 days. You can use a pole sander for drywall with 400-600 grit, very quick, very light sanding. I have finished for over 30 years. This looks great, I think that your time could be cut in half from the tips I am giving you.
I've honestly never had an issue with lambswool and I actually prefer it if I'm trying to do a really good job instead of just a decent one.
Came out nice brother, I did this with ¼" ply on my ceiling ripped random widths to mix it up a little. It's nice to see someone think about something, planning it, prepping it, and doing it. I'm sure it the 3 years since this video you've done some amazing things. Good luck with your imagination my man 👍
I agree that your economy wood floor alternative looks pretty good. Better than I thought it would. I'd like to offer a couple of suggestions for others thinking of doing this.
If you have the tools to do so, it would be good insurance to add splines between the planks. Splines would help insure that the plank surfaces would stay even with one another. They would also make any gaps that open up look better. The gap would only be ¼" deep vs ¾" deep exposing the underlayment. Alternatively one could use biscuits or dominoes. These wouldn't hide the underlayment if exposed, but they'd keep plank surfaces even.
My other suggestion is to use a wood conditioner prior to staining. This will help the soft pine plywood take the stain more evenly minimizing the light and dark areas.
+Stanton Taylor Could you please explain "add splines between the planks"?
Adding splines would essentially be like tongue and groove. Cut matching grooves in the 'boards' length and ends about ¼" deep. Insert a spline. This would keep the boards aligned with one another and hide and any deep gaps should the 'boards' separate.
That said and upon further reflection, splining to hide gaps shouldn't be necessary. These 'boards' are plywood. They really shouldn't shrink or swell. Gaps are not likely to open up.
Adding splines to help keep the top surfaces aligned with one another would be a good thing, but biscuits (or Festool dominoes) would do the same and do so much easier. If your sub floor is really flat, then even this may not be necessary.
A real wood floor can be sanded to remove imperfections. You'll sand right through plywood's top veneer lickity split. This is a big deal if you're finishing the floor, but not if you're painting it.
Another thing one could do with this kind of flooring is the bevel the top edges. This would be for both functional and esthetics reasons. It'll make the floor appear to have v-grooves between the planks. It'll also relieve the sharp edge between the boards and help hide any surface misalignments.
This kinda of floor is a money saver. The rest is just how much time do you want to invest? A real hardwood floor has all this stuff incorporated.
I was following your comment and then realize it will be too much for my DIY skills. lol
Stanton Taylor thanks to you comment I fucked up on the bevel, kicked myself 3 times then.made I right love it, thanks always nice to.learn something new and hopefully I'll get so far as being able to make my own DIY vids(still puttering about in the dark half the time) have good one
I am speechless that you did not spline the plywood? What holds the planks together?
You did an amazing job!! I had this idea and my husband told me I was crazy. I came today researching for videos and I found yours. He watched it and now he's been sold on the idea. :)
+Joan Belmont I will have a one year update coming soon as well
+SSLFamilyDad should we do it or not? I need to know ASAP. We are in the process of doing the floor in a new construction so we can't wait much longer. If you just please answer my question if we should do it? Thanks!
+Joan Belmont I'm surprised you're doing new construction and contemplating ply wood floors. If you can't tell the difference or just don't mind then plywood would be fine. On the other hand this would probably imply you are doing it yourself, so in reality any wood you get through a distributor or local tree cutting service is likely heavily discounted. Personally I would just buy the wood for the floors and do the rest in a nice more common flooring hardwood.
It's not going to be as durable as a flooring, afterall this was not made to be flooring. I'm sure you'll get sources ranging from a year or two to "7 years and counting the perfection" tales.
Personally I'm a fan of engineered hardwood, of course this entirely defeats the purpose of us saving money ;)
Typically it would be said this type of flooring can't be sanded very much for refinishing, and a decent amount of suggestions for refraining it to low traffic areas.
Jess Vagnar hello! I got the idea of plywood because of a special situation we encountered with our new construction. Our home is a small cottage on blocks. So we got this flooring "expert" came in and told us he was charging us $4,000 to do a 560 square feet of the main area with fake planks, it wasn't even hard wood! So I say wait a minute why don't we just buy the plywood since we need to add 3/4 inch extra to the osb base boards and do it ourselves. My husband thought I was crazy. That's when I did research and found out I wasn't crazy and I show him this video. His reaction was "WOW, I didn't know you could do that!"... Long story short we went to the local hardware store. We purchased solid red oak plywood for $50 a piece. We got the guy to slice it at 6 inch size and right now we are working on the project!!!!! It's coming out beautiful I'm in love. If you want to see the project progress and final results sent me an email on the Contact Us Page of this website:
www.mitchcohncontractor.com
Joan Belmont That price is ludicrous (even for engineered)!
I'm really glad that you went with a hardwood plywood and you liked the results!
We're getting ready to start this project and I've read just about every blog post I could find on it, but having the added visual of a video was super helpful. Thanks for taking the time to create this, your floor turned out beautifully!
Thanks! Good luck with yours!
You reference hardwood flooring cost, yet you use softwood material. Over $1.50/SF for your material plus labor, yet the cost of bamboo flooring is $2.50 to $3.50/sf.
Should have used wood conditioner.
I have been walking around on my sub flooring for 25 years and the plywood is still looking great! I even mop it. Plywood is a lot more durable then i ever thought!
You're a really good gentleman. God be with you and your family.
Your Floor are BEAUTIFUL
Thank you so much for sharing these videos.
watch your series of videos about your plywood flooring and I have to say I loved it. found a tonne of information. well done sir cheers
We're just very tired of the old carpet in our tv room, but we don't have the funds for hardwood flooring. I started researching plywood floors, and, lo and behold, it's a thing! I really appreciate your video - you're the trail blazer, and we get to follow in your footsteps. Lots of good advice that will help us to do our project as well as we can the first time! Thanks!
We used to refinish furniture for a living in college. Best applicator- Insert a thick feminine pad in pantyhose all the way to the toe, turn and pull the pantyhose over for another layer. Repeat so there are 3 or 4 layers and tie off the end. It gives the smoothest finish - no lines and no bubbles. Now this was in the 1980’s so the pads were simple - no adhesive and no wings. And yes, trolls, I am telling the truth.
Interesting. Thanks for the tip, louisianaprepper. I might have to try that. Gonna have to do a plywood plank floor pretty soon.
Lol. I love hearing strangely awesome uses for maxi pads. A lot of my firefighter friends use them all the time for the forehead pad on their helmet because they are soft, absorb sweat, and with the adhesive backing they are super easy to stay in place, and then replace it after a fire job.
Brilliant I love it. Lolx remember doctor white pads with the belt! Fofl thinking of those I am thankful for wings. Lololol
Badenhawk lololol awesome you have made fireman slightly more unsexy for me tho. 🤣
Learned something new. Thanks
Classic look to old house that I visited. It has a warm feelings to it. Make the room roomier.
+yack f zay Just got the furniture back in the room and it looks bigger:) Thanks!
Wow! Amazing results! When you first started applying the stain, I thought, "Yuck..It's way too dark." But the sheen from the poly made all the difference. It turned out gorgeous. Good job!
The floor looks great!!!! I love the way the grains stand out, and give a true vintage look. Thanks for sharing with us.
I've been in the flooring business for many many years and I've never even thought of doing something like that.. looks really nice too kind of like an old plank rustic floor.. 👍
For glass-like finish you need the final two coats to be in a gloss finish poly. Semi-gloss has additives that render a lustre finish, not a true shine. Then to achieve the best results you must "rub-down" or polish the coating with finer grits (above 1000 grit) or use pumice powder and rotten-stone. The higher grade finishing techniques are usually reserved for furniture. Overall, it looks quite nice.
I got to say, when I first started watching this I thought you were crazy. Plywood on a floor. Cutting them into planks? I thought this was crazy. But man, you made this look beautiful. I might have to try this myself.
Love this...just what I've been looking for! I am a confirmed DIY woman and I am renovating my own home. Thanks for these wonderful videos!
Just curious how its holding up against dents and scuffs with it being a soft wood but love the idea and i think you did an excellent job
great job, i installed flooring for 40 years and this looks great for what it is.
Great vid. I've been trying to come up with a cheap flooring idea and actualy am just thinking of using regular, cheap 1x4s. Cost approx, $1.33 sqft. Seeing your floor tells me my idea will work. Thanks for posting this.
TOO SOFT, THEY WILL SCRATCH AND WEAR QUICKLY.
Found this while doing homework before getting started on my own very similar project. Found 2 items in my plan that needed to be corrected. Haven't kicked off the project yet, but already saved enough for a case of some adult beverage.
Great idea... I think it would hold up for decades with a good poly finish.
Grew up doing odd job repairs and upgrades on my childhood home with my pop and let me tell you this brings me back. Looks great brother.
Love both of the videos. Great job and thanks for all the detailed how too info. Very helpful and again it looks awesome.
I used t&g plywood on the floor of a cabin i built in the woods many years and sealed it in a gloss water based varnish . It held up pretty well for the seven years that i had the cabin. Your idea is a step up from what i did .
Looks great 👍
I've been in the trades for over 30years..... This is absolutely beautiful
I actually love the way the plywood looks. All of the shapes ingrained in there look so neat. I’m a fan
It was his first time doing anything like this! Damn people stop being so freakin critical!!!!!!
When you post DIY videos for other people to learn from, you must expect criticism especially if others have knowledge you have not thought of. It's called improvement, otherwise we would have stopped with the invention of the wheel.
I would've never considered using plywood for flooring. I'm impressed to say the least! It looks great! Thank you for ANOTHER original idea!
Glad you liked it james, we love how it turned out.
Great job!! Think I'll give this a try, the walnut stain is rich looking, but I'm going to use a honey color see how it turns out. I love the large planks. Thanks for the video.
How did the honey color turn out for you?
I think it turned out great! I was admittedly a little skeptical on this one, but you proved me wrong. May God richly bless you and your family in all that you say and all that you do, today and always. Amen.
I would've never thought of doing this but it turned out amazing.
Very nice. Of course finishes are a matter of personal taste. My neighbor, after sanding his original heart wood fir floors fished the surface with three coats of clear hard finish material. I loved the light finish. Yours is excellent too.
Great job. We are looking to do this throughout our entire house. Looking forward to the update video on how it's held up.
Spiritisalive1 don't do it. Don't ruin your house!
While this guy in the video did a great job doing what he did here I have to agree with Max Ostrinsky, don't do this to your house. If you were to ever sell it you are screwed if the would-be buyers notice it.
Spiritisalive1 dont do it
You did a great job, and you inspired many people! Many folks value real wood, rather than fake laminate. Yours looks like the beautiful antique pine floor that you would find in heirloom homes.
Great Job.....I really liked every minute of this whole process...
This was a great couple of videos on putting down this floor. I never would of thought of using plywood but now it makes perfect sense. Thank you for posting this. The floor looks great. 👍🏽
Thanks so much. This was really informative. I am planning to use plywood for my formal living and dining rooms. 3 X 3 tile look. I am not so nearly freaked out now!
Would love to see that myself or even 1x1 or 2x2 foot squares maybe even in dark and lighter square kinda like checker board
it honestly looks great , remember we all do things differently and i may have an opinion but no one can say that that floor is nothing but very pretty! i’m very impressed by you skills and did great telling how you did this
Not going to lie my friend didn't think this was going to work awesome turnout 😁👍
Wow! I never would have thought of doing this...but, I must say, it looks fantastic! Just wonderful! Thank you.
Turned out quite nice! I'm getting ready to tackle this myself.
Definitely looks like flooring from an old farmhouse. I think it looks incredible.
1. See nail heads
2. Stain then wipe off
3. Dark patches due to wood grain ,not stain coverage
4. Light sand before finish
This is the most BEAUTIFUL wood flooring I've ever seen!!!! Great job!!!!!
Great job, looks better than I expected. Just Awesome. cheers
Very impressive. Honest and straight to the point. I love the scripture at the end
Thanks for the pro tips ,just now buying my first home 2000sq of carpet must go my budget for the flooring 4500 .your project won now to find some to do the job.
As far as getting the stain to go on more even in the future, there is a process called "water popping". It works very well on hardwoods like Oak but would help on pine as well. Basically, mop the floor, after you sand it, with a damp mop. Let that soak in and dry for about 20-30 minutes and then immediately apply your stain. This helps to open up the pores on the wood and accept the stain more evenly.
Looks good man!
+jaddington82 wow, thanks, that is a great idea and I have not heard of that. I will definitely try that on the next one.
The floor looks great! We will definitely keep that in mind for possible flooring when our beige bedroom carpet gives up the ghost. :-)
Lol, if it holds up well we are already planning to do a few more rooms here as well
Loved watching the install.
Also like the light wood and maybe just sealing. So many style possibilities. Great job
This looks beautiful great job.🤗🤗🤗🤗
Looks great. I used pine boards in one of the cloak rooms in an old school house project. That was 20 years ago and it still looks new....
We did a light oak and use clear pledge future shine for 30 years and people still ask if it's oak flooring and we left them in sheets. it was supposed to be temporary but everyone like it so we left it.
Truth Inspector
Really ❓❓.. please help me out here.. am intrigued about doing this throughout most if not all my singlewide ....thank you
@@mountaingirl1797 It was supposed to be temporary until we put down a wide pine flooring, but after a while and so many people thinking it was really nice we left it. The plywood was 3/4 inch plywood not the nice birch; it has many imperfections but the house is really rustic so it works. Just make sure any writing is on the under side. It was put down with regular construction nails on top of rough cut spruce, but I think square head nails would have looked better if we had known we would keep it. The light oak stain was applied with a rag and what used to be called Future Floor Polish and is now Pledge Premium Finish is put over that. We never even had to polyurethane it. Clean it like the bottle says usually just soap and water and a mop. It's been thirty years and people still think it's fancier than it is. We use a red barn stain in three rooms including the bathroom. There's a antique rug in front of the claw foot tub and we've had no real problem with water, just wipe it up. Hope this helps.
finding magic
FANTASTIC‼️... and sooo nice of you to reply... retired now and have to watch the 💰closer 👌🏻....I think this just might work 🤷🏼♀️would rather just have the whole sheets put down ...and you think it would work... maybe even more durable than laminate ... right... ❓also, you didn’t use any underlayment ❓hope that is not necessary....
@@mountaingirl1797 Honestly I don't care for laminate so haven't used it. My brother spent a fortune on dark stained Brazilian hard wood that was supposed to not scratch or dull. I helped clean for his family and found it more work and costly to clean, it did scratch, dent and mar easily. After a few months it was more dull than our "cheap" floor that was laid down years before. I know that cutting the plywood into board like strips probably would be a more realistic flooring but we have braided rugs all over so it wouldn't show anyway. I've seen where a man cut lines in his to make it look a little more like boarding, then nailed it down and also put it on his walls like ship lap. Much faster than nailing each board on.
@@colemyst great info!
This is beautiful, I love it. Lots of pride in having done it yourself. Good for years & years.
It’s been about three years since you posted this. How has the floor held up?
I think this the question we've all been waiting for
He did a follow-up, I've seen it. Maybe check under his actual UA-cam page?
Excellent instructions! Complete, focused details, and on topic all the way through.
Good idea on the stain, it looks great! Really like this idea of using plywood. Great video
Don't knock yourself to much man you done an excellent job to me from what I can see and for your first time keep up the good work
Did a good job. I'm a carpenter for 20 years and have my own company in NYC. it was something different but nice. the applicator you used was wrong. You could've used the lamb skin one which is really great.. it's a great way to save money if you are handy enough to do.it yourself.
At fist when you started laying down the stain, I thought it was going to look terrible, but I have to admit, your final result looked pretty amazing. I'd love to see what it would look like with a deep red cherry finish. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you. Great explanation and how to do it. Too bad people are so critical.
Your floor looks absolutely stunning. I am sold and will be doing this. U presented this project so well and I'd like to thank u for that. Ginny
absolutely beautiful
Yours is one of the nicest plywood plank floors I've seen. Nice job.
So, I loved watching your 2 videos. I am thinking of doing similar at my cabin and am wondering how it will hold with the temp changes. How has yours kept up with the years?
They look great, so solid and so well done. Thank for the details on the DIY process.
Impressive! Very beautiful job!
Thanks, we love it so far!
@@SSLFamilyDad how is this holding up over the years so far?
That looks awesome! I think I might copy this idea. Thanks for the video
That's what's up man, that's what it's all about, DIY
Beautiful job. I've never thought about plywood flooring. This project is a must do.
I always wondered why plywood floors would look like but never thought of cutting it into planks. Great idea and great job, looks really nice.
To be very honest with you... from the beginning I though the plywood was making to look it very "cheap"... but sincerely the final result is awesome!!!!! congratulations, for sure this hard work gave you a agrate satisfaction. Enjoy it.
+Jose Luis Diaz Meneses we are so happy with it so far. Time will tell of the durability but it looks pretty darn good for plywood
I really love this whole idea! Thank you for putting these two videos together. I have a question: do you think pre-finishing the planks prior to installation would work? I've purchased pre-finished hardwood floors before, so I thought I'd ask.
I had seen that some people did that and I think that would be ok. Two reasons I didn't do it. I figured I wanted to finish over the nail holes. And also it is super cold here and I didn't want to work in the garage or basement:)
Brilliant video! Inspiration to those of us who want to think outside of the box!
I have a question. Wouldn't a clear epoxy protect the wood floor better and give it an insane shine ?
+David Sierra possibly but I think it might be a bit more expensive and harder to apply
Ya, harder to apply and you'd have one hell of a time removing it if you ever wanted to take it out.
The problem comes down to slip and fall. This finish by Minwax is made for floors.
David Sierra epoxy is very thick n plasticy and way way large of a space. He wanted it stained n Polly is the best water proof sealer around
I couldn’t help but notice that his tin of epoxy had semi gloss finish written on it. Surely that has something to do with the finish not being insanely shiny. :-)
Fantastic job! Love it! I’m a diy person myself. I just pulled up the carpet in my master bedroom. I painted the floor to look like concrete. Came out pretty good, for my first time!
Pro tip for smooth glass finish...sand one more time, wax and buff.
any pro knows you do not for any reason wax a wood floor.....
How many people busted their butt? Never heard of this, EVER
Should have used bona traffic water based finish much stronger than oil based. Also if ya water pop the floor before applying stain would have been much better blend
Chris Wood how would one "water pop the floor"? Never heard of this
Ca you sand wax n buff a satin finish? It make look little weird no? Can't realy polish a Satin finish
I'm renovating an older house 1925. This gives me a good idea on replacing the existing hardwood floors inexpensively. Thanks.
Great job!! Awesome alternative to hard wood!!
Thanks!
Awesome alternative to hardwood? You got to be kidding us!! Little bit of moisture will destroy this, and it is a soft pine. Not everything that looks shiny is a gold!!
Are you kidding me If he had to He could redo this because of dents n crap Which by the way ppl pay good money for "antiqued "wood already done like that He could redo it literally 20 times almost For the price he was quoted Not to mention he was going for least price alternative JUST BECAUSE IT COSTS AS MUCH AS GOLD dONT MAKE IT BETTER A-HOLE So wheres the video of you doing your wood floor STFU THEN
It looks awesome I never thought of using finished plywood. Great job
Looks great!! We sanded and refinished our living-room floor, it was old hardwood from a local gymnasium put in about 30 to 40 years ago. We found that the applicator wasn't the best choice either. We have a bedroom we might consider trying the plywood idea you used. Right now it has carpet that we will be replacing some day -it would look great with that kind of flooring.
+Joyce Mastaw I should have called you before I did this for advice! That is an awesome idea to get old flooring from a gym or other old building and reuse it. I will let you know how durable this is over time before you put in your second room up there.
+Joyce Mastaw thanks!!
This looks great and nice videos. I like the look of plywood and it is often used in restaurants and other commercial buildings. The grain is beautiful.
My solid bamboo flooring cost 1.25 a square foot. Also most of the hardwood flooring here in AZ, and only about 5-7$ a square foot, and the laminate is only around 3.
very true but certainly not for 8" planks
6 inch is the width of mine.
careful bamboo is not even wood its grass thats glued together with a mix including formaldehyde.
Solid bamboo floor. Who sold you that snake oil!?
bamboo woven and turned into "wood" can eb close to strength of mild steel.
Never thought u can do such beautiful job out of plywood,it turn out beautiful
thanks.... now my gf wants our dining room done lol.
I think the color turned out great. May I add a suggestion, if you were to do this again or for anyone else reading this. If you like the dark look and also want to make the contrast of the grain pop. Try running a weed burner over the ply strips before laying. It turns out great.
How the floor after 4 years?
This is amazing! My husband and I tore out the wall between our small kitchen and living room (we have 8 kids and we're trying to make our little house function better.) We plan to build new cabinets, but we'd really like to get new flooring to match throughout first. The expense of buying finished flooring means we were going to have to wait a good long while, but after seeing this, I think we might give it a go!
+Andrea Mills Sounds like a perfect place for plywood flooring. We still like ours, it hasn't been a full year yet but it is holding up pretty well.