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I’m not sure I want to get into this but I’m one of the people that has actually used PB on a floor with great success. When I built my own house I didn’t have money for carpeting right away so I decided to put down industrial grade PB. and sealed it with 3 coats of poly. After ten years this floor survived countless moppings as well as the activity of two big dogs. We finally got carpeting last year and I’m surprised how well the floor still looked. I also use it on my shop floor which is now going on 14 years. I have also seen several people use it on camp floors. Like I said earlier we used it as a temporary floor and it worked ok. However I don’t think it looks good enough to use for a permanent floor in a home.
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Replies
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The underlayment grade is OK but look for the sheets that are produced from fine particles, some manufactures use a coarse sawdust and the edges have a tendency to crumble also the coarser stuff doesn't take a finish very well. I think if I were to use it for a permanent floor I would use the countertop grade, its much harder.
*
I've done particle board flooring with an inlay of contrasting timber strips routered into the floor prior to sanding and polishing.
Looked quite nice.
*Mark,Thanks for the response. Question.....why rout the wood in as opposed to framing it in as you go along?Mike Patterson
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I have SOB flooring currently and it has worn surprising well. After cutting 4'X4' squares and laying them in a diamond pattern with a routed edge, I sanded the entire surface and coated 4-5 layers of verathane. I have noticed a bit of fading where sunlight beams a majority of the day and it is not too durable in entry areas. I used this because of timing and budget constraints and plan to pull it up and massage the existing fir underneath when time allows.
*
Would that be
i OSB
flooring, John?
*Geesh Jim don't interrupt him now he's massaging the fir. You know what a sob of that fir can be if you disturb it during a massage. The freaking fur 's going ta fly.
*I saw a guy massaging fur today too.
*It wasn't in the front of a Massachusett's schoolroom by any chance, was it?Rich Beckman
*
Armin Hammmer, if you are still listening, could you tell me how you attached your particle board flooring to the substrate? Nails? Screws? How many, etc?
*I'm Baaack. Drew, I used screws, The gold colored kind blends in pretty good with the color of the PB. I put them on a 16" grid, however a friend of mind glued his down with adheaseve. Another fellow I know cut the PB into 24" squares, rabbited the edges and milled 2 1/2 strips of cherry with a mateing rabbit and screwed the strips down and pluged the holes. His theory was he could unscrew the strips and replace any damaged pieces if necessary.
*
I have a client/architect that is interested in using urethane finished particle board as a finish floor. He wants to cut it into 2'x2' squares, and frame it between panels with a contrasting wood. Aside from the fact that it's just finicky finish carpentry on a floor, it seems fairly straightforward. Anyone ever done a floor w/ this stuff? Is it durable? Can you sand it like a wood floor? Stain it? Any advice/caveats would be appreciated!
Mike
*Yeah like anybody here has laid, sanded, stained and urethaned particle board on a floor. Well, maybe someone has but I wouldn't. With all the choices out there, why particle board?How about cork squares between the contrasting wood for a unique floor? JimL
*My only long term experience with particle board as a flooring material has not been good. A bit of moisture and a bit of floor movement and the glue in the board lets loose. Add a bit of walking and eventually you wind up with sawdust for a floor. Of course, if you want to replace the floor on a 5 - 7 year schedule, go for it.
*Mike,I wouldn't be comfortable putting my name on it. Get the client/architect to take the warranty. Then it's his/her problem. It may work fine for years to come.......but maybe not.Ed. Williams
*Seems to me FHB had a small article on that several years ago, although maybe it was MDF.The mag index on the FHB site says issue 67, pp 79-80, but that isn't it.Bob
*Increase your odds of success use industrial PB not underlayment grade.
*EEK, WHY? Leave it to an architect, of all the floors out there ... particle board? I.. I.. I'm speechless.Oops, almost bedtime.
*I did see doors on changing rooms in a clothes store made of varnished OSB. they looked really nice. I must agree that OSB or Particle borad for flooring is a bad choice for the reasons that Ron gave.Pete
*I'm hesitant to mention this but I have been specifying a particle board look alike for stage floors for several years. It's called LamiFlor, is made by GP's Lebanon, Oregon mill. It seems to have been developed as a covering for textile mills. Very high resitance to rolling steel wheels, very dimensionally stable. It's actually a hardboard product - three layers of 1/4" factory laminated - and you'd swear it was particle board. Stains nicely if uniquely, finishes well. About $32/sheet last I checked. Special, long lead order. Very heavy (like 300 lbs/sheet I seem to recall).But I sure would worry about those in between strips swelling and causing a trip hazard. The one in FHB used a little square ceramic tile or brick or something like that at the intersection of 4x4 sheets.
*Agreed :/ .... I'm glad it wasn't me. Then again, it sounds as if he's doing it to himself n'est pas? You react a bit as if he's using it on someone else but it sounds as if it's for his own house.
*Hi Jim,Just a note on your post, you can't use cork tiles in between the wood because of the major diffence in density. When you try to refinish, the sanding would be a nightmare. When I refinish cork floors, I use a medium then fine grit paper on a flat sander. Once it's refinished its durable again.Gabe
*I never heard of using particle board, but did see one wingnut use masonite cut into 12 inch squares and stained alternately light and dark.Gabe
*Good point Gabe, still better thani particle board though?. I thought of cork from reading your posts...jim
*Hestitant? Wouldn't have anything to do with some unfounded visciousness in another thread, by any chance? Don't let the bastards wear you down. I've found you're posts to be pretty interesting and thought provoking.FWIW, 40 years or so ago, my father used particle board in a summer cottage as finish walls. Sort of a half-assed post and beam addition (4x4s nailed together, board and batten siding, 1"(?) foam lining inside the siding, with particle board stained green as the finish material. It does have an interesting effect, stained, although I suspect many wouldn't make it a first choiceI'd guess the person thinking of it as flooring is looking for a creative inexpensive flooring approach. I wonder if the LamiFlor you mentioned might do the trick? Although I'd be concerned with differential expansion/contraction between the LamiFlor and the wood stips mentioned in the original post.Bob
*I always love these creative and innovative uses of economical materilas but all to often have found that the time invested in research, trial, and error don't justifythe savings. And that's doing work for my own house. How it saves money if paying for labor is bewildering.
*I'm not sure I want to get into this but I'm one of the people that has actually used PB on a floor with great success. When I built my own house I didn't have money for carpeting right away so I decided to put down industrial grade PB. and sealed it with 3 coats of poly. After ten years this floor survived countless moppings as well as the activity of two big dogs. We finally got carpeting last year and I'm surprised how well the floor still looked. I also use it on my shop floor which is now going on 14 years. I have also seen several people use it on camp floors. Like I said earlier we used it as a temporary floor and it worked ok. However I don't think it looks good enough to use for a permanent floor in a home.
*Yep, it can be done, and it looks surprisingly good, kind of orangish-yellow. I like it better on walls though.MD
*Any idea of what grade or type - plain underlayment or a higher density counter-top grade?
*
I dropped by a coworker's house quite a few years ago, just as they were finishing construction. The top floor was done in OSB that had been painted blue, sanded until about half of the blue was gone, and finished with poly. It was a neat effect, though not for the meek. The look was like ice crystals. He figured if he tired of the look he could always refloor over it - nothing wasted but a little finishing.
Has your client considered cork panels instead of particle board? The grain appearance is like large scale particle board. Pretty nice results, though you want to pay attention to the manufacturer's installation recommendations. Visit http://www.regupol.com/comm/cork.htm