How To Install A Workshop Floor Create comfort underfoot with a good-looking, hard-wearing surface. By Tim Snyder

W shop than one made www.southernpine.com hat better floor for a tools. You’ll need a flooring nailer, by the Southern Council which you can rent from a local tool ( ) and of wood? If you’re lucky enough rental outlet for about $25 a day. will work over any sound, dry to have a basement or dedicated The nailer comes with a special⅜ " concrete slab floor. Or if you’ve outbuilding with sufficient rubber-faced , and the rental got a shop floor framed with headroom and a concrete floor outlet will probably stock the 1 and covered with underlayment, that’s dry and reasonably flat, flooring nails you’ll need. Once the the yellow pine can be fastened wood flooring can’t be beat as the floor is down, trade in your nailer onto this subflooring. Woodcraftstarting point Magazine for a workshop. We for an orbital floor sander ($40/ chose southern yellow pine for the day) and an edge sander workshop floor ($25/day), to smooth the for a number of reasons. First, it’s wood surface in preparation affordable and widely available. The for finishing. While you Moisture 1 × 6 tongue-and- boards can do the installation and meter cost just under $3 per foot finishing on your own, in our neighborhood. Even though recruiting a helper will make southern yellow pine is a , the work go much faster. this flooring offers an excellent www.grizzlyforest.We installed flooring from combination of durability, strength, comGrizzly Forest Products and resiliency—which probably ( A explains why it’s been used for ), but you can order Stack the flooring in your shop and let it sit for centuries as flooring in residential flooring from most several days to acclimate it to its new home. Use and commercial buildings. ilumberyards and building a moisture meter to determine that the flooring As you’ll see on the pages ahead, supply outlets. The has stabilized and is under 14o moisture content. a premium shop floor isn’t difficult nstallation process we to install if you have the right used is recommended 56 woodcraftmagazine.com June 2009 Figure 1: Tongue-and-groove Wood floor anatomy flooring Prep the floor Face nail 1 " to " gap between 1 Blind nail 1 flooring2 3 4 and wallboard " wallboard / / Begin by vacuuming the 2 / Chalk line concrete floor to remove as much " A-C subfloor dust as possible. Then test the 1 "-1 " gap between 3 4 plywood4 2 panels concrete to determine if enough / / / moisture is coming through the Second layer Self-tapping concrete screw slab to cause problems with 15-lb. builder’s felt the floor after installation. Do this by taping a 24 × 24" square of polyethylene sheeting to Plywood applied the concrete and waiting 24 First layer Min. 4" overlap at 45� angle hours before peeling it up. If 15-lb. builder’s felt the underside of the poly is wet, your slab has too much moisture for a wood floor. A good way to Floor adhesive solve this problem is to coat the Concrete floor floor withwww.bostik-us.com a commercial-grade 2moisture barrier, like Bostik’s MVP4 ( ). 1" To cover the concrete with " between a vapor barrier, first apply into the" concrete. Now fasten finished wall surface. That should aArmstrong 16" S-89 Asphalt Floor Tile the plywood to the slab with leave a gap of about ¾ " Adhesive3 onto the surface" with ¼ × 1¾ flathead self-tapping the edge of the flooring (which / notched trowel. Apply an concrete screws. When" " laying the has an actual width of 5¼ ) and even layer about 40 wide, along subfloor, pay attention" to between critical the finished wall. Stretch the the longest wall that’s opposite clearances: allow ¼ -½ clearance chalk line tight before lifting it up the shop’s entrance." Then adhere a between4 panels and ¾ 2(near the center) and releasing " layer of 15-lb.Figure builder’s 1 felt (which panel edges and the walls. it to snap your layout line. comes in 36 -wide rolls) in the PhotoStack A the flooring in the shop Using 6d finish nails every 16 , mastic ( ). Repeat this and let it acclimate as shown in face-nail asthe shown first course in Photo of floor B and application with a second course" . It helps to separate the boards to anchor them to the of builder’s felt, overlapping the bundles with wood “stickers” insubfloor Figure 2 previous3 course "by about 4 . made from scrap 1× strips. referenced in the fastening detail Cover the entire slab in this way. Don’t install the flooring until it . Choose the longest, Next, using ¾ exterior-grade reaches an equilibrium moisture straightest flooring boards to A/C plywood, install a plywood content (EMC) of 14% or less. make up this course and align subfloor at a 45° angle to the It typically takes 5-14 days for walls. Keep the “A” side of the southern pine flooringPhoto to A attainInset plywood facing up. Start the EMC. Take readings with a angled installation by cutting moisture meter ( ) Maintainseveral 45°-45°-90° the diagonal plywood orientation every day. When the readings triangles to go along the wall. are the same for several days, it’s Laytime downto start the installation. tongue-and- by installing square-ended panels groove flooring adjacent to the angled panels. 1 B Now " countersunk pilot holes Face-nail the first course of floor in the plywood, spacing them parallelSnap toa line the tolongest lay out wall the in first the boards, spacing them ½" to ¾" from every 24 . Then use the specially course. You want this line" to be the wall. sized masonry bit that comes with the screws to bore at least workshop and about 6 from the Opening photo: Doug Rowan; Project photos: Ken Brady June 2009 woodcraftmagazine.com 57 Figure 2: 3/4" base Fastening detail Base shoe Photo E 6d finish nail 4d finish nail 1 . Use a nail set to set these /2" wallboard 6 nails below the wood surface. Tongue-and-groove flooring " Rip the final course narrower 3/4" A-C plywood subfloor so that there will be ¾ of

1/2"-3/4" gap between concrete floor clearance between the flooring subfloor and finished wall 1/4 x 13/4"self-tapping concrete screw and the finished wall if needed. Then use a pry bar to force the final tongue-and-groove " joint tight and secure the last them with the chalk line. Face the Repeat the nailing technique to 16boards" as shown in the inlast Photo course F by floor board tongues toward the 5drive nails every 16 . Blind-nail driving 6d finish nails every center of the room. After securing successive floor board courses. Sand and finish the. floor the boards, anchor the tongue Face-nail the final course. As Note: Before turning on the sanders, edge of this course to theFigure subfloor you get close to the opposite wall, be sure to slip on a dust mask and 2by blind-nailing (toenailing) 4d use wood wedges to force tongue- protective eyewear. Have a shop finish nails as shown in and-groove joints together. When vacuum ready to collect . If . Blind-nail every 16", placing there’s not enough room to use the sanding in the basement, tape the nails between the face nail flooring nailer, toenail through basement door shut with duct or locations.1 16 1 " Set the nails with a the tongue using a pneumatic or nail set, driving the nail heads cordless finish nailer as shown in 3 8 / "- / below the wood surface. Lay out your next several courses of floor boards. Select board lengths so that butt joints in adjacent courses are offset by at least 2'. Snug the next course against the nailed course by tapping the tongue a 6" " C D to groove edges togetherPhoto using C. 4 -8 -long block of scrap Fit the groove of the mating floor Use a flooring nailer and 13/8" 3 board to the tongue of the nailed flooring nails to blind-nail the floor barbedflooring 1 as/8 "shown in and Load the flooring nailer with floor board; tap into place with a board to the subfloor. flooring nails, piece of scrap flooring and hammer. position the flooring nailer to blind-nail through the tongue edge of the board. Drive the nail by hammering on the nailer’s nailerdrive head as shown with inthe Photo rubber D mallet that comes with the Tip Alert .

Don’t use the “factory ends” when butt-joining adjacent E F boards in the same course. When you no longer have the space Face-nail the final course of floor Instead, use a chop to make to use the flooring nailer, wedge the boards, using a pry bar to pull them square, mirror-smooth end cuts flooring board tight to its mating tight to the neighboring floor boards. to ensure tight butt joints. floor board and fasten it down. Maintain a 3/4" gap.

58 woodcraftmagazine.com June 2009 packing tape to limit the amount of sawdust penetrating the living spaces upstairs. from General Finishes (High 1 Performance Polyurethane) in a satin sheen. Following Sand the floor with an orbital the manufacturer’s or drum sander. The drum sander directions, pour a small works more aggressively and amount of crosslinking should only be needed if the additive into the finish. edges of flooring boards stand This additive (Enduro proud of adjacent boards after Crosslinker from General installation. Since our floor didn’t Finishes) makes the have significant high spots, we finish harder, more got away with using an orbital durable, and adhere better. Use a clean 4mixing Flow stick on and to blendspread the additive into the finish.

the first coat of finish, applying it in the corner H of the room that’s For finish we used General Finishes High Performance farthest from the Water-based Satin Polyurethane with Enduro indoor Photos and working I and J out G Crosslinker; for applicators we chose an 18" Nylfoam from there as shown Floor Coater for the main floor and a nylon bristled Move the sander along the lengths of . finishing pad for cutting in along the edges. the floor boards, evening any proud For more control, edges and raised ends. we transferred the finish from the can 5 into a clean spouted watering can. Pour a small amountto Install the baseboard shoe sander with 100-grit . of finish on the floor and then to the baseboard, Start sanding in the back corner use a squeegee-likewww.padco.com applicator. driving 6d finish nails every of the room (farthest away spread finish evenly (ours is made 16". If you haven’t attached the from the door) and movePhoto the G by Padco; ) Keep baseboard, then do it first and sander parallel to the flooring pouring and spreading until the follow with the shoe. To install courses as shown in . floor is coated completely. Apply baseboard, drive 8d finishn nails Keep the sander moving and let four coats in total, letting each through the baseboard and 2the weight of the machine take coat dry between applications. into studs at 16" centers. care of downward pressure. Remove all the sanding dust from the shop. Clean sawdust off shelves, cabinets, and light fixtures, and then wipe down the walls to remove any dust that might contaminate the floor finish. Vacuum the floor 3thoroughly with a shop vacuum I J and wipe it off with rags. Cut in along the walls furthest from the door with the nylon pad, and Prepare thePhoto finish H for follow with the larger applicator, applying small amounts of finish and then application and gather your spreading it evenly over the flooring. applicators ( ). We used a water-based polyurethane June 2009 woodcraftmagazine.com 59 FREE YEAR! 2 YEARS for $29.99!

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