Replies

1. 
   Joe_Hennessey | Feb 08, 2001 06:47pm | #1

   *
   Jim, end grain flooring has been discussed thoroughly about a year ago. If you search for it it'll turn up. If you epoxy your blocks to a sheet of whatever, what is your final product's thickness? Why not just stick the blocks to the floor? Sounds like you are trying to over engineer the project, can't you just go buy what you are describing? Sounds just like parquet floor except endgrain.

   As a lover of the over-complicated do-it-the-hard-way-system myself, maybe if I saw your project I'd wanna help. Nothing like getting some nice epoxy all over myself, Joe H

1. 
   john_ward | Feb 09, 2001 02:09pm | #2

   *Joe.Thanks for reply.The end result im after is a veener about a quarter inch thick measuring roughly three by five inches applied in a staggered brick-like way.I saw a horse stable floored this way with the "wood-bricks" end grain up.Each piece,though I didn't pop one out, was probably several inches thick.I want to make sure i make the veneer thick enough to handle being sanded,with room to spare for a possible re-sanding sometime down the road.At the same time I figure the thinner I keep it the less power it will have to counteract the adhesive I choose and not be suseptable to shrinkage and checking.

1. 
   Randy_Trivette | Feb 13, 2001 02:30am | #3

   *I am interested in this type of flooring, also. I read an article that described a process of gluing the wood blocks, filling with a slurry of glue and sawdust, and sanding smooth. Does this sound like anything that anyone else has done? I have a client who is interested in end grain flooring for a kitchen/sunroom area. I would appreciate any suggestions on technique or other sources of information.

1. 
   Chris_Koehn | Feb 13, 2001 05:41am | #4

   *I just finished 200 square feet of end grain flooring (Tried to get advice on this site but used the name "cobble woodd flooring and got not much response..) and I'll be happy to share my experiences. I used 3/4 inch thick slices (cut on a 15 inch power miter saw) of dry 5 inch by 5 inch timber left over from a timber framing project. Material is reclaimed (old growth) fir, hemlock, white pine and walnut. I would think thinner slices would work also. Glued them down to the ssub floororith parquet floor adhesive, using a notched trowel, spacing one quarter inch at the joints. Kind of a *very* random ashlar pattern. Sanded smooth with a rented floor sander. Put two coats of a urethane/tongue oil finish on, then grouted with a mixture of saw dust and Watchchanish oil. Allowed the Watchcho dry- about one week- then put two more coats of finish on. I was sure to coat the joints well, which keeps the saw dust from coming up. I was skeptical about the sawdust concoction, but it is so far working well. Seems to retain a somewhat elastic quality, allowing the wood to move, without being so soft it wipes away. I tried the glue and sawdust method, but was unimpressed with how tedious it was, the lack of perceived flexibility, and difficulty of keeping it from getting all over everything. The floor looks terrific, and though it was a tremendous amount of work, I feel it's worth it. If you have additional questions feel free to contact me.

1. 
   Chris_Koehn | Feb 13, 2001 06:23am | #5

   *Don't know what's wrong with the translator for this site...It's WATCO Oil;SUB FLOOR;COBBLE WOOD !!

2. 
   Randy_Trivette | Feb 14, 2001 04:59am | #6

   *Chris,Thanks for the information. I would like to know how you mixed your grout. How much sawdust to how much oil? What is Watco oil? I can check with a local supplier for it. Did you leave 1/4" on all sides of wood blocks? How long has floor been in place? Does it wear well? What kind of room is it in? Do you feel that this floor would do well in a kitchen? I know this is a lot of questions but would appreciate hearing more about your experience.

3. 
   Chris_Koehn | Feb 14, 2001 08:01pm | #7

   *Randy-The floor has only been in for a few weeks. I've seen end grain floors in use for years (one in a local art museum) and have always been intrigued by their unique look and durability. End grain is the most durable axis of the wood. This becomes evident when you try to sand it.. A brief article in FHB by a timber framer in Montana two years ago on how he uses his timber scraps to do end grain floors encouraged me to give it a try.re: mixing grout- it's kind of trial and error. You want it wet enough to float in with a grout float, and so that it gets all the way down in to the joints. But if you get it too wet it will take forever for the Watco Danish Oil (Flecto Company- it's kind of like tongue oil, or maybe modified linseed oil. BTW- I tried straight linseed oil, as it's less than half the price, but was not happy with the color or resilience of the finished joint) to dry. Yes, I left 1/4" "joints" on all four sides. I've seen floors like this layed tight, or in various patterns. Since my tiles were less than perfect (slightly different sizes and shapes) I chose to do kind of a random ashlar pattern, as I felt it would be most forgiving, and that the joints would best accommodate movement.The floor is layed in the office for our building business. I'm not sure I'd use this type of floor in a kitchen- the joints might be difficult to keep clean. But I don't like ceramic tile in a kitchen for the same reason.. If you were inclined to try it, bevel the tiles on all four sides (probably a good idea anyhow)- perhaps with a disc sander- and when you put the final finish on do lots of coats and be sure to seal the joints well. What I found to be the most efficient strategy is to float in the grout (I guess I'd describe it's consistency as that of tuna salad.. and don't use too coarse of saw dust or it won't trowel well. I used the dust generated from the cross cutting of the tiles and it worked just fine, but experimented with planer shavings mixed in, which was wholly unsatisfactory) in. Expect to go through about a gallon of Watco per 100 square feet, and perhaps 4-5 gallons of saw dust. Mixed it with a wide putty knife in a paint tray. Allow it to dry- the longer the better. At least a week. The saw dust will flake out and you'll lose hope and start to wonder what kind of a jerk I am and then suddenly it will set up. Sand the surface of the tiles (recalling that they were pre-sanded and pre-finished before the grouting process) to get the Watco off the tops (I used 80 grit on my random orbit) then apply multiple finish coats of floor finish.Good Luck- did I cover everything?

4. 
   Chris_Koehn | Feb 16, 2001 08:20pm | #8

   *Check out Juell floors on the web. Might be Birger Juell. This is a Chicago company that does cobble wood flooring. Good pictures on the site. They get a mint for this work..

5. 
   Hanno | Mar 10, 2003 04:04pm | #10

   Chris,

   I am making a floor using end cut pieces from old barn floor joists cut in approx. 1/2" thick slabs.

   I have been told to use a wood hardener first on the pieces to keep the eventual finish near the surface. I am wondering how the watco danish oil and sawdust mixture is holding up as the grout? I was thinking of sqeezing the mixture in with a pastry tube. can you poly over the watco oil, or is there another finish material that is more suited for this flooring.? I am installing it in a fairly high traffic area.

   Any pointers you could pass along would be very appreciated. I am pre-sanding all the blocks now, and am ready to place on the floor soon.

   Thank you,

   Sean Hanley

6. 
   rez | Mar 11, 2003 12:27am | #11

   Sure hope you can shoot some photos and post them here. That sounds really interesting.

    

    

7. 
   Critter50 | Nov 23, 2004 10:46pm | #12

   Chris: Tried to get to John Ward letter area but could not. Many years ago I worked in the Post Office (Main Post Office, Detroit, Michigan) and all of the floors there were made of the end grain wood. All/most of the wheeled pallets had metal wheels and so the floor had a lot of heavy use. Our area was the transfer point for all of the currency that moved from all of the Federal Reserve banks. Many times the pallet would have 150 bags of currency (each bag weighed 50/100 pounds) so the weight on the floors was tremendous. Anyway, the floors would have high and low areas due to the shrinkage/expansion etc. I did not look at the floor construction that much but I do not think that they had any spaces for wood sawdust between the blocks. And I do not think that much was done in the maintenance area of the wood. It just adsorbed dirt over a period of time and got that  well worn look. But the floor did stand up very well to the heavy usage. Just thought that I would mention    how well the end grain wood floor stood up but if you do not leave a little space and fill it with something that expect to have some uneven flooring.

   Edited 11/23/2004 10:11 pm ET by Critter

2. 
   john_ward | Feb 16, 2001 08:20pm | #9

   *
   i've always been interested in incorporating a floor consisting of slices of end grain veneered to a substrate.I've had experience with a boat-building method of using the west epoxy system in conjunction with vacuum bagging large areas.I dont want to over engineer this project so I was wondering if anybody out there has any info on this type of application.I would'nt mind some small shrinkage or cracking but would like to avoid it as much as possible.I'm hoping to use 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" stock sliced to 1/4".