Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Tongue-in-groove flooring needs to be pried tight
into place and nailed in the tongue.
you reuse worn flooring, keep the pattern the same so
thicker and thinner boards will blend.
Wood floor finishing can be as simple as scrubbing,
or it can involve sanding, oiling, or waxing. Or, it can
become as complicated as staining and varnishing
with polyurethane or another polymer. Here, personal
preference and the limits of your budget come into
play.
You can use two-inch center-matched lumber for
the ceiling/upstairs floor. If you use a subfloor instead,
that subfloor will become the downstairs ceiling, so
the underside needs to be attractive in its own right.
Nail the flooring to the subfloor with nails short
enough not to come through the underside between
joists. Use longer nails at the joists.
I wanted to use some nice, 1840s, hand-planed t.i.g.
pine paneling as the ceiling upstairs in our current
house, but it was too thin for strength over our 42-
inch-on-center beams. The loft space was to be used
for children's bedrooms, with all those dormers for
light, so we decided on a different approach. We used
the paneling, unplaned-side up, over the beams, then
The Joists
Let's begin flooring at the bottom. I space log or heavy
beam floor joists 16 inches apart, often with any odd
extra joist centered with the front and back doors to
take the heavier traffic. Then I lay a subfloor of full
one-inch rough-sawn oak or pine, usually insulating
under it. Or we'll use plywood if there's to be no base-
ment living space. Plywood doesn't look good over-
head. Then a layer of tar paper goes on, and the floor
is laid on that. Wide boards fastened with pegs are the
most attractive, although square nails look good too.
Tongue-in-groove should be nailed through the
tongue with finish nails and a nail set. A nail gun can
be rented from the lumber company or tool rental
store to speed this operation. Wide boards will cup if
nailed only in the tongue, so we face-nail there, setting
the nails.
If you use conventional lumber for joists, use 2≈10s
or 2≈12s, 16 inches on center, with blocking or criss-
cross bracing at least every eight feet. The 2≈10s will
span up to 16 feet nicely, but I like 2≈12s for longer
spans. Smaller floor joists can be used with a girder or
sleeper bracing them at midpoint, set on piers or a
solid foundation.
Log cabin class students lay a floor system at Bear Mountain Outdoor
School near Hightown, Virginia. We routinely build a cabin, through the
roof framing, in a weeklong course.
