# DIY Hardwood Flooring



## chipbyrd (May 21, 2013)

Hello,

My wife and I want to put down some hardwood flooring. *The section is only about 190 sq ft. *I am thinking about milling the boards and cutting the tongue and groove on my router table. *If it was much more (size wise), I wouldn't consider it.

We would like to do some things with various species of wood that would be cost prohibitive if we hire someone

I am a hobbiest woodworker and not a pro, but believe I have the skills and tools necessary. *Have any of you gents done this. *Would you advise for or against? *Any advice if I move forward?

Thanks for the help,
Chip


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## MikeMa (Jul 27, 2006)

You are going to go through a lot of router bits doing this for flooring, even for a smaller room. The best option would either by with a shaper or on a TS with a molder head. If you don't have a shaper, or a molder head for your TS, then dado blades on a TS would work well too.


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## MAFoElffen (Jun 8, 2012)

chipbyrd said:


> We would like to do some things with various species of wood that would be cost prohibitive if we hire someone


You said you wanted to do some "_things_"... did you mean something like these examples?

















































I have a friend in Arizona, who she and her kids do custom flooring like these.

Edit-- They use a cabinet saw, shaper and band saw... But they do intricate custom work and in large volume. It can surely be done with less. Those profiles used to be done by hand.

Let's see. 160 sq ft of flooring is about 2200 linear feet of profiles. I don't see going through a few routers bits or having to dress them a bit every once in a whiie as a problem with that. At 2200 feet of profile, it he watched his feed rate and dressed his bit with a good diamond hone ("Mike" has a line on a great diamond hone set and honing oil for diamond hones) he could do it with 1 set. The OP isn't planning on doing it in large volume. How he does it (router or table saw) depends on his skill and comfort level.

- On a table saw, some people don't feel comfortable creating spline joints (cutting the profile accurately with the material on edge). Moulding cutters have a learning curve and an initial cost. Once you invest in that initial cost (usually a kit is over $100), then other cutter blades are about $15 on average after that. With a dado, a good finish quality dado to be able to get good good profile costs (above $100, mine is over $200). There's a learning curve with that also. Both a dado and a moulding cutter require the OP's table saw to be able to fit at least a 3/4" dado on it's arbor and pushing over 1-1/2 HP.

- Shaper cutters are more costly depending on the cutter type you buy.... Upper quaility cutters have the support close to the blade. Universal cutters are more like Moulding cutters are are less cost for something like this. Then the baseline cost of a shaper. I have an small 2-1/2hp 1/2" shaper. It does what I need, although most these days recommend a much bigger spindle. I don't think he has any plans that really warrant a shaper. 

Experience in tools and skills usually builds in a logical order. I think if the OP is "learning"... the learning curve is going to be less and the overall cost is less for him with with a router table. Since things happen slower with a router table, with less of a cut at a time, you can get the hang of it and learn easier... rather than on a shaper where things can happen very fast and be unforgiving. (That learning curve again.) The tooling is not hard once you get the hang of it... It's the planning and layout, getting the prep done, that first row in straight, then planning and adjusting for transitions cleanly.

Just my thoughts on that...


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Mike. Your friend does fantastic work. Give her an atta boy for me.

Chip. I've never done it, but I'd definitely give it a shot, if it was me. Never know unless you try. And, if it doesn't work out well for you, you can always check craigslist, you can sometimes come up with some real bargains on there. Sometimes. And sometimes not.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Chip wood for flooring is the same as wood for furniture in that the wood has to be seasoned, so make sure that the wood you use is a suitable moisture content for your local area, if it is too wet then as it dries then you will get large gaps between your boards, for Sydney I always use wood that is between 9% and 11% and your wood will likely be about the same, if your area has high humidity then your wood will be higher as well dress all the boards the same, running tongue and groove is not hard and you are not talking about all that much and grooves that are small run without any trouble, do post some photos when you are done. NGM


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## mgmine (Jan 16, 2012)

A table saw would be tha way to go.


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## andysden (Aug 9, 2011)

I would use a table saw with a datto blade or shaper blade with the tongue and groove blades.Make all the tongue cuts on the boards in one set up as it is hard to reset the same depth. Mark one side of the board that you want to be the bottom and always use this mark against the fence it will make all the tongues and groves at the same height if the boards are not the same thickness sanding after installation also make sure all the different woods are dry as they will shrink causing cracks 
I used a router to do the same thing and it took4 passes on each board at 6 " boards.
I did a 16 x 24 foot room on the ceiling it took almost a week of late nights , about 25 hours.
So this is why I would use a setup like I suggested.
Andy


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## 64 ford (Apr 21, 2013)

Hi Chip
If you have access to a shaper with a power feeder I would do it that way.With the power feeder yoU get very accurate milling and a whole lot less work.Thats a lot of pushing thru a saw or router table-kinda takes some of the fun out of the project.As said,be certain you have the correct moisture content for your location or you will have problems-voice of experience!


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## MAFoElffen (Jun 8, 2012)

Quick note on moisture content and flooring- What we did additional, even with pre-made flooring, was to deliver the flooring stock on site... open the packaging and let it sit there for at least 3 days (usually about a week). 

That lets the stock's EMC get to the installed environment's moisture level, before we installed. That way things are close when it is installed to how it is going to be where it lives.


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## Dmeadows (Jun 28, 2011)

mafoelffen said:


> quick note on moisture content and flooring- what we did additional, even with pre-made flooring, was to deliver the flooring stock on site... Open the packaging and let it sit there for at least 3 days (usually about a week).
> 
> That lets the stock's emc get to the installed environment's moisture level, before we installed. That way things are close when it is installed to how it is going to be where it lives.


+1


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## MAFoElffen (Jun 8, 2012)

Here's a cross-section view of typical hardwood flooring:








Anatomy of the profiles... 
-Tongue on one jointed edge and an adjacent end.
- Groove on opposite jointed edge and the opposite end.
- Nail Grooves on bottom... to help prevent cupping.
- Reference point for the tongue and groove spline joint is from the bottom surface (instead of the face as is in other applications) to the first edge of the spline joint. The reasoning for that it that you want even support on the bottom to the underlayment. The tops don't matter as much as they get sanded down.
- The T&G spline joint is located more towards the bottom third, so that in the long run, you can refinish the floor (done by aggressive sanding) more times if you can do it that way.
- Usual thickness is between 3/4" to 7/8".


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